Conversations with Colleagues
Conversations with Colleagues is a community of Minot State faculty and staff who come together to share their expertise, experiences, and enthusiasm for teaching, scholarship, a new or revised program, or something else about which they are passionate. It’s an opportunity to nerd out with colleagues, to learn from your peers, and to share, collaborate, and converse with others across campus. All are welcome!
2024-2025 Meeting Information
Meetings are from 4-5 p.m. in the Collaboration Space in Hartnett Hall (2nd floor) on the following Wednesdays:
- September 25, 2024
- October 23, 2024
- November 20, 2024
- January 29, 2025
- February 26, 2025
- March 26, 2025
- April 30, 2025
We want to hear from YOU! If you are interested in presenting at one of the sessions or you want to suggest a topic and/or presenter(s) for a future session, please complete THIS SURVEY.
For more information:
Laurie Geller, VP for Academic Affairs
Email: Laurie.Geller@minotstateu.edu
Phone: (701) 858-3329
2024-2025 Meeting Information:
Meetings are from 4-5 p.m. in the Collaboration Space in Hartnett Hall (2nd floor)
September 25, 2024: AI in Education: Exploring Opportunities and Challenges
Join your colleagues for a panel discussion on AI in higher education. Panelists will share their experiences, including successes, challenges, and lessons learned from using AI in various educational contexts. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share their insights on this evolving topic. Whether you are AI-curious or AI-cautious, this panel will offer valuable insights to help you make informed decisions about AI integration in your classroom.
Panelists: Leisa Harmon of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ashley DeMakis of Nursing, Kyle Bittle and Serena Pontenila of Math, Data, and Technology
October 23, 2024: Herding CATs - The Use and Importance of Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
CATs (Cross and Angelo, 1993) are tools to drive learner engagement whilst acting as powerful (and easy-to-manage) formative assessments. Join your colleagues to learn more about these techniques and web resources you could use to design and conduct your own assessments.
Presenter: David Paterno of Fine and Performing Arts (Professional Communication)
Event poster and postcard
November 20, 2024: Renaissance Sonnets and the Literary Logical Beauty of Form
After transformations brought on by the Crusades and the Bubonic plague, an awakened 16th-century Europe rose on new hopes and dreams, further fueled by Spanish gold. Prosperity and mobility, linked to innovations in mathematics, navigation, industry, literature, and art, gave us the Renaissance. Enter the Sonnet poetic form. It traveled through diplomatic and educated circles from Italy to England in the 16th century, where its 14-line limit subordinated artistic and logical expression to its rigid form. Form and function were forced to work together in ways a little strange to us today. In its difference, the sonnet offers a purposeful comparison of the world that produced them to our world now. Let’s take a look at some of these poetic beauties to see how they work and what they say—as a segue to considering why, once over their fear, students love them.
Presenters: Robert Kibler of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary Studies (English and Humanities)
November 20, 2024: Renaissance Italy's Saints, Artists, and Brawls: Pietro Torrigiano's Forgotten Sculptures and Remembered Feud
That guy who busted Michelangelo's nose, Pietro Torrigiano. Was he destined to be remembered as one of the great Renaissance artists if it weren't for that fateful day in Florence? We will explore Torrigiano's works in context with Renaissance Florence as well as consider how art and artist cannot always be separated in life nor history.
Presenter: Amanda Watts of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary Studies (Humanities and Art)
WINTER BREAK
January 29, 2025: Using Food In The Classroom: Making Concepts Impossible To Forget
TBD
Presenter: Joe Collette of Science (Geosciences)
February 26, 2025: Building the Dam: Leveraging Self-Determination Theory to Foster Well-Being on College Campuses
TBD
Presenters: Elyzia Powers and Dylan Horner of Behavioral Sciences and Criminal Justice (Psychology)
March 26, 2025: AI in Education Part II
TBD
Presenters:
April 30, 2025: TBD
2022-2023 Meeting Information:
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Featured presenters: Joe Collette: “Droning on about Darling, Big Piles of Sand, and a Native American Detective Story" and Daren Erisman: “Engaging Data Science at Minot State: Working together to build a Program for Certificates, a Minor and a Major in Data Science”
Poster for Gen X and earlier generations
Poster for post-Gen X generations
Featured presenters: Ethan Valentine: "Leveling Up at Minot State: Games as Agents of Cognitive, Social, and Competitive Growth" and Dan Conn and Nathan Anderson: "CP2R: Finding Your Fit"
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Sharing the POWER at MSU: POWER Center staff will share information about the TRIO grant from the US Dept of Education, including its beginnings, history, and all the different programs under it. They will also discuss ways in which the POWER Center benefits students and the program’s value. Minot State University’s POWER Center is committed to providing advocacy, mentoring, and support initiatives that promote participants’ academic, personal, social, and career success through campus engagement, community involvement, and enriched cultural experiences.
Anatomy of a Piano Recital: Dianna Anderson will share the submerged part of the iceberg that culminates in a polished performance.
Break for finals and winter vacation
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.
Bill and Dan's Excellent Adventure with AI Art and ChatGPT
Discover and discuss recent advancements in AI and speculate on how these will impact higher education with Bill Harbort and Dan Ringrose.
Location: Student Center Conference Center
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Event poster
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
GPT? Let's Chat
Part two of the conversation about ChatGPT, Midjourney, DALL*E2, and other AI tools with Bill Harbort, Dan Ringrose, and Sarah Aleshire.
Location: 104 Old Main
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Event Poster
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Naxi Tribal Pictographs, Shamans, and the Metaphors by which We Communicate Truth with Robert Kibler
Chanting Shamans and Pictographic Metaphors: A journey on horseback into the Himalayas to Decipher Sacred Texts. Live translation ahead at the next Conversation with Colleagues.
Objects Tell Stories about Us: Interpreting Material Culture with Amanda Watts
Watts shares methods from archaeology that join the humanities with a perspective on culture that comes from the objects created, used, and discarded.
Location: 104 Old Main
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Event Poster
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
The Ancient Skeptics: Learning How to Think and Live with Raman Sachdev
This presentation will introduce you to the ancient Greek philosophy of skepticism, in particular, Pyrrhonian skepticism. This tradition is named after Pyrrho of Elis, who encouraged 1. suspending judgement about claims concerning the nature of reality, 2. practicing arguing from both sides about such claims, thereby revealing 3. "equipollence," or the equality of opposing arguments. According to practitioners, thinking and living as a skeptic in these ways prompts us to continue our search for knowledge. Perhaps most importantly, doing so also brings about "ataraxia," or tranquility of the mind, which is the ultimate goal of human life. My current research in the history of philosophy addresses the influence of ancient skepticism on early modern philosophers like Descartes and Hume. This presentation will give you a sense of the foundation for that research program.
Location: 104 Old Main
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Event Poster
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
A NEW FYE that forces students to co-occupy a couple of vans for over a week, while simultaneously limiting their ability to shower and exposing them to breathtaking geology all along the way; in other words - an EXPERIENCE! Come hear more and discuss with Geology faculty and some of the FYE students.
Location: 104 Old Main
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Event Poster
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Gamifying Tough Topics
Baker shares her techniques for teaching tough topics in the classroom and leads a game of "Houses & Humans," a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired game for the classroom.
Featured presenter: Erin Baker-Giese
Location: 104 Old Main
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Event Poster
2019-2020 Meeting Information:
Spring 2020:
During spring semester 2020, conversations will center around the book, Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Joseph E. Aoun. Dates, times, readings, and location of these meetings are below. Contact Celeste for a copy of the book.
Jan. 28 at 3:30 p.m. or Jan. 30 at 12:30 p.m.
Introduction and Chapter 1 (pp. ix-22)
Feb. 25 at 3:30 p.m. or Feb. 27 at 12:30 p.m.
Chapters 2 and 3 (pp. 23-76)
Mar. 24 at 3:30 p.m. or Mar. 26 at 12:30 p.m.
Chapter 4 (pp. 77-110)
Apr. 28 at 3:30 p.m. or Apr. 30 at 12:30 p.m.
Chapter 6 and Afterward (pp. 111-150)
Location: 3rd floor of Swain Hall
Fall 2019:
During fall semester 2019, conversations will center around the book, Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang. Dates, times, readings, and location of these meetings are below. Contact Celeste for a copy of the book.
Oct. 1 at 3:30 p.m. or Oct. 3 at 12:30 p.m.
Introduction: Small Teaching and Part I: Knowledge (pp. 1-90)
Nov. 5 at 3:30 p.m. or Nov. 7 at 12:30 p.m.
Part II: Understanding (pp. 91-166)
Dec. 3 at 3:30 p.m. or Dec. 5 at 12:30 p.m.
Part III: Inspiration and Conclusion: Beginning (pp. 167-246)
Location: Jones Room - 3rd floor of Administration building
All are welcome!
For more information:
Laurie Geller, VP for Academic Affairs
Email: Laurie.Geller@minotstateu.edu
Phone: (701) 858-3310
2018-2019 Meeting Information:
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 - Let’s Talk Lecture –Another PowerPoint? Sigh.
Headliners: Joseph Jastrzembski, Jean-Francois Mondon, Jennifer Sherman
Photos and resources from Let's Talk Lecture
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - Student Motivation – How to help students DO before it is DUE.
Headliners: Christina Paxman, Tracey Mays, Tawnya Bernsdorf
Photos and resources from Student Motivation
Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - The First Day of Class – What I experience is what I expect.
Headliners: Erik Anderson, Mary Huston, Kristi Berg
Photos and resources from First Day of Class
Break for finals and winter vacation
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 - Discussion – Even introverts can be included.
Headliners: Dan Ringrose, Joe Collette, Sarah Aleshire
Photos and resources from Discussion
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 - Collaboration and Groups – Learn to help others play nice in the sandbox.
Headliners: Dan Conn, Jessica Smestad, Nicole Thom-Arens
Photos and resources from Collaboration and Groups
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 - Student Feedback – It’s more than a grade. The power of criticism and critique.
Headliners: Bill Harbort, Scott Kast, Jan Repnow
Photos and resources from Student Feedback
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - Reflection & Change
“We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.” - John Dewey
“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” - John Dewey
Headliners: Lisa Borden-King, Holly Pedersen, Sandra Groth, Leisa Harmon
Photos and resources from Reflection and Change
Location: Northwest Arts Center (south side of the GBO Library)
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Snacks and prizes: Provided!
All are welcome!
For more information:
Laurie Geller, VP for Academic Affairs
Email: Laurie.Geller@minotstateu.edu
Phone: (701) 858-3310
