The Prof Talk Pod: Practical Strategies and Conversations for College Professors

In this solo episode of the Prof Talk Pod, host Becky Achen challenges faculty to avoid judging procrastination by recognizing similar patterns in their own teaching, research, and service workloads, and suggests building connection by sharing “humanness” and offering grace alongside guidance. Becky offers practical strategies to support student time management, including better sequencing of major assessments, breaking big projects into checkpoints with feedback, providing weekly work plans in Canvas, using no-point draft assignments to populate to-do lists, encouraging self-imposed deadlines in upper-level courses, modeling planning behaviors, and explicitly reviewing assignments and rubrics to clarify expectations and workload.

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky Achen and co-host Katie share a practical AI use case for staying current in your field and bringing timely, relevant examples into class. Katie explains how she uses ChatGPT Plus Projects and the Scheduled Tasks feature to generate weekly news briefings tailored to specific courses (e.g., sustainability reporting/ESG, tax, accounting) using keywords, preferred credible sources, and prompts that produce headlines, summaries, why it matters, alignment to her syllabus, a teachability score, discussion questions, and activity ideas. They compare Projects with custom GPTs (including memory and organization differences) and note ChatEDU constraints. Becky and Katie discuss how curated current events can improve student buy-in, engagement, and authenticity through routines like “headline huddles,” and encourage iterating prompts and starting with personal use cases.

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky and Katie discuss what it takes to set up a faculty-led study abroad, why it can be impactful for students (confidence, perspective, cultural intelligence), and why it can also be demanding for faculty. Katie shares her early-stage experience preparing to lead a spring break 2027 trip to Mexico and explains how study abroad formats vary from semester exchanges to short faculty-led trips. They emphasize the heavy administrative and logistical workload, the need to meet credit-hour and accreditation expectations, and the importance of understanding timelines, decision-making authority, travel and funding rules, and application/roster processes. They also note equity concerns around affordability, advise starting with the study abroad office and experienced colleagues, and caution against promising specifics to students that may change.

Co-hosts Becky and Katie discuss the announcement that the University of Michigan is piloting pass/fail grading for some first-semester freshmen starting fall 2027. They talk about Michigan’s stated goals of reducing student stress and mental health strain and encouraging academic exploration, while raising questions about equity (why only one college and one semester), whether students should have choice, and potential downstream impacts on prerequisites and professional pathways like med school, law school, and CPA eligibility. They also compare the idea to ungrading/specs grading research, note differences across institutions like Caltech and MIT, and reflect on polarized public reactions and broader skepticism toward higher education.

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/12/nx-s1-5928197/university-michigan-freshmen-letter-grades-pilot-fall-2027

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/08/14/university-michigan-new-grading-policy-freshmen-deserves-an-f/

https://www.today.com/video/university-of-michigan-drops-letter-grades-for-pass-or-fail-system-268174405586

In this solo episode of The Prof Talk Pod, host Becky Achen revisits planning for the first day of class and argues that “syllabus day” is a missed opportunity to build buy-in, set the tone, and help students feel excited to return. She emphasizes that while the syllabus and clear expectations matter, professors also need to communicate the course’s value proposition and show up with energy, especially amid add/drop churn. Becky suggests using intentional, connection-building activities, such as a well-designed icebreaker, collaborative creative tasks, bingo, course-related board games, or a Jeopardy-style knowledge game, to help students trust each other sooner. She also recommends highlighting key syllabus sections (like late work and generative AI policies) and giving an assignment roadmap tied to learning objectives so students see how the course fits together.

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky and Katie discuss why case studies are an experiential, active-learning tool that helps students apply theory, reflect, and debate, while recognizing there often isn’t one “right” answer—just more defensible ones. Katie shares how she uses case studies in business and tax classes, including small, frequent “bite-sized” cases (like comparing state cannabis tax policies) and semester-long, evolving cases that build continuity with a single client and include role-based stakes. They cover challenges such as cost, outdated or recycled cases across programs, determining how much information to provide, and not relying blindly on teaching notes. The conversation also highlights using AI as a thought partner to create, update, format, and align custom cases with learning objectives and Gen Z relevance.

In this solo episode of The Prof Talk Pod, Becky Achen explains how she uses AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to revise assignments that aren’t working. She outlines her process: diagnose what’s failing using student work, feedback, and reflection; document course context and constraints; prompt AI for ideas (often in multiple models); combine and refine suggestions; and then have the models critique clarity, missing details, and likely student questions. She then uses AI to help draft a rubric in her established style and revises for her own voice and course resources, while disclosing AI use. She shares an example converting a graduate crisis communication case study paper into a PR agency-style slide deck and presentation with a six-month image repair strategy and day-one response.

00:00 Show Introduction

00:28 Why Revise Assignments

02:23 Diagnose What Fails

06:14 Prompting AI for Ideas

08:41 Combine and Rewrite

09:24 Clarity Checks and Rubrics

14:31 Disclose AI Use

15:02 Case Study Makeover

20:57 Guiding Student AI Use

22:18 Wrap Up

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky Achen and Katie Metz revisit scaffolding as a core teaching strategy, focusing on how to build students toward learning outcomes by providing more support early and gradually increasing autonomy. They discuss a workshop framing scaffolding alongside AI use, emphasizing what students must master independently versus where AI can serve as a thought partner, while noting equity differences between paid and free tools. Katie shares her federal tax course design using short pre-class videos, low-stakes checkpoints, in-class practice problems, team activities, and module conclusions that combine terminology checks with application cases. Becky shares redesigning a marketing course from exams to three scaffolded unit assessments that progress from recognizing concepts in daily life to applying target audience ideas to analyzing and improving strategy. They emphasize formative repetition, reflection, and “see it before you do it.”

In this summer episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky Achen and Katie discuss practical ways faculty can use the summer to rejuvenate while still setting themselves up for a manageable fall. They talk about the realities of 9-, 10-, and 12-month contracts, the lack of PTO for many faculty, and why it can be appropriate to truly step away from email and teaching tasks when classes slow down. They emphasize balancing self-care with research and service expectations by clarifying departmental norms, setting realistic and concrete research goals, and planning ahead for course prep that may change year to year. They also suggest summer professional development (like AI courses), reading a teaching-related “pool book,” exploring campus resources, spending time outdoors, and building habits that reduce stress and burnout once the semester begins.

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky Achen and Katie Metz discuss how to compress a 14–16 week course into shorter summer, J-term, or mini-mester formats (as short as six weeks) without sacrificing rigor. They compare different institutional summer structures, note challenges like overlapping spring wrap-up and summer prep, and emphasize the faster pace of grading, communication, and content coverage. They share strategies such as streamlining assignments, making some activities optional, setting clear expectations for time commitment and success, planning modules further in advance, and introducing major projects in week one. They also address limits on teamwork and attendance due to scheduling, time zones, and socioeconomic factors, urging instructors to be flexible and “let it go” where needed while still meeting learning outcomes.

00:00 Show Welcome

00:30 Why Summer Courses

01:49 Summer Schedules

06:03 Rigor And Format Shifts

08:52 Streamlining Workload

11:55 Synchronous Routine Tips

16:30 Grading And Response Pace

19:03 Flexibility And Attendance

29:05 Teamwork And Projects Fast

32:30 Let It Go