Intentional Teaching, a show about teaching in higher education

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

Today on the podcast, I’m excited to welcome Jessa Roisen, professor of philosophy at St. Ambrose University. Jessa teaches those intro to philosophy courses with really challenging primary sources—Plato and Kant and Descartes and the like. She’s seen her students struggle with those readings, and it’s changed her approach to teaching these courses. She provides a lot of support and scaffolding for her students, both before and during class.

This episode of Intentional Teaching was produced in partnership with Top Hat, and joining the conversation is Donna Battista, managing director for learning solutions at Top Hat. Donna partners with educators across higher ed, helping them use the Top Hat platform to address the teaching challenges they face.

In today’s episode, Donna and Jessa share their perspectives on the challenge of teaching students to read hard things, and they offer both philosophical and practical responses to that challenge.

Episode Resources

·       Jessa Roisen’s faculty page

·       Donna Battista’s LinkedIn page

·       Top Hat

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

The total number of students enrolled in US higher education institutions grew steadily in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. However that total peaked in 2011 at around 18 million students. It’s been declining ever since. You can imagine some of what that means—fewer students means less tuition, which means fewer faculty and staff and the closure of colleges and universities. US higher ed has been on the downhill across multiple measures for about 15 years now.

That decline is the focus of Bryan Alexander’s new book Peak Higher Ed. If a whole book on the crash of higher ed sounds grim, well, there’s some hope in the subtitle of Bryan’s book: How to Survive the Looming Academic Crisis. See, Bryan Alexander is a futurist—his work helps us imagine what might come next for higher ed and what steps we can take to navigate those challenges. I’m excited to have Bryan, who is also a senior scholar at Georgetown university, on the podcast today. We talk about the methods that futurists use in their work, the shape of higher ed’s current decline, the possible futures of generative AI and how higher ed might respond, and lots more.  

Episode Resources

Peak Higher Ed by Bryan Alexander

Bryan Alexander’s website

The Future Trends Forum

Bryan’s other books

Bryan’s 2020 appearances on the Leading Lines podcast

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

A few years ago, it was pretty easy for math educators to ignore generative AI. The chatbots of 2022 and 2023 were notoriously bad at math. But that’s no longer true! Today’s frontier AI models are very good at math—to the point of proving mathematical conjectures that have been open for decades. 

Today on the show, I have a roundtable of math faculty sharing what AI-aware mathematics teaching looks like here in 2026. Our roundtable guests are Lew Ludwig (Denison University), Chloe Lewis (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire), Amy Langville, and Kathryn Pedings-Behling (both of the College of Charleston). 

Episode Resources

The Science of Learning Meets AI by Lew Ludwig and Todd Zakrajsek (2026)

Chloe Lewis’ website, https://www.chloelewis.net/ 

Teaching Mathematics with Generative AI Google Group

Episode 10. Deconstructing Calculus with Amy Langville and Kathryn Pedings-Behling (April 5, 2023)

Deconstruct Calculus Project

Episode 85. In-Class Writing with James Seitz (March 10, 2026)

“Types of Students’ Justifications” by Larry Sowder and Guershon Harel in The Mathematics Teacher (1998)

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil (2017)

“The Agents Are Waking Up” by Marc Humphries on Generative History (April 17, 2026)

Episode 11. Generative AI in Computer Science with Brett Becker (April 18, 2023)

“Computer-Based Maths: The Change” by Conrad Wolfram 

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

The Civic Engagement & Voting Rights Teacher Scholars program serves as an avenue for faculty to work together to create classroom teaching materials – by faculty, for faculty – to support a thriving American democracy. The Teacher Scholars are recruited and supported from across the nation to work in cross-institutional, cross-disciplinary, humanities and arts-based faculty learning communities. The Teacher Scholars design, create, and disseminate openly licensed pedagogical materials for use in college courses nationwide.

Today's guests are the co-directors of the program, Bridget Trogden, dean of undergraduate education and academic student services and professor of education at American University, and James Burns, professor of history at Clemson University, as well as two program participants: Megan VanGorder, assistant professor of history at Illinois State University, and Nafisa Nipun Tanjeem, associate professor of interdisciplinary studies at Worcester State University.

We have a lively conversation about the importance of teaching civic engagement in the year 2026, the strategies that these faculty use to engage students in these challenging topics, and the value of a faculty development experience structured like this one. 

Episode Resources

Civic Engagement & Voting Rights Teacher Scholars Program

The program’s repository of open educational resources

Megan VanGorder’s resources for “Key Issues in State and Federal Constitutional Government”

Bridget Trogden’s faculty page

James Burns’ faculty page

Megan VanGorder’s website

Nafisa Nipun Tanjeem’s website

Bethany Morrison’s Teaching Hub collection “Teaching for Democratic Engagement and Civic Learning”

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

In the last year, we’ve seen many stories of college and university faculty being accused by students of teaching something that the student didn’t think the instructor should be teaching. These incidents have a lot of instructors worried about teaching controversial topics—and just about any topic can be controversial these days. Previously on the podcast, we've explored pedagogical responses to the current political climate. Today, we look at our legal options.

Our guest is Kent Kauffman, author of the 2024 book Navigating Choppy Waters: Key Legal Issues College Faculty Need to Know. Kent knows the caselaw on academic freedom, and he has a lot of insight to offer faculty who are who are making hard decisions about what to leave on or take off their syllabi. In our conversation, he argues that academic freedom is under attack and he provides practical suggestions for preventing and responding to these attacks.

However, we start the conversation in a little lighter mode. I invited Kent to give me a pop quiz of sorts by describing a few scenarios faculty might encounter and challenging me to identify the legal issues involved. You’ll have the chance to test yourself as you listen—and to find out how I did on Kent’s quiz. 

Episode Resources

Navigating Choppy Waters: Key Legal Issues College Faculty Need to Know (Bloomsbury, 2024)

Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 557 featuring Kent Kauffman 

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

Last November, University of Virginia English professor James Seitz offered a workshop through the UVA Center for Teaching Excellence titled “Teaching in the Age of AI: How Students Can Do All Their Writing in the Classroom.” When I saw the workshop announcement, I have to admit that my initial reaction wasn’t a positive one. Was this another call to return to the days of blue books, with high stakes essay exams depending on students being able to practice the lost art of handwriting? 

No! I’m excited to have Jim Seitz on the podcast today to share how he has moved the writing his students do into the classroom. This move is a response to generative AI’s disruption of writing instruction, yes, but it’s also the latest in a series of teaching choices Jim has made to teach his students writing as a way of thinking and to change their relationship with writing. Jim takes a very thoughtful and intentional approach to his in-class writing days, as you’ll hear in our conversation. 

Episode Resources

James Seitz’s website, https://jamesseitz.com/ 

“What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing?” by Hua Hsu in The New Yorker

“Bringing the Term Paper into the Classroom,” an interview with Lily Abadal on the Designed for Learning podcast

“Getting Started with Specifications Grading,” a Teaching Hub collection by Dorothe Bach

“Strategies for Avoiding AI” and “More Strategies for Avoiding AI” on the UVA Teaching Center website

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

This past December, I had the honor of being a guest on the Grading Podcast ("reimagining grading as a tool for student success") hosted by Sharona Krinsky and Robert Bosley. We had such a great conversation that I thought I would return the favor and invite Sharona and Boz on my podcast.

Sharona Krinsky is the executive director of the Center for Grading Reform, a non-profit that hosts an annual conference on grading, among other things. She’s also a math instructor at California State Los Angeles. Robert Bosley, better known as Boz, is director of programming for K12 at the Center for Grading Reform and an instructional coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District. 

In our conversation, Sharona and Boz share why they named their podcast the Grading Podcast and not the Alternative Grading Podcast. They also share the state of the grading reform movement here in 2026 and talk about the barriers that teachers face when trying to adopt alternative grading practices. And they have advice for centers for teaching and learning on supporting grading reform on their campuses.

Episode Resources

The Grading Podcast

The Center for Grading Reform

The Grading Conference

Derek’s appearance on the Grading Podcast

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

When I heard my friend Windy Frank, an adjunct faculty at Lipscomb University here in Nashville, talk about an assignment of hers in which students designed custom AI chatbots, I was very interested. Windy teaches in the College of Bible at Lipscomb, and she asked her students to create AI chatbots based on figures in the Old Testament. Students then engaged their chatbots in conversation, asking the prophet Jonah about his biggest failure or Daniel to make up some names for the lions he famously encountered.

Today on the podcast, I talk with Windy Frank and with Sarah Gibson, faculty fellow for AI and professor of communication at Lipscomb about Windy’s assignment in particular and about Lipscomb’s approach to generative AI more generally. They share what led to the Lipscomb faculty pushing its administration to provide AI tools for the entire campus, and the kinds of objections that students have had to AI-integrated assignments—including religious objections from students at this faith-based university. 

Episode Resources

Sarah Gibson’s faculty page, https://lipscomb.edu/directory/gibson-sarah

Sarah Gibson’s website, https://professorgibson.com/

Windy Frank on the Lipscomb University College of Bible and Ministry podcast

BoodleBox

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

Last fall, I was interviewed on a podcast called Transform Your Teaching from the Cedarville University Center for Teaching and Learning. Hosts Rob McDole and Jared Pyles had me on to talk about my book Intentional Tech six year out from its publication date. I shared the Intentional Tech principles I find most relevant today, especially as higher ed continues to respond to generative AI, and I talked about what I would put in a second edition of the book were I to write one. Rob and Jared asked me very good questions, and we had a lot of fun with the interview. 

Episode Resources

Transform Your Teaching podcast

Cedarville University Center for Teaching and Learning

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference. 

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message.

Annette Vee is an associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and co-author (with Marc Watkins and your podcast host) of the forthcoming book The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching. Annette and I met through this writing project, and I invited her on the podcast to get to know her better. 

Annette and I cover a lot of ground in our conversation: how computational literacy is changing in light of AI, whether there is such a thing as “AI literacy,” what she has learned from talking to hundreds of students about AI, and why AI needs to be on the college curriculum. 

Episode Resources

Annette Vee’s faculty website

Annette Vee on LinkedIn

Annette Vee’s Computation & Writing newsletter

AI & How We Teach, a Norton newsletter for AI-aware teachers

The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching, forthcoming by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff

“How Are Students Using AI? A Research Toolkit for Faculty” webinar recording

“What Past Education Technology Failures Can Teach Us about the Future of AI in Schools” by Justin Reich

Support the show

Podcast Links:

Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.

Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe

Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching

Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.