Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning

What are the benefits of online education? What misconceptions or “dead ideas” do both instructors and students harbor about teaching and learning online? And how can online activities (both synchronous and asynchronous) benefit student engagement, community-building, and inclusion in the classroom? In today’s episode, we speak with Roxanne Russell, Director of Online Education at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, about all things online, including what she has learned from her students and the “aha” moment that inspired her to start her career in online education. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast

Transcript What does the syllabus do? Who is it for? Why is it chronically unread? And how can it be written to foster an environment of trust and collaboration in the classroom? William Germano, Professor of English at Cooper Union, and Kit Nicholls, Director of the Center for Writing at Cooper Union, are authors of the book Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything (2020). In this episode, they tackle these fundamental questions about the syllabus, and discuss how it serves as a starting point for addressing larger dead ideas about teaching, learning, and student engagement. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.

Jesse Stommel, co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy and co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy, has not graded student work—in the traditional sense—in 20 years. Instead, he practices “ungrading”, a word which “...suggests that we need to do intentional, critical work to dismantle traditional and standardized approaches to assessment.” In this episode, Jesse unpacks why he supports ungrading (as well as the dead ideas that it challenges), and explains how it promotes student learning. He also shares steps that listeners can take towards ungrading in their own classrooms. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast. Transcript

Beginning In 2007, Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons (VP&S) began to radically rethink their curriculum and assessment strategies for first and second year medical students. In today’s episode, we speak with Jonathan (Yoni) Amiel, Interim Co-Vice Dean for Education and Senior Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs at VP&S, and Aubrie Swan Sein, Director of the Center for Education Research and Evaluation and Associate Professor of Educational Assessment at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Jonathan and Aubrie discuss the changes they have implemented and the dead ideas they have encountered— especially around assessment—and how things have turned out thus far. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.

Welcome back to Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning. When we began this podcast, our mission was to encourage instructors, students, and leaders in higher education to reflect on what they believe about teaching and learning. Now, almost a year into the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it remains a difficult, uncertain moment for higher education. But in that uncertainty, we have a profound opportunity to confront the many dead ideas that have been exposed by the move out of our traditional classrooms and to challenge what teaching means and how it happens. This podcast is a space for reflection, transformation, and learning. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast

In this bonus episode, we continue our conversation with Jenny Davidson, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, to tackle the question of how much reading is enough in a literature course. Professor Davidson shares examples of how she balances assignment load with student learning objectives in her literature courses, and how she has had to adjust that balance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.

On March 20, 2020, days after Columbia University transitioned to fully remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jenny Davidson, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, published an article in The Washington Post titled “Forget distance learning. Just give every student an automatic A.” In this episode, Professor Davidson further discusses why she chose to give all of her students an A in Spring 2020, and why, even outside of a pandemic setting, she has long been resistant to the conventional practices of grading. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.

In Spring 2020, Columbia students Mae Butler, Haya Ghandour, Jennifer Lee and Kalisa Ndamage served as undergraduate teaching and learning consultants as part of the CTL’s Students as Pedagogical Partners initiative. In this episode, these students share their experiences and perspectives on remote teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss Columbia’s move to pass/fail grading in the Spring 2020 semester, how we can use technology more intentionally in classrooms, and what they would change if they could reinvent higher education. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.

Carl Wieman, Nobel laureate and Professor of Physics and Education at Stanford University, has dedicated much of his career to addressing the problems and challenges of how universities teach science. In this episode, Wieman imparts the “aha!” moment that motivated his transition from physics research to science education research. He shares dead ideas that he encounters routinely in science teaching, including those that are magnified by the shift to remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.

Do we really only use 10% of our brains? Will using technology in my course improve my students’ learning and motivation? Are students nowadays “digital natives”? In this episode, we tackle these questions and others with Michelle Miller, Professor of Psychology at Northern Arizona University and author of Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology. Miller talks about her research and experiences with misconceptions about the mind, brain, and learning, with a focus on neuromyths related to teaching with technology. Learn more at ctl.columbia.edu/podcast.