On this episode of Rethink, Relearn, Repeat, Wade and Mary welcome Communication Studies Instructor Bev Knutson to talk about design in her courses. Her mantra, coming out of the Great Calamity (otherwise known as COVID) is to keep it simple.  No surprises. While it sounds easy, it takes planning and work to practice clarity and transparency in our courses.

R3 comes to you in this episode with our special guest, Sybil Priebe, an English Instructor across the state line at NDSCS. Sybil shares how she began thinking about developing her own textbooks, which eventually led to her diving deep into the world of OER (Open Education Resources) and how OER is more equitable and accessible for students. She gives insight into not only using OER options available to us all, but also shares how to write and produce your own OER textbooks. We are super excited to share her educational philosophy and knowledge with all of you! 

https://www.skillscommons.org/ Skills Commons

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/ Kindle Direct Publishing

http://bit.ly/NDSCS-Open-Folder Sybil’s Open Folder

In our latest episode of the R3 podcast, Wade and Mary sit down in Zoom with Dr. Ron Ferguson, a Sociology Instructor at Ridgewater College.  This episode’s discussion really concentrates on what it means to want our students and our communities to thrive.  Ron shares his experiences both inside and outside the classroom and how those experiences have shaped his teaching and learning philosophies. Take a few minutes and listen in!

In this episode of R3, Mary and Wade invite in Alissa Martinka, an English and College Success Instructor at Ridgewater College. Our conversation focuses primarily on what teaching looks like at the beginning of our careers, and how it evolves.  We also spend time on learning styles and how understanding our preferences and our students’ preferences can unlock new experiences as both teachers and learners. Join us!

Wade and Mary welcome Breann Wozniak, a biology instructor at Ridgewater College. Breann discusses her ten years of experience as an instructor at Ridgewater and a high school teacher. Her love for biology only matches her passion for teaching. We also discuss her nomination for a BOTA award and the process of being chosen to move forward and represent Ridgewater College at the state level. 

Wade and Mary have a conversation with Emily Koehler about her experiences as a high school chemistry teacher and how those moments guided and transformed her pedagogy as a college instructor at a two-year technical and community college. Emily, in high spirits, talks about the strategies she used to engage her high school students but temporarily abandoned them when making the switch to teaching at Ridgewater College. Shortly after that, Emily comes full circle back to using her tried-and-true methods for successful teaching.

In this installment, Wade and Mary sit down with Amy Jo Maher, an instructor of MMDT (Multimedia Design and Technology).  Amy openly shared with Wade and Mary her first foray into teaching online... and the bomb that it was.  She was convinced that she would never step foot in that delivery mode again.  Fast forward a few years, and Amy is a premier online instructor, and she shared with Wade and Mary how she builds community and engagement in her online classes.   

Episode five opens with a discussion regarding John Benson (Professor of Chemistry) and his desire to “fill the gap” in Kahn Academy’s delivery of chemistry education.  Not really filling the gap for Kahn Academy, but John saw a way that he could design the delivery of material in his Chem classes in much the same way as Kahn Academy.  In our discussion, we also learned about a mentor in John’s life that helped him to learn that “to tinker” is to also learn and teach.  Join us for a wonderful conversation with John.  

Our fourth episode finds Mary and Wade having a conversation with Mike Sieve, a Math faculty member.  What began, for Mike, as a traditional teaching of the college-level progression of math courses, has progressed to teaching more developmental math courses and a rethinking of what math can look like.  We were super excited to talk with him about his new math courses (Quantway) and how they have reshaped his classes and re-visioned his teaching altogether.  

In the third installment of the R3 podcast, Wade and Mary asked new graduate, Bryce Thompson to join them and talk about his experiences with Ridgewater and his learning styles. The discussion focuses mainly on Bryce’s experience in his Ag classes, but he discusses learning during COVID and how his instructors adjusted.  He also shares his learning style and how that impacts the way he comes at his classes, whether on the technical side of the college or in his liberal arts courses.