Teaching in Higher Ed

Malini Johar Schueller unpacks critical race reading and the role of discomfort in the classroom on episode 625 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode tag (full size, Center alignment) and any plain-text quotes, each followed by -Malini Johar Schueller on its own line --> Racism is a permanent structural feature of American society, and law alone, as now we have it, cannot deal with racism because racism is also part of law. -Malini Johar Schueller Critical race reading takes off from that, and it asks, is there a way of reading… that can awaken us to questions of racial privilege and hierarchy, but without us imagining that we have taken over somebody’s place? -Malini Johar Schueller Critical empathy, where you feel for others and you feel the injustice of others, but you also feel differently, you know, differently. -Malini Johar Schueller Some level of discomfort is fine for learning, because if learning doesn’t produce any kind of discomfort, you haven’t moved outside your zone of what you already know. -Malini Johar Schueller Resources Teaching Solidarity: Critical Race Reading, by Malini Johar Schueller Malini Johar Schuel

Denise Maduli-Williams shares how to engage learners in online courses on episode 624 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode tag (full size, Center alignment) and any plain-text quotes, each followed by -Denise Maduli-Williams on its own line --> The very first thing I saw was the online instructor posting this video where she was roller skating in this roller Derby rink and welcoming us online, and that just changed everything for me. -Denise Maduli-Williams When we design with accessibility in mind, we support everyone, all students. -Denise Maduli-Williams Students who are quieter, whether it’s synchronous on Zoom or synchronous in person, they have the opportunity to participate when they’re ready and to prepare. -Denise Maduli-Williams Resources Denise Maduli-Williams at San Diego Miramar College Denise Maduli-Williams on LinkedIn Supporting ADHD Learners, With Karen Costa (Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 384) Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education, by Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling <a href="https://www.oupress.com/9780806

Rebecca Fordon unpacks vibe coding and the eight AI teaching tools she built in a single semester on episode 623 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode tag (full size, Center alignment) and any plain-text quotes, each followed by -Rebecca Fordon on its own line --> Vibe coding, I think of being able to describe the kind of application or website that you want in just words, a narrative, rather than having to code it, knowing coding language. -Rebecca Fordon I think the easiest place to start is in ChatGPT, or Gemini, or Claude Code. -Rebecca Fordon Many of my students have not used it for anything related to law school. Until they get into my class, and then they see there actually are some good, legitimate uses. -Rebecca Fordon If you want to mess with things on your own, you can really just ask AI: How do I do that? Where should I look? -Rebecca Fordon Resources Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: One Semester, Eight Vibe-Coded Teaching Tools AI Law Librarians TokenExplorer <a href="https://www.npr.org/series/700000

Jennifer Wallace shares about her book, Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose on episode 622 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Mattering says you belong at the table, but it goes even further, and it says you would be missed if you weren’t here. You are adding value, and we would notice if you weren’t here. -Jennifer Wallace We have so much input and so much output being demanded of us today that often we go through life on autopilot. -Jennifer Wallace Mattering is not another thing to add to your to-do list. Mattering is a way of looking at your to-do list. -Jennifer Wallace When you look at the data on what drives performance, it is engagement. And what drives engagement is mattering. -Jennifer Wallace Resources Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose, by Jennifer Wallace Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It, by Jennifer Wallace Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert D. Putnam <a href="h

David Perry shares about his new book, The Public Scholar, on episode 621 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Teaching is the most important form of public engagement that any of us do. -David Perry If we are really practiced at teaching, and as we develop our skills as teachers, those are the skills that can also take us into other spaces outside of the classroom. -David Perry Academia is structured around all kinds of failure. Once you recognize that, and then bring yourself into another context where you’re going to experience rejection, you already have the skills to cope with it. -David Perry I think all writers, and certainly in academia, worry a lot about our worst faith readers. How do we not get ripped apart? You have to write for your best faith reader. You have to really shift your focus. -David Perry Resources The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook by David M. Perry Tressie McMillan Cottom Kevin Gannon — The Tattooed Professor Irene Maweu Higher Love Pluribus The Drop Kick Murphys <a href="https://w

Flower Darby shares about being a joyful online teacher on episode 620 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Higher education doesn’t do a great job of preparing faculty to teach, generally speaking, that’s not new, but especially online teaching. -Flower Darby If you’re not a meme person, don’t do that. Something that isn’t authentic to your personality is not going to be effective. -Flower Darby Sometimes you don’t need all the latest bells and whistles; you don’t need the latest iPhone. We can be effective with simpler tools. -Flower Darby We can’t be joyful if we’re always working. -Flower Darby Resources The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes by Flower Darby Michelle Pacansky-Brock The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion, by Sarah Rose Cavanagh Dave Ghidiu Denise Maduli-Williams TextExpander Thor: God of Thunder gets a library card <a href="https://seths.blog/2026/02

Lew Ludwig + Todd Zakrajsek uncover themes from The Science of Learning Meets AI on episode 619 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode We could actually create an educational system. Not so that it deals with the problems we have with AI, but so that those problems are no longer relevant. -Todd Zakrajsek If you don’t have students attention, they can’t learn because if you don’t attend to something, you can’t learn it. -Todd Zakrajsek Keep in mind that you’re the expert. This is your assignment. You know what you’re doing, you know the content, so then you can judge what AI gives you, what works, and what still may need some work. -Lew Ludwig What this gets down to is backward design; we start with the learning goals. We should figure out how to assess them, and then decide if AI fits in that or not. -Lew Ludwig Resources The Science of Learning Meets AI: A Practical Faculty Guide to Purposeful Integration, Student Engagement, and Ethical Practice, by Lewis D. Ludwig & Todd D. Zakrajsek Lilly Conferences: Evidence-Based Teaching & Learning <a href="https://www.tilthighered.com/about/meet-the-tea

Norma Montague shares of her experiences going from awareness to action, interrupting bias in the classroom on episode 618 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode One thing that my work on inclusive teaching focuses on, is really being able to understand your learner’s motivations. -Norma Montague One of the ideas that I learned from a colleague who had recommended a book was the idea of rebranding office hours as student hours. -Norma Montague I think it’s important to help students understand what those student hours are for and how they can get the most out of them. -Norma Montague When students feel safe in the classroom, then they’re going to contribute, invest. That’s when I find that I can really increase their rigor and challenge them more. -Norma Montague Resources Norma Montague at Wake Forrest University Episode 425: Inclusive Teaching with Viji Sathy and Kelly Hogan Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom, by Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy Qui

Teddy Svoronos describes how today’s agentic AI changes what and how we teach on episode 617 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode An AI agent is an LLM that runs tools in a loop to achieve a goal. -Teddy quoting Simon Willison’s definition The process of having a task, write a report, use a tool, web search, and do it over and over again until you feel like you’ve gotten the full sort of spectrum of things—that I think is what an agent really is. -Teddy Svoronos These LLMs are now becoming like this intermediary between me and the actual content. And so I’m optimizing in a different way than I used to. -Teddy Svoronos I think there’s an analogy with these tools that I’ve been thinking of as cognitive debt, which is that as you offload to them, there are things that they’ll do that you won’t quite understand. -Teddy Svoronos Resources Agentic Everything: How the latest set of models changes things, by Teddy Svoronos Course Corrections: Redesigning my course for AI, by Teddy Svoronos Pray, Mr. Babbage, by Teddy Svoronos <a href="https:/

Nancy Chick, Peter Felten, and Katarina Mårtensson share about The SoTL Guide: (Re)Orienting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning on episode 616 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode We see SOTL as simply inquiry into teaching and learning for the purposes of improving teaching and learning in context and then contributing to what we know about teaching and learning in support of the broader aims of higher education. -Nancy Chick What I usually say when I speak to colleagues and academics who are sort of starting a SOTL journey is to start small, small steps, and whatever is a low threshold. -Katarina Mårtensson I can’t go through this book and say who wrote this sentence or this section or whose idea this part was, because it really is a product of the three of us. -Peter Felten Resources The SoTL Guide: (Re)Orienting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, by Nancy L. Chick, Peter Felten, and Katarina Mårtensson Human Synergistics Dan Bernstein, Nancy Chick, Pat Hutchings, and Gary Poole Share Strategies for “Going Public” with SoTL <a href="https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/books/the-sotl-guide/b

Matthew Mahavongtrakul and Bonni Stachowiak have a conversation about being kind to our future selves on episode 615 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Not everything that comes your way is an emergency. Not everything that comes your way has to demand your immediate attention. -Matthew Mahavongtrakul Once you are comfortable with your system and you’re iterating, it actually starts to become second nature, not only to professional life, but to personal life as well. -Matthew Mahavongtrakul An exercise that I did with my supervisor once was to actually go through each of these tasks and to see what I thought was high priority, was it actually high priority for the job that I was in? -Matthew Mahavongtrakul   Resources Karen Costa’s LinkedIn Post About the Ink & Volt Planning Dashboard Notsu Eisenhower Matrix Episode 407: Unpacking Resilience and Grief with Chinasa Elue, Laura Howard, and Este Jordan (they share about each of their “pandemic dirty words” on this episode) <a href="[https://goblin.tools/ToDo](https://goblin.tools/T

Bonni Stachowiak shares how to keep your Personal Knowledge Mastery (PKM) real simple with RSS on episode 614 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Rather than get that overwhelmed feeling of how hard it’s going to be to keep up, I don’t have to, and neither do you. Enter RSS, Real Simple Syndication. -Bonni Stachowiak It’s pretty spectacular how, if somebody knows about RSS, and they’ve subscribed to a blog or a website, how you can find people that you have a lot in common with, and get going with your curiosity. -Bonni Stachowiak It’s amazing what happens when, before we start trying to lecture or share information,  we ask people to predict something. Even if they end up predicting incorrectly, there still is that connection where we’ve piqued their curiosity. -Bonni Stachowiak Resources Why Isn’t RSS More Popular By Now, by Bonni Stachowiak Real Simple Syndication, by Harold Jarche Inoreader Unread App The Indispensable Digital Research Tool I can Say, Withou

Marc Watkins shares about cultivating skepticism and curiosity in an age of AI on Episode 613 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I do think online education is going to be the focal point for this next year, and how it can survive with an agentic AI. My feeling is, we need to be offering students more embodied experiences and disembodied spaces. -Marc Watkins Every technology has its affordances and the things that are negative about it too; your cell phone, the computer, the fact we’re talking about this right now on the systems that we are using, cloud computing, that all has a cost. -Marc Watkins For an incoming freshman student in college to take 4 or 5 classes and have 4 or 5 very different AI policies, 4 or 5 very different understandings of what AI is, it is incredibly confusing. -Marc Watkins Resources Sesame Street: One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others) What We Give Up When We Let AI Decide: Automation Is Easy. Judgment Is Not, by Marc Watkins Working with AI is more Mindset than Skill, by Marc Watkins <li

Lynn Meade uncovers how to make learning visible with portfolios on episode 612 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast Quotes from the episode An ePortfolio is basically a curated collection of student work. It includes reflection, and it’s usually across the college experience. -Lynn Meade Anytime I teach portfolios, it’s really big that we talk about audience and purpose. Who is your audience and what is your purpose? -Lynn Meade There’s something particularly lovely about seeing student or faculty members’ written comments about my work. Both the critiques and those comments that build me up, and how very powerful they are, and how much they mean to me. -Lynn Meade It’s not about the tech. The most important thing is, am I writing? Am I able to think about myself? Am I able to reflect about myself? -Lynn Meade Resources Building a Professional Portfolio (OER Book) by Lynn Meade University of Arkansas Student Portfolios (portfolio.uark.edu) Award-Winning ePortfolios Highlight Student Talent and Career Readiness Fulbright College Team Outlines ePortfolio Initiative</l

Danny Mann shares about fostering peace, joy, and community in teaching and leading on episode 611 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Great teaching, and I think great life, is this adaptive, responsive thing, pulling out the bugs or getting things back in balance. -Danny Mann Peace and joy are really interrelated, and I gravitated a lot towards these, as I spent time studying and practicing mindfulness practices. -Danny Mann If you discover your why, you could basically feel much more energized and joyful about what you do, if you align your life with that. -Danny Mann Giving students space to speak and share ups and downs. So the ironic leading by listening. -Danny Mann Resources University of California Irvine’s Division of Teaching Excellence & Innovation Find Your Why, by Simon Sinek How to Debug Your Life, by JA Westenberg Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices, by Thich Nhat Hanh Pedagogical Wellness | UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to

Mike Cross shares about his experiments (big and small) in teaching and learning on episode 610 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode The reason I did it is because I just wanted to better understand what my students were going through. -Mike Cross I love that, that idea of tiny experiments. I think that that is absolutely critical because we’re all so busy. -Mike Cross Anytime you can put yourself in someone else’s shoes, it makes you a better person, right? Whether that’s a better teacher, a better spouse, a better friend, a better citizen, anything. -Mike Cross Resources Episode 106: Undercover Professor with Mike Cross Snow College Coaching for Leaders Episode 747: How to Get Out of a Rut, with Anne-Laure Le Cunff What Baby George and Handstands Taught Me About Learning, created by Mike Wesch Francesca and the Genie of Science, by Mike Cross Living with Grief: A Poem for Those Who Are Grieving, by Christy Albright The Sweetne

Theresa Duong on episode 609 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode “All we’re really trying to do is create these conditions that can help our students flourish and thrive within our classrooms while maintaining the rigor of our work.” – Theresa Duong “I felt like I could thrive in my PhD program because I had these people who kept pushing me to go and kept pushing me to take care of myself.” – Theresa Duong “Pedagogy, the formal definition in my mind, is this art and science of teaching and learning.” – Theresa Duong “To me, wellness is really about thriving and flourishing in the work that you’re doing.” – Theresa Duong Resources Pedagogical Wellness | UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation Pedagogical Wellness: A New Direction in Educational Development by Theresa Huong (Theresa) Duong, Andrea Aebersold, + Matthew Mahavongtrakul Okanagan Charter UCI Health Promoting University Pedagogical Wellness Day Artmakers Club with Lisa Bardow Calm Strips <l

Sheila Tabanli shares ways to overcome the curse of expertise and other ways to be inclusive in our teaching on episode 608 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast Quotes from the episode “I suggest, sign up to a course that you have no idea, and then we’ll talk later. In other words, feel what it means to be a novice.” – Sheila Tabanli “An expert in a field doesn’t necessarily mean they will be able to effectively teach that content.” – Sheila Tabanli “There are differences between how experts and novices look at this content.” – Sheila Tabanli “We can still slow down. We can still show how an expert solves a math problem without sacrificing from the rigor or the content.” – Sheila Tabanli Resources Guidebook for Reducing the Novice-to-Expert Perception Gap in Mathematics to Increase STEM Diversity, by Sheila Tabanli Minding the Perception Gap in College Math Classrooms and Beyond, by Sheila Tabanli for Inside Higher Ed Last-Day Activities Ideas from Sheila Tabanli, Featured In The Chronicle of Higher Education Teaching Newsletter Fostering Active Learning and Metacognitive Skills in a Cognitive-Science Based Math Cours

Josh Brake shares metaphors and other ethical considerations regarding AI on Episode 607 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode “When you’re moving fast, it’s really easy to do things unreflectively and to make a poor decision without even realizing it.” -Josh Brake “The special thing about bicycles, at least in their non-electronic versions, is that they’re totally human-powered. So it’s all based on the energy that you put in, and it’s just transforming that energy, to make you more efficient and be able to move faster.” -Josh Brake “When you have something like an E bike, that augmentation can be used in a variety of different ways, so it can be used to actually extend your capacity.” -Josh Brake “It’s really this question about what’s the intention that you’re bringing to the technology when you come to the tool, what are the questions that you’re asking? And fundamentally, it’s a question of purpose and intention. Why are you using this?” -Josh Brake Resources An E-Bike for the Mind: E-Bikes and What They Can Teach Us About AI, by Josh Brake I Grew Up Oblivious About Grades. It Ruined Me. Now I’m on a Mission to Ruin You too, by Josh Brake <a href="https://joshbrake.substack.com/p/the-moral-hazards-of-ai-are-closer-than-you-real

Karen Costa shares about An Educator’s Guide to ADHD on Episode 606 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Curiosity is just this sort of force of nature. So tap in to your students creativity, your students passions and interests as a way to support them in reaching and achieving those challenges that you also hold for them. -Karen Costa That’s a heavy thing for folks with ADHD to carry, that we are a burden on the other students in the classroom, that we are a burden on our teachers. And that is simply not true. -Karen Costa What we know now is that many times those are what are called stims in neurodivergent and ADHD and autistic communities. And those are actually a way that a lot of folks help themselves to stay present and regulated in their bodies so that they can direct their attention to the teacher or to the task at hand. -Karen Costa The best thing we can do to make the course real is as an instructor to be present in that online course. -Karen Costa Resources An Educator’s Guide to ADHD: Designing and Teaching for Student Success, by Karen Costa 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos: A Guide for Online Teachers and Flipped Classes, by

José Bowen shares about the second edition of Teaching with AI on episode 605 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I do think that we are going to have to figure out how to focus on student learning in an era where students have this new technology that will short-circuit the learning we want. -José Bowen My advice to people is that I know we’re overwhelmed, so don’t ask AI to do something you love. Ask AI to do something that you hate. -José Bowen The real problem with AI privacy is that now we have a tool that can mine all that, right?  I’m more worried about AI as a tool for analysis and observation, and how that’s going to change the world in which we live. -José Bowen I think the potential is, you’re probably going to get more bias because people are going to use AI poorly. And so bias and privacy are two categories of ugly that are pretty big. -José Bowen   Resources Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning, second edition, by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson We Teach with AI Website Brilliant (courses Bonni ment

Bryan Alexander shares about Peak Higher Ed on episode 604 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast Quotes from the episode “It’s another form of thinking, it’s another form of organizing information and that we have to treat it seriously as such. The computer scientist actually recommends that we think about generative AI as children. These are AIs that have some degree of autonomy and they’re also not very wise in the world yet, and we have to train and rear them up.” – Bryan Alexander “So if AI is bubble, if it turns out to be a bubble and it pops, this might be bad news for the entire economy.” – Bryan Alexander “The problem of how do we actually figure out what people are doing with AI within post secondary education? That’s a really great challenge because if you polled people, they have all kinds of great incentives to not respond accurately.” – Bryan Alexander Resources Peak Higher Ed, by Bryan Alexander: How to Survive the Looming Academic Crisis, by Bryan Alexander Bryan Alexander’s Website Maha Bali’s Blog On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Mo

Matthew Mahavongtrakul shares about active learning that engages all learners on episode 603 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode You don’t need to change your entire course tomorrow. What is one simple thing that you can do that will push you on the path? – Matthew Mahavongtrakul “The number one kind of piece of pushback that I get from faculty is I just simply cannot cover everything.” – Matthew Mahavongtrakul “I think at the crux of it, it is the shift in mentality between us as being, as we say, the sage on the stage to being a facilitator in the classroom.” – Matthew Mahavongtrakul Resources UC Irvine Division of Teaching Excellence & Innovation’s Active Learning Institute Stephen Brookfield Todd Zakrajsek You Care About It, Do It in Class: Why faculty members need to shift the balance of class time from first exposure to skills practice Why Students Resist Learning with Anton Tolman on Episode 171 Notsu Notes Lily

C. Edward Watson shares about navigating AI’s rapid transformation in higher ed on episode 602 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I never include AI in the beginning of my processes. -C. Edward Watson There’s a lot of incremental shifts, but the increments are quite large. -C. Edward Watson I would argue that maybe this is the first time in the history of higher education that we have learning outcomes that are at war with one another. -C. Edward Watson We’ve never built a curriculum for something that’s changing so quickly. We’re being asked to keep up with this rate of change in a meaningful way that actually serves our students well. -C. Edward Watson Resources Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning, by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson Teaching with AI Website (Including Free Resources) AAC&U Artificial Intelligence Resources AAC&U Teaching with AI Workshops AAC&U Report: The Agility Imperative: How Employers View Preparation for an Uncertain Future Wharton School of Business Survey:

Christopher Ostro discusses the AI grief cycle on episode 601 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode The fact is there are things we’re grieving. Our job has profoundly changed in huge ways in a very short period of time. -Christopher Ostro Our traditional assessments suddenly are not working effectively like we used to think that they did. -Christopher Ostro I want my students to view me as a resource and as someone that they can trust. -Christopher Ostro When something makes me uncomfortable, I want to lean in and understand it better. -Christopher Ostro Resources AI Grief Cycle Talk for CU, by Christoper Ostro Slides for Chris’ AI Grief Cycle Talk Mosaic Approach Docs from Christopher Ostro Swiss Cheese (or Roumy Cheese) Model for Assessment/Assignments Swiss Cheese Analogy for COVID-19 – Rumi Cheese Analogy for Inclusive Education, by Maha Bal

Dave Stachowiak joins Bonni to explore 6 pedagogical practices from 600 episodes on episode 600 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode When we stop aiming for perfection, we allow ourselves to then be fully present for others. -Bonni Stachowiak Practice 1: Start and end small. Practice 2: Build courses around curiosity, not coverage. Practice 3: Prioritize presence over perfection. Practice 4: Focus on relationships. Practice 5: Remember what is yours to do and what is not yours to do. Practice 6: Focus on becoming. -Bonni Stachowiak Resources Episodes with James Lang Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, 2nd Edition, by James M. Lang Episodes with Tracie Addy Who’s in Class Form Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education, by T

David Gooblar shares how better teaching can make college more equitable on episode 599 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Most of our scars are hidden. I think most of the time people don’t see the scars that we carry. -David Gooblar We get such a small window into our students lives. -David Gooblar The imaginary idea of the college student in America is of a privileged student. And that’s just not the case when we talk about American college students today. -David Gooblar We need to work to earn their trust, to convince our students that we’re working for them, that our job is to help them develop, learn, and grow. -David Gooblar Resources One Classroom at a Time: How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable, by David Gooblar Pedagogy Unbound: Weekly Thoughts on College Teaching from David Gooblar Stereotype Threat Tuckman’s Stages of Team Formation Episode 585: Toward Socially Just Teaching with Bryan Dewsbury The Mentor’s Dilemma: Providing Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide, by Geoffrey L. Cohen, Claude M. Steele, & Lee

Jeff Young shares clips from his Learning Curve Podcast regarding AI in higher education on episode 598 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode It is crazy to think of how much we’ve all learned about generative AI just in the last couple years. -Jeff Young I’ve been really interested in how students are thinking through AI and where their perspectives are. There is not one student view. You can find students that think all kinds of things. -Jeff Young Students are very aware of AI and they’re also very aware of how it’s changing the job market that they might enter. -Jeff Young One danger of these tools is that they give you such instant gratification. There’s a hit of dopamine. -Jeff Young Students are using AI tools, not just for academics. They’re experimenting with AI. -Jeff Young Resources Learning Curve Podcast Paul LeBlanc Maha Bali Students ‘will spend 25 years on their mobiles’ in The Times, by Mark Sellman Google NotebookLM <a href="https://te

Bonni Stachowiak shares about her card game, Go Somewhere: A game of metaphors, AI, and what comes next on episode 597 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode A lot of you have been asking me about this game that I’ve played now and facilitated at over 10 universities and conferences called Go Somewhere. -Bonni Stachowiak What the game allows people to do is to be a little bit playful, laugh, and smile as we explore very serious things. -Bonni Stachowiak It can be helpful to have a map when we think about all of the different ways that artificial intelligence might impact our teaching. -Bonni Stachowiak The other issue that comes up a lot as we start talking about artificial intelligence is how often it bumps up against our sense of identity. -Bonni Stachowiak Continue to learn, reflect, and keep moving. Go somewhere. -Bonni Stachowiak Resources Assistant, Parrot, or Colonizing Loudspeaker? ChatGPT Metaphors for Developing Critical AI Literacies, by Anuj Gupta, Yasser Atef, Anna Mills, & Maha Bali Teaching in Higher Ed AI Resources and Episodes All Aboard – Digital Skills Map (Ireland) Where are the crescents in AI? by Maha Bali <a href="https://blog.mahab

Christy Albright + Clarissa Sorensen Unruh share about teaching, learning, and the lessons of grief on episode 596 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Take two deep breaths. -Clarissa Sorensen Unruh None of the books that I researched on grief actually defined grief. It’s like they just assumed you knew what it was because it’s such a universal experience, but it’s not universally experienced by everybody in the same way. -Christy Albright Anticipatory grief is when you know something is coming and you’re already grieving that situation. -Christy Albright People assume that grief gets smaller, and actually we grow around it. -Clarissa Sorensen Unruh The big griefs in my life stay forever. -Christy Albright Resources Bonni fact checks her anecdote about birds Fractals: Is Hasan Smarter than a 13-year-old Math Genius Peter Felten: Can We Teach Curiosity? Resources for Grieving (Christy’s website) Capsule Ish, by Peter H. Reynolds <span

Roberta Hawkins + Leslie Kern share about their book, Higher Expectations: How to Survive Academia, Make it Better for Others, and Transform the University on episode 595 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode We advise lots of different ways of rethinking our relationship with work in the book. -Roberta Hawkins You can’t solve institutional problems with individual sacrifices. -Leslie Kern We are not cogs in an institutional machine. -Roberta Hawkins One of the challenges, is the idea that our work is kind of a calling. It’s a passion project. The institution knows that we love our work and that we are passionate about our students and that we care about bringing great ideas to fruition in the world, so it will extract every little drop of that from you in terms of your time and energy. -Leslie Kern Invisibilized labor is an equity issue as well as a workload issue. -Roberta Hawkins Resources Higher Expectations: How to Survive Academia, Make It Better for Others, and Transform the University, by Roberta Hawkins and Leslie Kern What you didn’t learn in class: Revealing the hidden curriculum, by Lindsay Vreeland, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Northern Illinois University Beyond Anxi

Dave Stachowiak joins Bonni in remembering Ken Bain on episode 594 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Ken Bain was such good company to me and to countless people from around the world. -Bonni Stachowiak While I didn’t ever have a chance to meet him or talk to him, I’m so glad for everything Ken did, all his writing, and how he’s inspired a new generation of leadership and faculty development in higher education to have a conversation that was really needed. -Dave Stachowiak Resources Post: James Lang Shares About Ken Bain’s Passing Obituary of Kenneth R. Bain Episode 36: What the Best College Teachers Do with Ken Bain Episode 100: The Failure Episode Episode 146: James Lang and Ken Bain on Motivation in the Classroom Johannes Haushofer CV of Failures <a href="https:/

Carter Moulton shares about his Analog Inspiration (AI) card deck and human centered AI in the classroom on episode 593 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I’m here to talk a little bit about the Analog Inspiration card deck, which really is a professional development resource under the guise of a game. -Carter Moulton I wanted to create something that would bring faculty together and talk with each other and wrestle with these moral and ethical questions. -Carter Moulton Those three questions underneath at the bottom of the card are really just trying to foster that critical thinking with students about what it is they’re making and what it is they’re doing and how they’re engaging with AI. -Carter Moulton I hope we don’t abandon the decades of research that has shown the benefits of peer learning, of caring, belonging, and relationships in the classroom. -Carter Moulton Resources Analog Inspiration Card Deck How to Play Free Google Sheet for Discussions Buy – Analog Inspiration Card Deck <

Barbara Oakley shares about her course, Speak Freely, Think Critically, and gives practical advice about teaching on episode 592 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode If you look at free speech from a historical and neuroscientific perspective, you can get a much better sense of people’s motivations and the continuing patterns that we see through history of people being really pro free speech until it affects them. -Barbara Oakley Really intelligent people find it very hard to be flexible, to change their mind. -Barbara Oakley Learning is hard. Your job as a professor, as a teacher, is to help make it understandable, to help make it easier. -Barbara Oakley Resources Speak Freely, Think Critically: The Free Speech Balance Act Sway.AI Barbara Oakley – Coursera Instructor Profile Learning How to Learn Think Critically: Deductive Reasoning and Mental Models Barbara Oakley’s Website Barbara Oakley – Wikipedia <a href="https://www.academyofideas.uk/p/the-hidden-neurosc

Simon Cullen + Danny Oppenheimer help us rethink student attendance policies toward deeper engagement and learning on episode 591 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode There’s a lot of evidence that coming to class is one of the best things a student can do to facilitate their learning and performance in class. -Danny Oppenheimer You can make students attend, and most faculty do. They set attendance as mandatory. And then students attend and they learn because they attend. But they also hate you, and they hate the subject and they hate everything to do with the class. -Danny Oppenheimer If you give people choices, sometimes they make bad choices. Scaffolding choices can help people make choices that actually align with their preferences more effectively. -Danny Oppenheimer Students love being treated like adults. They love having choice. Everybody loves having choice. People don’t like other people telling them what to do. -Danny Oppenheimer In some sense students have a preference to attend class. And in some sense they have a preference to not attend class. Those preferences can coexist in some way. -Simon Cullen Resources Choosing to learn: The importance of student autonomy in higher education, by Simon Cullen and Daniel Oppenheimer <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co

Mike Caulfield shares about using AI as a co-reasoning partner and his Deep Background tool on episode 590 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Critical thinking problems with students turn out to be critical doing problems. -Mike Caulfield AI doesn’t naturally think in terms of provenance, in terms of how it got this piece of information. It’s a little bit of a bolt on afterthought. -Mike Caulfield Searching for information is a journey. How can we get the benefits of AI but still preserve that feeling of a journey? -Mike Caulfield I’m working on this issue of follow ups with AI. It is magic to get students to think of these responses as not a single transaction. They’re coaching the AI through a process, not to get a specific answer that they want, but to look at the sorts of sources that matter for the question. -Mike Caulfield Resources Deep Background: A “Superprompt” to change the way you use LLMs Reading the Room with SIFT Toolbox New SIFT Toolbox Release (Substack) SIFT Method (The Four Moves) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Verified-Straight-Better-Decisions-Believe/dp/0

The Richness of Podcasting in Higher Education, with Dom Conroy and Warren Kidd. Quotes from the episode There’s so many different ways to capture people’s imagination through an audio feed. -Dom Conroy When we’re creating podcasts, we are putting ourselves on the line. -Dom Conroy Education is a relational experience. -Warren Kidd The act of teaching is reflective and reflexive. -Warren Kidd Resources Using Podcasts to Cultivate Learner–Teacher Rapport in Higher Education Settings, by Dominic Conroy & Warren Kidd Optimizing Practitioner-Delivered Podcasts as Learning and Teaching Tools in Higher Education: Learner and Teacher Viewpoints, by Dom Conroy and Warren Kidd International Podcast Day Planet Money Episode 216: How Four Drinking Buddies Saved Brazil S-Town Podcast: Chapter 1 BBC Radio Walkman <a href="https://castbox.fm/app/castbox/player/id2045137?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=dlin

Emily Pitts Donahoe shares what we can learn about grades from an “emerging failure” on episode 588 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode They introduced a framework that attempts to identify the common features of alternative grading for growth systems that are meant to prioritize student growth and student learning over just grades and performance. -Emily Donahoe Those four pillars are marks that indicate progress, reattempts without penalty, clearly defined standards, and helpful feedback. -Emily Donahoe One of the most important functions of grades or marks given on individual assignments is to communicate to students about how they’re progressing in a certain subject. Traditional grades don’t serve this communicative function very well. -Emily Donahoe Resources Unmaking the Grade, Emily Pitts Donahoe’s blog and reflective journal chronicling one educator’s experiences with ungrading and other progressive teaching practices Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices That Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education, by Robert Talbert & David Clark Grading for Growth <a

M. C. Flux uncovers lessons for video creation from what he calls layered learning on episode 587 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I’ve also started creating these little quiz questions in them, but they’re not hard. They’re just to keep their attention going. -M. C. Flux Many students seem to enjoy this and actually learn well from it, so I keep doing it. -M. C. Flux I think these students struggle so much with attention that bringing them back with a really simple question just helps. -M. C. Flux The fact that students have shorter attention spans is still something we need to pay attention to. I don’t think it’s as bad as people say, but it is actually still a big piece of how I design instruction. -M. C. Flux A lot of students are used to rewatching things that they enjoy. -M. C. Flux Resources Video: Education as Content, by Dr. Flux The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters, by Priya Parker Preferences vs. What Works, by Robert Talbert Song: Leave it Like it Is, by David Wilcox  Episode

Seth Offenbach shares about his article, Kindness and Community in an Online Asynchronous Classroom, on episode 586 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I had to recognize the reality that my classroom was never going to be the number one priority for people during the pandemic. -Seth Offenbach When we teach, why not be kind? -Seth Offenbach My goal is to challenge my students intellectually. My goal is not to stress them out. -Seth Offenbach We all miss deadlines. -Seth Offenbach In order to truly be kind, you have to create a safe space for the students where they feel that they can come to you, talk to you and learn with you. -Seth Offenbach Resources Kindness and Community in an Online Asynchronous Classroom, by Seth Offenbach Currents in Teaching and Learning – January 2025 edition Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto, by Kevin M. Gannon The Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool: A First Step in Doing Social Justice Pedagogy, by Sherria D. Taylor and Maria J. Veri Feeling Better: A Year without Deadlines, by Doreen Thierauf <a href="htt

Bryan Dewsbury helps us explore what socially just teaching might look like across disciplines on episode 585 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I am not interested in being in a war with AI. I’m not trying to be a faculty detective to see who’s using ChatGPT or not, I didn’t sign up for that work. -Bryan Dewsbury I’m not your enemy. I’m not against you. I’m rooting for you every single day. I really mean that. -Bryan Dewsbury The things I say on day one are not going to mean anything over the course of the semester if I don’t give them feedback in a reasonable time or if I’m rude when they answer a question wrong in class. -Bryan Dewsbury The way in which we can interact around this material doesn’t have to be one that’s dictatorial. -Bryan Dewsbury You don’t have to be able to save the world, but you’re obligated to try, right? And so the whole key behind that is in trying, you almost by definition achieve more. -Bryan Dewsbury Resources Toward a Humanist and Agentic Paradigm of Inclusive Teaching—Lessons from the United States Civil Rights Era for College Pedagogy, by Bryan M. Dewsbury This I Believe – Essay Guidelines <a href="https://wwnorton.com/boo

Danny Liu shares a different way to think about AI and assessment on episode 584 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Our students are presented with this massive array of things they could choose from. They may not know the right things to choose or the best things to choose. And our role as educators is to kind of guide them in trying to find the most healthy options from the menu to choose from. -Danny Liu People want to give their students clarity. They want to give their students a bit of guidance on how to approach AI, what is going to be helpful for them for learning and not helpful for learning. -Danny Liu There is no way to really know if the rules that you’re putting in place are going to be followed by students, and it doesn’t mean that we need to detect them or surveil them more when they’re doing their assignments. -Danny Liu We need to accept the reality that students could be using AI in ways that we don’t want them to be using AI if they’re not in front of us. -Danny Liu Not everyone lies. Most of our students want to do the right thing. They want to learn, but they have the temptation of AI there that is saying, I can do this work for you. Just click, just chat with me. -Danny Liu Our role as teachers is not to be cops, it’s to teach and therefore to be in a position where we can trust you and help you make the right choice. -Danny Liu

James Lang shares about his latest book, Write Like You Teach, on episode 583 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Answers on their own are not interesting. They become interesting when we know the questions behind them. -James Lang When you take a reader on a journey, as the reader works through an essay or book that you’ve written, they spend a lot of time with you. -James Lang Be attentive to the person that you are on the page to the reader. -James Lang Start right now. That’s the most important thing. -James Lang Resources Write Like You Teach: Taking Your Classroom Skills to a Bigger Audience by James M. Lang Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James M. Lang Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty by James M. Lang The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean <

Adriana Aldana shares about Counterstory Pedagogy: Student Letters of Resilience, Healing, and Resistance on episode 582 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode One of our ethical obligations as social workers is to engage in self care to avoid burnout. -Adriana Aldana Their voice really comes through in the letter format in ways that I don’t see in other forms of writing. I encourage them to loosen up a little bit with what they think I am expecting them to write about or how to write. -Adriana Aldana Resources Counterstory Pedagogy: Student Letters of Resilience, Healing, and Resistance, by Adriana Aldana Rest as Resistance, by Trisha Hersey Rest as Resistance card deck Episode 195: Considering Open Education with an Interdisciplinary Lens with Robin DeRosa Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times, by Caro de Robertis Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory, by Aja Y. Martinez <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/791

Alexandra (Ana) Kogl shares about her chaper in Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education on episode 581 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I didn’t expect to find joy in the classroom when I started teaching political science 20 years ago. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl Joy isn’t something that we can coerce out of students. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl They seem to expect to feel dead inside in the classroom, which is heartbreaking. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl The opposite of joy isn’t suffering, it’s numbness. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl People survive injustice and they thrive. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl Resources Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education: Uplifting Teaching & Learning for All, edited by Eileen Camfield Ross Gay Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity, by Michael S. Kimmel SIFT Audre Lorde Martin Luther King Jr. Mike Caulfield <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Leslie Bayers discusses her chapter in Joy-Centered Pedagogy: The Joy of Embodied Learning on episode 580 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I certainly wasn’t taught body literacy in school, and what I mean by that is how to read the internal signals that the body might be communicating. -Leslie Bayers We feel and think better when we move. -Leslie Bayers I try to get students moving or engaged with sensory textures as much as possible to spark learning. -Leslie Bayers How we feel absolutely shapes if and how we learn. And many of us feel this in our bodies. -Leslie Bayers Learning is incredibly hard work. It’s one of the things that does drain the body of energy. -Leslie Bayers Resources Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education: Uplifting Teaching & Learning for All, edited by Eileen Camfield Katy Bowman Episode 505: How Role Clarity and Boundaries Can Help Us Thrive with Karen Costa Scope of Practice Template, developed by Karen Costa An Educator’s Scope of Practice: How Do I Know What’s Mine?, Karen Costa’s Chapter in Trauma-Informed Pedag

Jennifer Baumgartner shares some lessons in love and learning from Mr. Rogers’ legacy on episode 579 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Mr. Rodgers was a very comforting influence as a young child. -Jennifer Baumgartner Moving slowly or taking your time is a very key theme of Mr. Rogers neighborhood, and also Fred Rogers’ life and the way he lived it. -Jennifer Baumgartner He didn’t shy away from talking about difficult subjects. -Jennifer Baumgartner “Anything that is mentionable is manageable.” -Jennifer Baumgartner, quoting Fred Rogers Resources Fred Rogers Institute Fred Rogers Institute at Saint Vincent College The Neighborhood of Make-Believe You don’t have to wait for the clock to strike to start teaching, by Peter Newbury Go Somewhere: Reimagining Technology in Education for a Better Tomorrow, Bonni Stachowiak’s Keynote at LSU’s Faculty Colloquium Speaking Freddish: How to Sound Like Mister Rogers, by Alexei Novak <a href="https

Karen Costa describes learning to teach, design, and rest on episode 578 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Gardening is something I’ve tried and failed at many times. I don’t know if it’s something you can win or fail at. -Karen Costa There’s a ton of research on our mental health and well being and what green spaces can do for us. -Karen Costa The mindset is learning from nature rather than learning about nature. -Karen Costa Nature is really, really good at resting. -Karen Costa Resilience is born of rest, of hibernating, of knowing that we’ve got to kind of go down into the ground, into the earth, in those seasons of quiet and peace in order to begin again and rejuvenate. -Karen Costa Diversity is the foundation of life. Diversity is strength. -Karen Costa Resources Biomimicry Checklist Karen’s Final Biomimicry Presentation Biomimicry Life’s Principles The Native Plant Trust Kerry Mandalak on Teaching in Higher Ed Biomimicry – Janine Benyus Learn Biomimicry</li

Jessamyn Neuhaus shares about her book, SNAFU Edu: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom, on episode 577 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Human beings make mistakes. We make mistakes as part of learning. We make mistakes just being in the world. -Jessamyn Neuhaus Academia generally attracts people with perfectionist tendencies. -Jessamyn Neuhaus Sometimes there is no positive outcome when something goes wrong. Sometimes things just get messed up because people are human. -Jessamyn Neuhaus Inadvertently we have a subtext that teaching is somehow perfectible. Teaching and learning will never ever be perfectible. -Jessamyn Neuhaus Resources Snafu Edu: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom, by Jessamyn Neuhaus Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) at Syracuse University Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning, by Jessamyn Neuhaus Geeky Pedagogy, by Jessamyn Neuhaus Manly Meals and Mom’s Home Cooking: Cookbooks and Gender in Modern America, by Jessamyn Neuhaus

Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna share about their book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want on episode 576 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode What’s going on with the phrase artificial intelligence is not that it means something else than what we’re using it to mean, it’s that it doesn’t have a proper referent in the world. -Emily M. Bender There’s a much broader range of people who can have opinions on AI. -Alex Hanna The boosters say AI is a thing. It’s inevitable, it’s imminent, it’s going to be super powerful, and it’s going to solve all of our problems. And the doomers say AI is a thing, it’s inevitable, it’s imminent, it’s going to be super powerful, and it’s going to kill us all. And you can see that there’s actually not a lot of daylight between those two positions, despite the discourse of saying these are two opposite ends of a spectrum. -Emily M. Bender Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. -Alex Hannay Resources The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want, by E