Teaching in the CTEI

In this episode, Angela and guests, Stephanie Richter, Melody Buckner, and Laura Ramp discuss the value of university centers for teaching and learning (CTLs). While they may go by many different names and acronyms, CTLs are vital resources for faculty, offering among other things, instructional, curricular, and LMS support, and as always, a sympathetic ear.

Our guests, all leaders at their respective institutions, reflect on the variety of services provided by their centers and how CTLs can support faculty especially in times of change or difficulty. Also discussed are suggestions for how CTLs can demonstrate their value at their institutions.

We are so thankful to our guests for their participation and insights and for the work they do to support faculty and students!

Stephanie Richter serves as the Director of Teaching Excellence and Support in the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Northern Illinois University.

Melody Buckner serves as the Associate Vice Provost of Digital Learning and Online Initiatives for the University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology (UCATT) at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

Laura Ramp serves as Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at PennState Harrisburg.

In Part 2 of this series, Angela continues this important conversation with three new guests: Drs. Tomeka Dowling, Caleb Simmons, and Darlene Ritz. Building upon topics discussed in Part 1 , Angela and guests reflect on the often unseen emotional labor of teaching. Topics discussed include managing student issues and needs and societal norms around emotion in the classroom. Guests offer suggestions for how to cope with these often unwritten expectations.

TW: This episode contains a discussion of domestic violence. Please listen with care and contact the Nation Domestic Violence Hotline if you need help.

CTEI extends a big thank you to our guests for their participation!

Dr. Tomeka Dowling is an Assistant Professor and Director of DNP Curriculum and Operations at Rush University College of Nursing. As director of a nationally ranked DNP program, she is focused on ensuring standardized processes within the program, college, and university that promote educational equity, inclusive learning environments as well as integrate instructional strategies for diverse learners. Dr. Dowling has a passion to move beyond the rhetoric of inclusion and diversity to integrating strategies that promote inclusion in, and resilience beyond, the classroom.

Dr. Caleb Simmons is the Executive Director of Online Education overseeing Arizona Online, UArizona's online campus serving over 9,000 students. He is also Professor of Religious Studies, and Faculty Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. He specializes in digital and online learning and religion in South Asia, especially Hinduism. He has recently been named a Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES) Distinguished Fellow for his research on online pedagogy.

Dr. Darlene C. Ritz is Higher Education Product Specialist for Beyond Campus Innovation and is dedicated to improving the student experience in online learning. Darlene has been in the classroom for two decades and understands that education is a transformational process, and requires a holistic approach.

Episode transcript.

In this episode, Angela speaks with guests about a topic not often discussed in higher education or faculty development, the emotional side of teaching. Guests Maggie Ervin, Autumn Cartagena, and Stephanie Blaher reflect on what it means to consider the emotional labor involved in teaching, how to manage it and support your students in the process. Topics include the emotional challenges of teaching college students, the social and relational elements of teaching and learning, and how emotion can and should be built into existing processes, faculty training and support.

We thank our wonderful guests for their vulnerability, humility and excellent suggestions!

Maggie Ervin is the Specialist for Alternative Credit and Credentials at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  Prior to her current position, she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Education and English Departments of Greenville University.  Maggie’s teaching experience spans almost twenty years, twelve of which were spent teaching high school.

Episode transcript.

It's likely that many of us have experienced or practiced traditional lecturing where all or the majority of class time is spent with the instructor giving a lecture and the students passively absorbing it. You may have heard it described as the "sage on the stage" approach, and we all know how that often goes, in one ear and out the other. Know that if you're doing this, you're not alone. Many of us start by teaching how we were taught, and lots of us were taught through traditional lecture. Are you interested in making a change and looking for other ways to teach, approaches that engage your students with the material and move them from passive to active learners? If so, you've come to the right place!

In this episode, Angela and honored guests, Ashley Tharpe, Branka Manojlovic, Chris Ferrigno, and Mike Bradaric discuss alternatives to the traditional lecture and reflect on their own experiences learning and teaching using active learning strategies. They offer practical advice on how to reserve in-class time for discussion, application, and group work, while still allowing time for lecturing as needed, and the pedagogical reasons for doing so. They also discuss how faculty can get help implementing these changes.

CTEI extends a big thank you to our guests and their valuable contributions to this discussion!

Dr. Ashley Tharpe is an Online Chair in the School of Business and Associate Professor for the Department of Public & Community Health at Liberty University. She holds an EdD in Educational Leadership, Master of Public Health, MA in Human Relations, a MS in Health Sciences, and is a Certified Health Education Specialist. She is currently serving as the past-president of the Virginia Public Health Association (VPHA) and serves on several health-related committees with ImmunizeVA, VPHA, and the Northeastern Distance Learning Association board of directors. Dr. Tharpe is passionate about online education, supporting faculty, and the optimal health of people and communities.

Branka Manojlovic is an Instructional Designer (ID) at the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation at Rush University. Branka has been working in the field of Instructional Design for the past 10 years. Prior to coming to CTEI, Branka worked as an ID at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies and Indiana University Northwest Center for Innovation and Scholarship in Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Chris Ferrigno is an assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology. Prior to coming to Rush in 2011, he was a Physical Therapist. He completed his PhD in Anatomy and Biomechanics at Rush University in 2015, and subsequently joined the Rush faculty. He teaches courses in gross anatomy and neurobiology for the medical, nursing, and health sciences colleges at Rush. His clinical research interests are in the areas of knee osteoarthritis and gait analysis, as well as anatomy education.

Dr. Michael Bradaric is an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and the current Director of Pharmacology for Rush Medical College. Mike has a PhD in pharmacology and was a cancer researcher specializing in gynecologic malignancies. Prior to his position at Rush, he taught integrated pharmacology for Chicago State College of Pharmacy, where he researched anticancer compounds from marine sources.

Episode transcript

Have you experimented with ChatGPT, Google Bard, or DALL-E, also known as generative AI tools, but are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer pace with which these tools are transforming education and society at large? Since AI is rapidly evolving, as educators, it's hard to know where to begin and how or if to utilize Generative AI in our teaching. In this episode, Angela and guests, Emily Rush, Matt Swagler, Kerry O'Grady, and Claudia Martinez discuss how they've used generative AI in their teaching and professional practices and what their student responses have been to the advent of these tools. As early adopters, they also share their advice on how to incorporate AI in classroom activities, assignments, and what they've learned in the process. They also reflect on how AI has forced them to reconsider their teaching and design practices as a whole. The big takeaway: to paraphrase Brent Anders, it doesn't have to be all or nothing with AI. Being intentional about if, how, and when we use it is key!

Thank you to all guests for your valuable insights and your impressive leadership in the realm of AI and education!

Dr. Emily Rush is an instructional designer for CTEI at Rush, where she assists instructors with course design and faculty development. She also brings to her role prior experience as a university-level instructor in the humanities. Emily is passionate about putting learning science into practice and is a self-described AI enthusiast.

Dr. Matthew Swagler is an Assistant Professor of History at Connecticut College, where he also teaches in the Africana Studies, American Studies, and Gender, Sexuality and Intersectionality Studies programs. Matt was previously a faculty member at Williams College and worked at the Baruch College Writing Center. 

Dr. Kerry O’Grady is an Associate Professor of Public Relations and Corporate Communications. Kerry has been teaching at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels for 14 years and is currently on the Pre-College teaching support team at Columbia University, as well as a faculty affairs and curriculum consultant at The Rochester Institute of Technology. Threads: @DrOGrady 

Claudia G. Martinez, MA, is a faculty member in the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences program at Rush University, where she is teaching Professional Writing this summer. Martinez is also an award-winning published writer of several books for young readers.

Episode title suggested by Claude.ai

Episode transcript

Are you a new college faculty looking to develop your teaching skills and confidence in the classroom? Or, perhaps you are an experienced professor who wants to level up your skillset? In this episode, Angela speaks with Dr. B. Jean Mandernach, Dr. Eileen O'Brien, and Rush's own Peg Checchi about how faculty can increase confidence in their teaching and improve their skills. Practical and action-oriented suggestions are given, all of which are supported by best practice recommendations. Among other topics, guests discuss the importance of relationship building, faculty learning communities and peer mentoring, professional development opportunities, and of course, our invaluable centers for teaching and learning.

Many thanks to our esteemed guests!

Dr. B. Jean Mandernach is Executive Director of the Center for Innovation in Research on Teaching at Grand Canyon University. Her research focuses on enhancing student learning experiences in the online classroom through innovative instructional and assessment strategies. She explores strategies for integrating efficient online instruction in a manner that maximizes student learning, satisfaction, and engagement. In addition, she has interests in innovative faculty development and evaluation models, teaching and learning analytics, emergent instructional technology, and faculty workload considerations. Jean is an active researcher, author, presenter, and consultant in the field of online education.

Peg Checchi, M.Ed. is an Instructional Designer with Rush University's Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation (CTEI). She began her career in the culinary world and subsequently in culinary education, and has worked for over twenty years in instructional design & technology. Peg has an M.Ed. in Education, Learning & Technology and has cultivated a lifetime of learning, continuously rolling new layers into her skill set. Enthusiastic, passionate, and committed to advancing higher education, she is dedicated to teaching and enhancing the learning experience for faculty and students.

Are you looking for new ways to assess your students, especially those that have shown to boost retention, foster peer-to-peer interaction, and reduce test anxiety? Then, collaborative testing may be for you! In this episode, Angela speaks with Dr. Maureen Rutherford, Associate Professor of Psychology at Indiana University Northwest, about her experience introducing collaborative testing into her teaching practice. Among other topics, she discusses her process, the results, and student feedback, which has been overwhelmingly positive. Also discussed is Dr. Rutherford's research on the subject, including her 2019 study, "Collaborative Quizzes: Impact on Student Performance and Attendance", which investigated the impact of collaborative quizzing on upper-level psychology students.

CTEI thanks Dr. Rutherford for her valuable insights and recommendations!

Also see:

Rutherford Lab

Episode transcript.

CTEI Discovery Session: Collaborative Group Exams & Quizzes

The world of higher ed. is all abuzz with the word "ungrading". You may have heard of the term, also referred to as "alternative grading", but what does it mean exactly? How can the practice of ungrading transform your teaching and your students' learning? In this episode, Angela and distinguished guests, Susan Blum, Katie Lee Bunting, Kasey Edwardson, and Jesse Stommel demystify all things ungrading. Among other topics, they discuss how they began the practice of ungrading and why, how they've seen it affect students and the quality of their learning, and what institutions can do to better support faculty who want to implement this transformative and empowering practice. Within this, practical steps and suggestions for faculty are also discussed.

CTEI extends a big thank you to our wonderful guests for their participation and empowering insights and recommendations!

Susan D. Blum is a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. Her work has roamed around the fields of cultural, linguistic, and psychological anthropology, in the context of China but most recently in the quest to understand the nature of institutional education. She is the editor of the collection Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) (West Virginia University Press, 2020) and has just completed book 3 of her education trilogy, Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic and Joyful Learning. The previous two books were My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture (2009) and "I Love Learning; I Hate School": An Anthropology of College (2016), all published by Cornell University Press.

Katie Lee Bunting is a white settler, abled, and cis-gender woman. She is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia. Katie is deeply grateful to the Musqueam First Nation on whose ancestral, traditional and occupied lands she works. She teaches in the Master of Occupational Therapy program and is the Curriculum Chair. Katie is a firm believer in values-based teaching, and unabashedly centres critical and relational approaches in her work. Outside of work, she is a mom to two young kids, and enjoys spending time with them, her senior dog, and her partner.

Kasey Edwardson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She has taught at all levels of medical laboratory education programs, from associate’s in medical laboratory technology to doctorate in clinical laboratory sciences. Her PhD is in Educational Leadership and Higher Education, and her research focus is primarily on learner experiences and outcomes in medical laboratory education programs. 

Jesse Stommel is currently a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is also co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy and Digital Pedagogy Lab (2015-2021). He has a PhD from University of Colorado Boulder. He is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy. Jesse is a documentary filmmaker and teaches courses about pedagogy, film, digital studies, and composition. Jesse experiments relentlessly with learning interfaces, both digital and analog, and his research focuses on higher education pedagogy, critical digital pedagogy, and assessment. He’s got a rascal pup, Emily, a clever cat, Loki, and a badass daughter, Hazel. He’s online at jessestommel.com and on Twitter @Jessifer.

Episode transcript

What is a proctored exam? What does it mean to give an assisted online proctored exam vs. a monitored exam? What is the evidence surrounding the efficacy and equitability of these various testing modalities and what are faculty and administrators' attitudes toward them? The answers are more complicated than you might think! In this episode, Peg Checchi, CTEI Instructional Designer, and esteemed guests, Judy Frei, Michele Gribbins, and Jarret Dyer examine several common assumptions around proctored exams, including their necessity at the college level and the ability of online and assisted online proctoring and monitoring software to effectively and equitably imitate the in-person experience and assess student knowledge. In light of recent lawsuits and concerns about student privacy, the ethics and legality of online proctoring and monitoring are discussed and debated, as are alternatives to proctored exams.

Dr. Judith (Judy) Frei is an Assistant Professor of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing in the College of Nursing at Rush University. Michele Gribbins is the Director of the Center for Online Learning, Research & Service at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS). Jarret Dyer is a former President of the National College Testing Association (NCTA), Chair of the Academic Integrity & Testing Committee at NCTA, and a Test Center Administrator at the College of DuPage.

We thank our guests for their wonderful and enlightening contributions to this discussion!

Mentions:

National College Testing Association (NCTA) - Proctoring & Monitoring Definitions

Academic Dishonesty and Testing: How Student Beliefs and Test Settings Impact Decisions to Cheat

In this first episode of season three, Peg Checchi, an Instructional Designer with CTEI, speaks with Dr. Patrice Torcivia Prusko, MBA, PhD, Director, Learning Design, Technology and Media in the Teaching and Learning Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education about how to recognize and reduce biased language in our teaching and course design. In addition to defining biased language and identifying steps that all educators can take to remove it, more broadly, Peg and Patrice discuss the importance of creating equity-centered learning experiences that include students in the conversation and above all, do no harm. 

Follow Patrice @Profpatrice or listen at #3WeduPodcast.

Many thanks to Dr. Prusko for her valuable insights!