Day 1: Tuesday, January 3

9:00-10:30

Keynote Speaker Dr. Mike Dando

Location: Alumni Room, Atwood Memorial Center
Session Recording: https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu/media/1_7inoadiv

"There are New Suns": Re-Thinking Education through Speculative Design

In the epigraph to her unfinished, Parable of the Trickster, speculative writer Octavia Butler noted, "There's Nothing New / Under the Sun, / But There Are New Suns". In this current pedagogic moment, we grapple with the possibility and the challenge of rethinking education futures. Here I’ll consider ways forward, the “new suns” by arguing for the continued use of the speculative in critical education studies, an approach which has the potential for radical (re)imagination in teaching and learning. Journeys forward require a path that rejects the pessimistic visions and themes are currently over-represented in recent educational research and can risk reinforcing inequality, especially with respect to settler colonial injustice.

Rather than relying on what we might identify as apocalyptic visions of the future, that center themes such as disconnection, lack of autonomy and sovereignty, along with technological, corporate, state and/or authoritarian control, I will outline a framework toward developing hopeful futures shaped by themes, such as connection, agency, as well as communal and individual flourishing. I suggest a turn toward a model of pedagogy grounded in hope which imagines more liberatory education and learning futures. The goal being to build on an invitation extended by Drs. Na’ilah Nasir and Megan Bang of the Spencer Foundation to, “reach for what might be possible that wasn’t visible before” in this present moment.

10:45-11:45

ACUE (Association of College and University Educators) Panel
Panelists: Faculty who have received the ACUE Certificate in Effective College Instruction

Location:  Alumni Room, Atwood Memorial Center
Session Recording: https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu/media/1_fm8e9wdm

In 2022, a number of SCSU faculty completed courses from the Association of College and University Educators and the American Council on Education. The four courses were: 1) Designing an Effective Course and Class, 2) Establishing a Productive Learning Environment, 3) Using Active Learning Techniques, and 4) Promoting Higher Order Thinking. Several faculty colleagues have completed all four courses and will be presented with a Certificate in Effective College Instruction. We invite you to join members of the group in a discussion about what they consider the best practice(s) they have learned through this experience.

1:00-1:50

Faculty Fellows Panel: Fostering Student Success
Moderator: Dr. Michele Mumm, Assistant Provost of Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Quality (Interim)
Panelists: Dr. Aeriel Ashlee (Belonging), Dr. Laura Finch (Institutional Effectiveness), Dr. Jason Lindsey (Honors), Jennifer Quinlan (Honors), Dr. Janet Tilstra (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), Dr. Kristian Twombly (Our Husky Compact), Dr. Ben Witts (Assessment)

Location: Alumni Room, Atwood Memorial Center
Session Recording: https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu/media/1_vtnb9sgn

This session highlights the important work of our faculty fellows. Through the voices of our fellows, we will learn what a faculty fellow is and the ways in which they contribute their expertise to our campus community. Our fellows will reflect on their experiences and how they, in their fellow roles, foster student success.

2:00-2:50

Honors College

Location: Alumni Room, Atwood Memorial Center
Session Recording: https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu/media/1_e70160vb 

The Honors College Working Group will provide an update on the project’s status, program design, curriculum development, and faculty partnerships in program delivery. Opportunities to develop and teach coursework under the new program design will also be discussed.