Tea for Teaching

There has been a consistent downward trend in the amount of time college students spend reading and completing assignments outside of class. In this episode, Betsy Barre joins us to discuss some strategies that might be used to increase student motivation to engage with assigned coursework.

Betsy is an Assistant Provost and the Executive Director of the Center for Advancement of Teaching at Wake Forest University. In 2017 she won, with Justin Esarey, the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education’s Innovation Award for their Course Workload Estimator. Among her many other roles, Betsy is also a Professor in the Department for the Study of Religions.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Faculty often have a teaching persona that they bring to the classroom. In this episode, Liz Norell joins us to discuss the benefits of sharing your authentic self with your students. Liz is a political scientist and the Associate Director of Instructional Support at the University of Mississippi Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She is also the author of The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Building a sense of community is an important component of inclusive teaching. In this episode, Anna Logan and Ann Marie Farrell join us to discuss strategies that can be used to cultivate belonging and increase student engagement in large classes. Anna is an Associate Professor in the School of Inclusive and Special Education and the former Dean for Teaching and Learning at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. Ann Marie is an Assistant Professor, also in the School of Inclusive and Special Education at Dublin City University. Anna and Ann Marie are both recipients of multiple teaching awards. Since 2018, they have been running an annual Pedagogy for Higher Education Large-classes Symposium.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

AI tools can help faculty improve the quality of their teaching and assist students. In this episode, Dan Levy and Angela Perez Albertos join us to discuss a variety of ways in which ChatGPT can be used to support learning.

Dan is an economist and a senior lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University where he teaches courses in quantitative methods, policy analysis, and program evaluation. Angela is a graduate of the MPA program in International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she currently serves as a Teaching Fellow. Dan and Angela are the authors of Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT. 

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Engaging and motivating students starts but doesn’t end with inclusion. In this episode, Bryan Dewsbury joins us to discuss ways of connecting class content to students’ core values to prepare students to productively engage with their communities as we work with our students to make our disciplines more equitable. 

Bryan is an Associate Professor of Biology at Florida International University. He is the Principal Investigator of the Science Education and Society research program, an Associate Director of the STEM Transformational Institute where he directs the Division of Transformative Education, and a Fellow in the John N. Gardner Institute. Bryan is also one of the co-authors of The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching. He is the developer of a free MOOC on Inclusive Teaching, offered through the HHMI Biointeractive and Science and Education Society. Bryan is a highly regarded keynote speaker and workshop leader.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Learning students’ names can be a challenging, but important, component of inclusive teaching. In this episode, Michelle Miller joins us to discuss evidence-based strategies for learning students’ names. 

Michelle is a Professor of Psychological Sciences and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University.  She is the author of Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology and Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World. Her newest book, A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Students’ Names: Why You Should, Why It’s Hard, How You Can will be released in November from the University of Oklahoma Press. Michelle is also a frequent contributor of articles on teaching and learning in higher education to publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Students experiencing academic difficulties are often encouraged or required to complete courses to improve their learning skills. In this episode, Andrew Buchmann, David Runge, and Sean Milligan join us to discuss how gamification is transforming one such course for students on academic probation. Andrew, David, and Sean are Academic Success Advisors at SUNY-Oswego.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Faculty have reported a decline in student engagement during the last few years. In this episode, Jed Locquiao joins us to discuss how the use of autonomy-supportive teaching can increase student motivation and engagement. Jed is an Assistant Professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department here at SUNY Oswego.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Digital storytelling provides students the opportunity to bring their lived experiences into the classroom as creators rather than consumers of knowledge. In this episode, Tom Mackey and Sheila Aird join us to discuss ways digital storytelling can be used to increase student information literacy, critical thinking skills, and to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Tom is a Professor of Arts and Media and Program Coordinator for the BA and BS degrees in Digital Media Arts at SUNY Empire State University. He is the recipient of a 2022 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities and the recipient of several other awards for his teaching and mentoring work. Tom is also the co-author of several books and two MOOCs that focus on metaliteracy. Sheila is an Associate Professor and European Director of International Programs at SUNY’s Empire State University in Prague, in the Czech Republic. Her work broadly focuses on cultural history and public scholarship with a particular focus on  public history, pop culture, children of colonial enslavement, and issues of race in the African Diaspora community. Sheila has presented her work in many domestic and international venues and has co-authored two papers with Tom. Sheila and Tom are the co-editors of the new book, Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives, published in 2024 by Rowman and Littlefield. They also co-authored the framing chapter for this volume based on their collaborative development and teaching of Digital Storytelling as a virtual exchange between SUNY Empire students studying in Prague and the United States.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

A growing number of faculty members participate in the scholarship of teaching and learning, or SoTL. In this episode, Janice Miller-Young and Nancy Chick join us to discuss a new open educational resource designed to assist faculty interested in pursuing SoTL research. 

Janice is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a past Academic Director at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Alberta. Nancy Chick is the director of the Endeavor Foundation Center for Faculty Development at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Nancy had also served as a Professor of English within the University of Wisconsin System, where she codirected the Teaching Fellows and Scholars Program for all of the system’s 26 campuses. Janice and Nancy have both published extensively on the scholarship of teaching and learning and have each co-authored influential books on SoTL methodologies and signature pedagogies. 

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.