What does engagement require of your students behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively? Why is it essential to get to know your students, and how can you do this in large classes? Hear advice from Alfredo Spagna, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Columbia whose research focuses on the psychological and neural mechanisms of attention, perception, and mental imagery. Dr. Spagna shares how he engages students in his courses, and what he has learned from them over the years.  Dr. Spagna is a Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychology and teaches both introductory and advanced seminars in Neuroscience. He also serves as the Director of the Neuroscience and Behavior Major.Resource“The Power of Relationships in Undergraduate Education” (January 2, 2023) by Steven Mintz, “Higher Ed Gamma” column in Inside Higher Ed  

Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy, award winning instructors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and authors of the book, Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom (2022), have found a way to communicate the large volume of research behind equitable and inclusive teaching to a national audience. In this episode, we ask Drs. Hogan and Sathy how they approach the use of learning research and translate it to their audiences. They discuss the structural impediments in higher education that often prevent bringing this research to practice, and how these practices might be changed. Kelly Hogan is Associate Dean of Instructional Innovation and a STEM Teaching Professor in Biology, and Viji Sathy is Associate Dean for Evaluation and Assessment and a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill.ResourcesInclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom (2022) by Kelly Hogan and Viji SathyThe L Word (Inside Higher Ed, December 16, 2022) by Jody Greene Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) Network The work of Kimberly Tanner 

Despite the large body of research on effective teaching and learning practices, such research is often ignored or unknown by instructors and students. Instead, many “dead ideas” in teaching and learning continue to be enacted worldwide. Why is this the case? In our first episode of the season, we discuss many possible reasons with John Mahoney, senior lecturer at Australian Catholic University and the University’s Academic Lead for HELTA, the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Academy. Dr. Mahoney, a psychologist by training, is also one of the founders of INSPIRE, an evidence center designed to curate and summarize best-available empirical evidence in higher education. Resources:“Why the Science of Teaching Is Often Ignored” by Beth BcMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education. January 3, 2022.The work of psychologist Susan MichieINSPIRE

How can assessment motivate students to focus on learning as opposed to grades? Can it still be rigorous if it’s not high stakes exams? Today we speak with Maryam Pate and Olivia Schmitt, two Columbia University undergraduate students who serve as Teaching and Learning Consultants as part of the CTL’s Students as Pedagogical Partners Initiative. Maryam and Olivia reflect on their experiences with different types of assessment and the impacts on their learning. 

Larry Jackson, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum at Columbia College, discusses academic rigor in humanities courses, balancing student well-being and educational standards, addressing student disengagement, and the importance of intentional teaching for skill improvement and societal transformation.

What does rigor look like in a healthcare setting? How can instructors achieve both excellence and equity in teaching in such a high-stakes area as healthcare education? In this episode, we speak with two faculty members at Columbia University Irving Medical Center: Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Associate Dean for Medical School Professionalism in the Learning Environment, and Associate Director for Clinical Services and Director of the Washington Heights Community Service at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Hetty Cunningham, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Director for Equity and Justice in Curricular Affairs, and co-director of the Anti-Racism Coalition at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Drs. Alves-Bradford and Cunningham answer these questions and discuss how they and their colleagues have been transforming their instruction and medical care by embracing values such as humility and collaboration, while also maintaining standards and evidenced-based, scientific practices. 

In today’s episode, we approach the topic of rigor from the lens of social work instruction with Elwin Wu, Professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work (CSSW), and Kelsey Reeder, a Clinical Social Worker and PhD student in Advanced Practice at CSSW. We dive into the tensions between rigor, skill development, and providing care and compassion, and how instructors can maintain rigor while also seeking liberation. 

What does rigor mean in a science course? How can it encourage learning and engagement? And how can we support students while maintaining standards of excellence? In this episode, we dig further into the topic of rigor with David Helfand, a faculty member at Columbia University for 45 years, who served nearly half of that time as Chair of the Department of Astronomy. Professor Helfand answers these questions and shares his thoughts on everything from curving, to what inspires him to believe in the possibility of change in higher education teaching.

Is rigor necessary to teach more inclusively? What is a deficit ideology and how does it affect students? In this episode, Jamiella Brooks, director of student equity and inclusion initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and Julie McGurk, director of faculty teaching initiatives at Yale University’s Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, answer these questions, and discuss three principles that instructors can use to reframe their thinking about rigor.This discussion stems from a session hosted by Drs. Brooks and McGurk, “Rigor as Inclusive Practice: Beyond Deficit Models,” presented at the Fall 2021 POD Network conference. This session was also written about in the Chronicle of Higher Education article, “The Redefinition of Rigor” (March 2022). Note: at the time of recording, Jamiella Brooks served as an Associate Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Pennsylvania.Resources:“10 Dysfunctional Illusions of Rigor.” To Improve the Academy (2010). Craig E. Nelson. Volume 28, 2010. “Readers Respond on Rigor” (February 2022). Matt Reed in “Confessions of a Community College Dean,” Inside Higher Ed. The work of Uri Treisman, executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (TILT)

John Warner, educator and author of the Inside Higher Ed blog, “Just Visiting”, wrote in a May 2022 post titled “You Can’t Ignore That a Pandemic Happened”: “I am concerned that the understandable desire to get beyond the extreme challenges of trying to educate in the midst of the worst period of the pandemic is interfering with some deeper questions, some more nuanced conversations we should be having about teaching and learning.” In our first episode of the fall semester, we discuss with John the debate over the “return to normal,” and what will happen to the practices that teachers engaged in as we move away from pandemic teaching conditions.John Warner is a writer, editor, speaker, researcher, consultant, and author of eight books, including Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities (Johns Hopkins UP) and The Writer’s Practice: Building Confidence in Your Nonfiction Writing (Penguin), which is widely used in writing classrooms from middle school through college. John has become a national voice on issues of faculty labor, institutional values, and writing pedagogy. John is an affiliate faculty at the College of Charleston, and his most recent book, Sustainable. Resilient. Free.: The Future of Public Higher Education (Belt) is now available.