The 2022 Minnesota Learning Commons Learning and Technology Summit, Flexible Learning in Our Digital Era, will be held virtually on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 from 8:30 am - 12:40 pm.

Summit Registration is still open and is free. Register now! 

(If you get a "redirect" page, click on the "forms" link on that page to register. Questions may be directed to Mary Mehsikomer at mary.mehsikomer@sourcewelltech.org.)

Learning & Technology Summit Program: Schedule at a Glance

Check out the over 25 concurrent sessions, peer discussions, and general session in the Summit Program!

• 8:30 am - General Session - Welcome | Flexible Learning in Our Digital Age: The 60-Year Curriculum.

• 9:10 - 9:30 am - Concurrent Session I

  • 20 Minutes to Become More Creative: A Speed Session

  • The Value of Traditional Knowledge Labels in Digital Collections

  • Using MCIS to Find Training Opportunities

  • Supporting Academic Success & Wellbeing with an Interactive eBook 

  • Lessons from Adult Professional Learners for Undergraduate Education 

  • Online Learning for Master Gardener Volunteers 

• 9:30 - 9:40 am - Break

• 9:40 - 10:00 am - Concurrent Session II (20 minute  sessions)

  • Building a Data-Driven System at the University of Minnesota 

  • Minitex OER, Open Access, and Affordable Content

  • Use OER to Create Equity in K-12 Classrooms without Internet

  • Inclusivity: Learning Designed for Introverts and Extroverts 

  • The Power of LMS Tools for Course Communication 

• 10:00 - 10:10 am - Break

• 10:10 - 10:30 am - Discussion Groups / Networking Part 1

• 10:30 - 10:40 am - Break

• 10:40 - 11:20 am - Concurrent Session III (40 minute sessions)

  • Designing the Future of Effective Teaching and Significant Lifelong Learning

  • Developing Self Awareness to Create Inclusive Teaching Spaces 

  • The Future of Hiring: Skills-Based Transcripts and the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) 

  • Become a Master of Design with Canva 

  • Lessons from a Minnesota State Grant on Immersive Technologies 

  • Workforce Realities for Student Success 

• 11:20 - 11:30 am - Break

• 11:30 - 12:10 pm - Concurrent Session IV (40 minute sessions)

  • When Artificial Intelligence (AI) Enters Our Classrooms 

  • Design Your (Canvas) Course to be Mobile-Friendly

  • Pandemic Proofing Education: A Perspective from Corrections

  • Active Learning Strategies in Online Environments

  • Student-Created Media Assignments in the Age of COVID

  • Student-Centered Best Practices: Student Support in a Digital Era

• 12:10 - 12:20 pm - Break

• 12:20 - 12:40 pm - Discussion Groups / Networking Part 2 

• 12:40 pm - Adjourn

Full Schedule with Descriptions

8:30 am - 9:00 am - General Session - Welcome | Flexible Learning in Our Digital Age: The 60-Year Curriculum. Senenge Andzenge, University of Minnesota and Stephen Kelly, Minnesota State Colleges & Universities. 

9:00 - 9:10 am - Break

9:10 - 9:30 am - Concurrent Session I (20 minute  sessions)

• 20 Minutes to Become More Creative: A Speed Session. Brad Hokanson, University of Minnesota. Can you increase your measured creativity in 20 minutes? Or, can the seeds of being more creative be quickly sown and sprouted? Creativity is an often ignored skill  in traditional education. It's an inherent trait in humans, peaking in fourth grade. It’s been trained out of us. During the session, you’ll get inspiration and advice to develop your creative capabilities. It will include exercises and access to resources and help provide inspiration, challenges, and exercises to develop your innovative skills and creativity. Strand: Flexible Options for Learning. Audience: All.

• The Value of Traditional Knowledge Labels in Digital Collections. Molly Huber, and Greta Bahnemann, and Sara Ring, Minnesota Digital Library. Traditional knowledge (TK) labels have changed the way organizations describe Native American materials online. TK labels are a set of descriptions created in collaboration with indigenous communities to provide information about their cultural heritage materials. The session includes an introduction to TK labels and their value to digital collections. We will then provide an overview of MDL’s work to date on our local TK labels project, including community building, trainings, and resources. We will also share our future plans and how the way MDL presents Native American content will change. Strand: Universal Student Records. Audience: All.

• Using MCIS to Find Training Opportunities. Kristen Lane and Traci Valentino, MCIS. We'll demonstrate the different ways for users to find training opportunities in MCIS (programs of study, apprenticeships, short-term training and scholarships). After finding the training, MCIS users can find resources to help them prepare for an interview and write their resume. Attendees will walk away with knowledge of an affordable, widely available tool institutions can include in a workforce center, vocational rehab facility, library and other educational institutions! Strand: Workforce Development. Audience: All.

• Supporting Academic Success & Wellbeing with an Interactive eBook. Kristin Shingler, University of Minnesota. Participants will discover the benefits of creating a resource to support academic success and well-being of learners. The eBook helps students build life-long study skills and provides support resources. The guide has flexibility in distribution, resource incorporation, and provides an interactive experience to create a student centered learning environment. This resource can be adapted to a variety of programs making it usable for many audiences. The session will show a demonstration of the eBook followed by  a discussion on how we can continue to support academic success and well-being. Strand: Student Centered Environment. Audience: Post Secondary, Adult/Professional Development.

• Lessons from Adult Professional Learners for Undergraduate Education. Katherine Furniss, University of Minnesota. This talk will focus on my experiences and reflections from over two years of designing and delivering courses for adult learners at a biopharmaceutical manufacturing company. During this time, I've had to ask myself questions like "How do I motivate my participants to complete assignments when I no longer have grades and the authority automatically bestowed by being the professor?". To stimulate discussion, I will also ask you many of the same questions I have grappled with. Strand: Workforce Development. Audience: Postsecondary, Adult/Professional Development.

• Online Learning for Master Gardener Volunteers. The Master Gardener Volunteer Program is applying adult pedagogy to online coursework for adult volunteers, including content creation through videos, activities, discussions, and more. Through this, volunteers are better engaged, able to learn the material at their own pace, and grow more confident with online learning opportunities, which is new for many.  Through careful content creation, you can reach new, non-traditional learning audiences for life-long learning using technology using the examples of the Master Gardener Program. Strand: Flexible Options for Learning. Audience: Adult/Professional Development.

9:30 - 9:40 am - Break

9:40 - 10:00 am - Concurrent Session II (20 minute  sessions)

• Building a Data-Driven System at the University of Minnesota. Camille Sterner Sampers. This presentation will describe the ways the University of Minnesota Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program is using data to make decisions for student learning. The curriculum uses an experiential learning model to drive its hybrid curriculum, with about 75% of the curriculum delivered online. This session will focus on (1) the curriculum mapping process to ACOTE accreditation standards, (2) the curriculum mapping process of the identified core assignments in the Canvas Learning Management System, and (3) using Tableau for the data analysis of student learning. Strand: Program Evaluation and Curriculum. Audience: Postsecondary.

• Minitex OER, Open Access, and Affordable Content. Beth Staats and Ann Kaste, Minitex, University of Minnesota and Minnesota Office of Higher Education. Minitex has a history of saving Minnesota libraries money through ILL, resource sharing, and openly licensed sources in eLibrary Minnesota (ELM). After a brief review of the differences between OER, open access, and affordable access resources, we will discuss our programs that offer open content, including ELM, Ebooks MN, Minnesota Digital Library, and Cooperative Purchasing. You'll learn more about the different ways to share content as well as talking points for sharing these high-quality resources with instructors and administrators to save students and institutions money. Strand: Flexible Options for Learning. Audience: All.

• Use OER to Create Equity in K-12 Classrooms without Internet. Dan McGuire, Sabier. This session outlines a process to use for any subject area to enable teachers or teams of teachers to modify content using culturally responsive teaching practices so that students: see themselves in the content they’re studying; voices are incorporated directly into the curriculum; all cultures are represented in the standard curriculum; are able to collaboratively solve problems using digital tools (in-person or remote). The tools and process enable digital content to be used without internet access or an institutional platform and be sent home with students who don’t have internet access. Strand: Equity and Inclusion. Audience: All.

• Inclusivity: Learning Designed for Introverts and Extroverts. Zala Fashant, Minnesota State. This session examines current traditional versus future design models of lifelong learning which will include greater access, convenience, immediacy, and credit for knowledge. How will we prepare to adapt to the changes that is centered more on learners? Join us for analysis of microlearning, badges and stackable credentials to demonstrate mastery of outcomes where lifelong learning delivered in a more seamless and immediate manner. Credit is given to individuals for what they know and can apply as they build upon their skill sets. Participants share responses through polling and Chat. Strand: Equity and Inclusion. Audience: Postsecondary, Adult/Professional Development. 

• The Power of LMS Tools for Course Communication. Sheri Hutchinson, Minnesota State. “My students don’t listen!” How faculty can best communicate and develop a welcoming environment for learning is the focus of this session. Designing an intentional communication plan is critical. We will demonstrate how to build community in an online course with the purpose of retaining students while achieving significant student learning.   A variety of communication tools and strategies will provide the value in delivering frequent and effective course communication to better engage students for the purpose of developing a more student-centered experience. Strand: Student Centered Environment. Audience: Postsecondary, Adult/Professional Development.

10:00 - 10:10 am - Break

10:10 - 10:30 am - Discussion Groups / Networking Part 1

10:30 - 10:40 am - Break

10:40 - 11:20 am - Concurrent Session III (40 minute sessions)

• Designing the Future of Effective Teaching and Significant Lifelong Learning. Zala Fasahant, Minnesota State. This session examines the current traditional vs. future design models of lifelong learning which will include greater access, convenience, immediacy, and credit for current knowledge. How will we prepare to adapt to the changes that are centered more on learners than institutions? Join us for this analysis of microlearning, badges and stackable credentials to demonstrate the mastery of outcomes. Participants will: 1) discover strategies to deliver lifelong learning in a more streamlined model; 2) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these student-centered opportunities; and 3) Analyze current learning design to intentionally increase significant lifelong learning. Lifelong learning delivered in a more seamless and immediate manner. Greater and more specific credit is given to individuals for what they know and can apply as they build upon their skill sets to grow deeper. Participants will share responses through polling and in Chat as they discuss ways they are using these strategies in current learning design. Strand: Badging, Micro-Credentialing or Stackable Credentials. Audience: All.

• Developing Self Awareness to Create Inclusive Teaching Spaces. Katherine Furniss, University of Minnesota. We want all of our students to have the same opportunities for learning in our classrooms/labs. When we read education research articles, attend workshops, or examine our own class/lab data, we are often inspired to make pedagogical changes. In this conversation, we will learn why developing our own self-awareness is a necessary first step to pedagogical change. We will also learn one model for using department meetings to facilitate the development of self-awareness for all department members. Strand: Equity and Inclusion. Audience: All.

• The Future of Hiring: Skills-Based Transcripts and the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR). Brooks Doherty, Rasmussen University. A shift in power is slowly happening in higher education. Gradually, institutions are giving learners more power to make decisions and control data. One example is the Comprehensive Learner Record, a learner-owned competency-based transcript that communicates to potential employers how learners have ranked in skill demonstration across their life-long learning journey. Instead of offering traditional letter grades and percentages, the CLR focuses on individual skills and to what degree they have been demonstrated. It is a critical component of the future of skills-based learning and hiring. Strand: Workforce Development. Audience: Middle, Secondary, Postsecondary, Adult/Professional Development.

• Become a Master of Design with Canva. Laurie Conzemius, Pre-K - 12 Education. Need to create infographics, posters, or worksheets? Want to grab your students' attention with eye-catching announcements, banners and images? Hope to update your resume, or design related elements for your classroom website? Then this session is for you! We will begin by setting up your own free account to Canva, quickly move on to learning the tips and tricks of the tool, and spend the majority of your time creating your own wonderful designs! It will be helpful for attendees to have an additional Chromebook or iPad to create while attending. Strand: Digital Literacy. Audience: All.

• Lessons from a Minnesota State Grant on Immersive Technologies. Plamen Miltenoff, Minnesota State (retired); David Anderson, Minnesota State. Metaverse, synonymous with Virtual Reality, is more than a technology; it reflects Education 4.0, including flexibility in life-long learning. In this discussion, like the participants in the grant’s workshop, we will be able to distinguish different immersive technologies and their use for immersive teaching and learning. We will discuss the grant’s organization: management and pedagogy during pandemic. We will share materials to access and study prior to the discussion. Our discussion will let you share your opinions and experience from similar endeavors, and it will be very interactive.  Strand: Immersive Teaching and Learning. Audience: All.

• Workforce Realities for Student Success. Sheri Hutchinson and Luke Greiner, Minnesota State.  A great deal of focus is placed on the successful completion of college, but what happens after graduation is just as important. When college graduates need to put their degree to use will they find it valuable? Having the knowledge and tools on the front end of college exploration can help ensure our students expectations are met after graduation.  In addition to helping students think about their educational path more critically, understanding the outcomes of graduates can help ensure resources, recruitment, and program offerings provide value to students. Strand: Workforce Development. Audience: Postsecondary, Adult/Professional Development.

11:20 - 11:30 am - Break

11:30 - 12:10 pm - Concurrent Session IV (40 minute sessions)

• When Artificial Intelligence (AI) Enters Our Classrooms. Stephen Kelly, Minnesota State. Microsoft is busily scaling AI driven solutions across its web services while Alphabet (Google) is doing the same with its DeepMind discoveries.  As direct-to-consumer AI services become increasingly sophisticated and access to multi-tasking AI rests in the palm of a student’s hand, what will happen next in our classrooms? In this session we will explore some of the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and muse over the excitement and terror that may lie ahead for educators.  Participants will be encouraged to share their own musings and insights using the session chat. Strand: Artificial Intelligence. Audience: All.

• Design Your (Canvas) Course to be Mobile-Friendly. Sara Schoen and Jennifer Englund, University of Minnesota. At the University of Minnesota, students use the Canvas Student App now more than ever for flexible access to their courses (using their mobile devices). It is important to understand what works well on mobile, as well as its limitations, in order to design flexible learning environments that work for your students. During this live exploratory session, we will discuss mobile-friendly course design and why it’s important to impact student learning. We will also navigate a course using the Canvas Student App on your mobile device and complete activities as a ‘student’.  Strand: Student Centered Environment. Audience: All.

• Pandemic Proofing Education: A Perspective from Corrections. Rachel Wexelbaum, Ozlem Ersin, and Kristen O'Connell,  Minnesota Department of Corrections. This presentation will serve as a primer on how MN DOC provides education to its incarcerated populations in F2F, hybrid, and online formats, lessons learned, and best practices to deliver “pandemic proof” education to diverse adult and juvenile populations. Presenters will share ideas and approaches to person-centered educational opportunities in non-traditional learning environments. The presentation will include polls and Q&A to gauge awareness of the learning environments of incarcerated people; how they receive education during their incarceration; and their education needs upon release. Strand: Flexible Options for Learning. Audience: Middle, Secondary, Postsecondary.

• Active Learning Strategies in Online Environments. Dave Blanchard and Kristen Carlson, Minnesota State. Active learning allows learners to engage in activities that focus on doing things and thinking about what they are doing. In this form of meta-learning, educators are mindful of learning experiences and learners engage in meaningful, relevant, and authentic learning. Active learning strategies in online environments leverage multimedia tools, collaborative services, and interactive planning– yet new opportunities bring new challenges. This session introduces active learning, uses in online environments, and provides resources to get started this term. Strand: Student Centered Environment. Audience: Middle, Secondary, Postsecondary, Adult/Professional Development.

• Student-Created Media Assignments in the Age of COVID. Scott Spicer and Charlie Heinz, University of Minnesota. The last 2+ years has presented some challenges and opportunities to course integrated student-created media assignments. In this session we will explore lessons learned and possible best practices for guiding instructors in the development of high quality projects to better fit a more distributed media creation environment. We will also discuss the evolution of our individualized media consultation services to support students remotely. Finally, we will facilitate discussion on participant experiences with student-created media support during the pandemic, and adapting future practices. Strand: Digital Literacy. Audience: All.

• Student-Centered Best Practices: Student Support in a Digital Era. Tammy Hopps and Jewel Mende, Rasmussen University. This session will examine best practices for flexible learning support in our digital era through a description of our digital resources and peer support systems for students at Rasmussen University. We will share how our collaborative approach with other departments ensures that our student-centered resources focus on meeting the evolving needs of our students. We will conclude with participants sharing best practices of digital learning support systems. Participants will leave this session with further knowledge of methods that support students in a virtual learning environment. Strand: Student Centered Environment. Audience: Postsecondary; Adult/Professional Development.

12:10 - 12:20 pm - Break

12:20 - 12:40 pm - Discussion Groups / Networking Part 2

12:40 pm - Adjourn

Summit Questions?

Please contact mary.mehsikomer@sourcewelltech.org.