Teaching Matters

Educational institutions at all levels establish concrete objectives related to diversity. In discussions about diverse educational environments, inclusion is mentioned less, but is critically important. Our discussion today with Dr. Michael Arrington from Sam Houston State University and Dr. Marlene De La Cruz-Guzmon from Ohio University explores the need for inclusive educational environments as well as inclusion strategies for teachers, schools, and institutions.

As student matriculate from high school to college, they face both opportunity and challenge. Dr. Varun Soni, Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California, recently published an op-ed in the LA Times titled, “There’s a loneliness crisis on college campuses.” We discuss his essay to learn more about this phenomenon and what teachers, students, and institutions can do to try and mitigate its prevalence.

Teaching Matters is not just a great name for a podcast, its also a great name for an organization devoted to teacher development. Today’s guest is Lynette Guastaferro, the CEO of the non-profit organization, Teaching Matters, based in New York City. We will learn from Guastaferro how the organization uses micro-credentialing to empower teachers with best practices, innovative thought, and leadership skills that have far-reaching positive impact in their schools.

Excellence in teaching and learning is increasingly tied to the need for assessment. As both students and methods of instruction change, faculty are called upon to assess learning in ways that are increasingly nuanced so that meaningful improvements can be made across programs and within specific courses. Dr. Terri Givens, an education consultant and former provost, argued in a recent Inside Higher Ed essay that doctoral students should receive more training in this area. We discuss this idea and the general importance of assessment with Dr. Givens in this episode.

Learning to play a musical instrument presents a number of winding paths for students. Besides needing to learn concepts related to music theory, students must also integrate their conceptual understanding with development of fine motor skills. Often overlooked is the affective dimension of learning. How can music educators keep students motivated to practice so that they can move their musical expertise forward? The Tonara app provides a learning management system for teachers and students that integrates gamification approaches to tackle that problem. In this podcast, Ron Regev, Chief Music Officer for Tonara, describes how the app facilitates teaching and learning for a new generation of students oriented toward mobile, interactive technology.

In this podcast, I explore the big picture of the Healthy Living Imitative from the perspective of it being a catalytic learning environment. In particular, we learn about three specific characteristics of the imitative that, in my opinion, serve as catalysts for learning that have positive effects for researchers, faculty, students, and community members.

In addition to the project-based work surrounding the fight against Chagas disease, students and faculty engaged in service learning project. In this episode, participants described two of the project. Following their explanations, I reflect on the important role of reflexivity in these types of learning situations.

The October 27 Primary School serves approximately 40 students who live in the three villages serving as the primary focal point of the Healthy Living Initiative. In this episode, I provide a description of the school and introduce you, though the translation skills of my colleague Lori Lammert, to two of the teachers at the school. After meeting the teachers and learning more about the school, I reflect on the importance of “giving back” to the community as we engage in our planned work of fighting Chagas disease.

This episode is the first in a series of podcasts about my summer trip to Ecuador to participate in a place based/problem based learning project. This Episode focuses on the core part of the project—the search for Chucuro (or “Kissing Bugs”)—within homes constructed of adobe located in three small Southern Ecuadorian villages. In the podcast you meet various people involved in the bug search and I then reflect on my own experiences as a learner in that setting. The project, called the Healthy Living Initiative, was organized by the Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute at Ohio University.

Teaching Matters is starting its third season! This short podcast provides an overview of some of the topics we are booking for the season. It also highlights two special series of Teaching Matters podcasts. One of the special series explores an international trip by students and faculty who engaged in place based/problem based learning, and the other highlights several Ohio K-12 teachers who are innovating communication education projects into their classes.