
Teaching in Higher Ed
Thank you for checking out the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. This is the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning. We also share ways to increase our personal productivity, so we can have more peace in our lives and be even more present for our students.
Latest episodes

Oct 1, 2015 • 28min
Grading exams with integrity
Bonni and Dave Stachowiak share about ways to reduce the potential for introducing bias while grading exams.
PODCAST NOTES
Grading exams with Integrity
In today’s episode, Dave Stachowiak and I share about ways to reduce the potential for introducing bias while grading exams.
Risks of bias in grading exams
Halo effect
Exam-based halo effect
Inflating favorite students’ grades
Vikram David Amar calls “expectations effect”
Exhaustion factor
Techniques to reduce potential bias
Blind grading (sticky notes, LMS-based, etc.)
Grade by question, not exam
Inner-rater reliability practices
Block time for grading during peak energy hours
Be transparent and over-communicate your practices and rationale
*** Re-grade the earlier exams, to avoid what Dave spoke about…
Recommendations
Bonni recommends:
Asking your students what they want to listen to before class
Coming Home, by Leon Bridges
Dave recommends:
Coaching for Leaders episode #211: How to be productive and present
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Sep 24, 2015 • 29min
Personal knowledge management revisited
Bonni and Dave Stachowiak revisit the topic of personal knowledge management and discuss how our processes have evolved.
Podcast notes
Personal knowledge management revisited
James Lang’s article in The Chronicle about Teaching in Higher Ed
Harold Jarche
PKM is a set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world, work more effectively, and contribute to society. PKM means taking control of your professional development, and staying connected in the network era, whether you are an employee, self-employed, or between jobs.
Seek
Twitter
Peter Newbury on episode #053
Still Feedly and Newsify
Sense
Pinboard
Newsify to Pinboard
Email to Pinboard
PushPin app
Evernote lists (list of potential podcast guests, blog topics, conferences, journals)
Getting real about Pocket
Instapaper
Share
BufferApp
Canva
Deposit photos
Copyright video
Recommendations
Bonni recommends:
Mid-exam stretch break
Dave recommends:
TimeTrade
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Sep 17, 2015 • 39min
Making challenging subjects fun
Ainissa Ramirez shares about how and why to make challenging subjects fun.
Making challenging subjects fun
Guest: Dr. Ainissa Ramirez
http://www.ainissaramirez.com/bio.html
https://youtu.be/H5TNkGC4p3Q
“I learned that this thing of investigating and being curious around the world was the thing that people called science.” -Ainissa Ramirez
Early influences
The television show 321 contact
https://youtu.be/-4273oOYy7s
“By seeing my reflection in this young [African American] lady on television doing science, it gave me permission to say, ‘maybe I should be doing this.’”. -Ainissa Ramirez
Teachers as a big influence
Making learning fun
“When it comes to teaching, I try to come across as approachable.” – Ainissa Ramirez
“I don’t think I have the luxury to come off as extremely heady, because there’s so much stuff that’s going to prevent communication from [happening].” – Ainissa Ramirez
Service-oriented teaching approach
“I feel like it’s my job to get you there. I can’t get you there completely, but I can at least figure out where the gaps are and tell you where to head.” – Ainissa Ramirez
More approaches for making learning fun
The importance of a hook
Experimentation vs memorization
Failure as data collection
“If we think of failures as data collection, they lose their sting.” – Ainissa Ramirez
Materials research society
DemoWorks (a cook book for materials science experimentation with items you can buy at a local hardware store)
“It’s the messy stuff where you learn.” – Ainissa Ramirez
A call to get musicians involved in the call to make science fun
Adventures in giving a TED talk
Ainissa’s TED talk
STEM education advocate via TED blog
“It’s vulnerability that people really resonate with… If you’re willing to be vulnerable, it is a position of power, because you’ll connect with many more people.” – Ainissa Ramirez
Great videos of Ainissa in action, getting people excited about science
Gina Barnett – Play the Part: Master Body Signals to Connect and Communicate for Business Success (helps you get out of your way)
Importance of having passion in our teaching
“Get back in touch with that thing that made you excited and then share that with other people. Be a beacon for that.” – Ainissa Ramirez
Recommendations:
Bonni recommends:
Making invitations to learn (my experimentation with extending Remind this semester)…
Ainissa recommends:
Learn from Einstein – “If you can’t explain it to your Grandmother, you don’t understand it.”

Sep 9, 2015 • 42min
Teaching lessons from Pixar
Josh Eyler, and Bonni Stachowiak talk about lessons in teaching from Pixar.
PODCAST NOTES
#065: Teaching lessons from Pixar
Guest:
Dr. Joshua Eyler, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University
Former guest on episode #016, Biology, the Brain, and Learning
Josh Eyler’s Blog
Josh Eyler on Twitter
Josh’s Pixar course
The hero’s journey
Loss in children’s media
WallE – environmental messages, religious messages/themes
Student-taught teaching, supported by Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence
Heard on Twitter: Pixar favorites
Brian Croxall – Toy Story 2
https://twitter.com/briancroxall/status/641298742843441152
Shyama – Finding Nemo and The Incredibles
https://twitter.com/MedievalPhDemon/status/641254627082641408
Edna Mode
https://twitter.com/MedievalPhDemon/status/641258572383428608
Sandie Morgan
Monsters Inc.
https://twitter.com/sandiemorgan/status/641327082807672833
Cautionary note
Funny episode of Very Bad Wizards where they discuss the criticisms of the Inside Out movie, when it should have been clear to everyone that the movie wasn’t intended to actually represent how the brain works…
Opportunities to learn from our students are abundant
Finding Nemo
“If we only focus on [our role of imparting wisdom], we miss out on those moments when students can share something with us that opens our eyes to the material in a way we have never seen it before.” – Josh Eyler
Bonni shared about making assumptions on episode 63
Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject
Ratatouille
Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject
“Passion is sometimes an underrated part of what we do as teachers that can be really effective in reaching our students.” – Josh Eyler
Gradually reducing coaching helps students learn
Finding Nemo
David Merrill’s advice on instructional design: Instructional guidance should be gradually reduced
“In order to learn anything, we need to confront the failure of faulty knowledge, of faulty mental models. Students aren’t given enough opportunity to do that and when they are, the stakes are way too high for them.” – Josh Eyler
Mindset matters and so does proximal development
Toy Story
Mindset on episode #062 with Rebecca Campbell
James Lang on Mindset in The Chronicle
More than mindset: Josh’s writing on Vygotsky
“Understanding our intellectual development in more complex terms can help students wrap their minds around the learning process.” – Josh Eyler
The pursuit of knowledge can be heightened through curiosity
Constructivism
“Curiosity is one of our most deeply rooted mechanisms by which human beings learn.” – Josh Eyler
“It’s that curiosity – that desire to know – that we need to be cultivating in our classrooms.” Josh Eyler
The knife that solves the butter problem
Learning happens everywhere
Up
“The reality is that learning is a very big idea and it happens everywhere.” – Josh Eyler
“My wife has been very sick for the last year and I’ve learned quite a bit about courage from her. I learn so much from my three year-old daughter about how to tackle life with a toddler’s zeal.” – Josh Eyler
RECOMMENDATIONS
Bonni recommends:
Josh’s essays:
The Grief of Pain (mentioned on Vulnerability in Our Teaching)
Just Keep Swimming: A Semester of Teaching Pixar
Josh recommends:
The Pixar Theory
The Pixar Theory book
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Sep 2, 2015 • 29min
The weekly review
Bonni Stachowiak shares how she improves her productivity through a structured, weekly review.
Podcast notes
The Weekly Review
Getting Things Done, by David Allen
Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. – David Allen
Having a system you trust
GTD Methodology Guides
LifeHacker’s guide to the weekly review
GET CLEAR
Scannable
Inbox zero for all inboxes (physical and electronic)
Drafts app
Brain dump / sweep
GET CURRENT
Review task manager (I use OmniFocus)
Review calendar (last week, next 2 weeks)
Review Waiting
Review Project Lists
Review Checklists
GET CREATIVE
Review someday/Maybe List
Add new projects
Refine system
Recommendations
Bonni recommends:
Give a weekly review a try for one month… and share how it goes…
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Aug 27, 2015 • 29min
Triumphs and failures – Day 1
Bonni Stachowiak shares about the triumphs and failures in her first day of teaching this semester.
Podcast notes
Triumphs and failures of day 1
Thanks for the encouragement on the Terrors of Teaching episode #059
Mac Power Users episode on emergency preparedness
Content warnings
Rick rolls
You are an idiot
Failures
Treyvon trip up
Race is on my mind
Stephen Brookfield – The Skillful Teacher – micro-agressions
Peter Newbury on episode #053
Forgotten supplies
Planbook
Triumphs
Mostly kept pace between three sections of the same class
Kept my stuff together – cords, etc. Grid it system worked like a champ
Experience what my teaching is like, versus me talking about it (while still explaining while we go)
Continually working on just-in-time learning/demonstrations, when possible (tapes, SnagIt)
Recommendations
Bonni recommends:
[reminder] Share your own failures and triumphs [/reminder]
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Aug 20, 2015 • 30min
Mindset
Rebecca Campbell shares about the power of mindset.
Podcast notes
Mindset
Guest: Dr. Rebecca Campbell
Recommended by Michelle Miller, from episode #026.
Associate Professor of Education and the Director and Department Chair for Academic Transition Programs at Northern Arizona University.
Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. – Christopher Robin
Background on mindset
Early introductions
Dissertation work on a piece: epistemological beliefs – where knowledge comes from.
“You either get it or you don’t.”
Growth vs fixed mindset
Isn’t about teaching differently, but about framing the conversation differently. – Rebecca Campbell
Performance barriers
A better way of describing those things holding students back from academic achievement
How to help students achieve more of a growth mindset
Normalize help-seeking behavior: supplemental instruction, tutoring, writing centers, office hours, peers
Help seeking behavior is a big deal
The shift between high school and college is pretty big. – Rebecca Campbell
… students come and arrive with lots of incoming characteristics. None of these things have to be overcome, in order for them to be successful.
How they engage in learning. How they leverage help-seeking behaviors. << That’s what defines student success.
These processes can be guided, coached, mentored and taught. – Rebecca Campbell
When we make the processes explicit, we make effort explicit and we are saying everyone can grow if you engage in the right processes. – Rebecca Campbell
We can guide students about the process of learning.
Recommendations
Bonni recommends:
TED Talk | Brain Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
Rebecca will be using his book for the freshman reading group this year:
Just Mercy, by Brian Stevenson
Chronicle blog post about the freshmen reading groups
Rebecca recommends:
Be kind to students. Don’t make assumptions. – Rebecca Campbell
More on performance barriers
Reframing the conversation
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Aug 13, 2015 • 35min
All that is out of our control
Lee Skallerup Bessette joins me to talk about how to deal with and manage when stuff get’s out of control in our lives, as well as how to address those situations when it happens to our students.
Podcast notes
Guest: Dr. Lee Skallerup Bessette
Faculty Instructional Consultant at the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching at the University of Kentucky
Dr. Skallerup on Twitter: @readywriting
Dr. Skallerup on Inside Higher Ed
Digital humanities
… the intersection between technology and what technology can help us do in the humanities. – Lee Skallerup Bessette
Big data, distance reading, social networking and network graphs
Digitization and archives
Making research, primary sources more available
Computational linguistics and mapping
Media studies
Digital pedagogy
We have unprecedented access to tools, to information, to interfaces, and the question that digital pedagogy attempts to answer is: ‘So what? What do we do with them?’ – Lee Skallerup Bessette
EdTech versus digital pedagogy
Often educational technology are almost commercially based, not to say that all of them are. – Lee Skallerup Bessette
Assignment to define digital pedagogy in 121 characters, an assignment for the Humanities Intensive Learning and Teaching 2015
Storify of the Humanities Intensive Learning and Teaching 2015 by Lee
Lee’s digital pedagogy definition “Making, bending, and breaking. #hilt2015”
#hilt2015 Digital Pedagogy – Making, Bending, Breaking https://t.co/hBI5JSGQOB
— Lee Skallerup (@readywriting) July 27, 2015
Blogs at College Ready Writing on Insidehighered.com
Doing it Wrong
On Not Swimming
Reflections from a New Faculty Developer
Losing control during a course
Decided how to make this work, but learned some lessons along the way
Too much focus on “covering” the content
Disappointing results in students’ un-essay projects
[When things happen outside your control], sometimes you’ve got to let go of some of the coverage [of course content] in order to accomplish the learning goals. – Lee Skallerup Bassette
Finding balance
Tends to happen in stages/seasons (especially regarding the kid’s ages)
Husband just got tenure and those demands also needed to be taken into consideration
Blogging was one of the things that I used to try to maintain some sort of balance. It was something I did for me and my own sanity. – Lee Skallerup Bassette
Students losing control
Worked at diverse institutions
Had students research the resources available on campus to them during times of struggle
Cultural aspects to a death in the family
I saw my role as listening, so that they felt heard, and then guiding them to a place where they could be more effectively helped. – Lee Skallerup Bessette
Final advice
Sometimes it’s ok to let go of some of the content. – Lee Skallerup Bessette
Recommendations
Lee recommends:
Cathy Davidson’s blog post – Handicapped by being underimpaired: Teaching with Equality at the Core .
Note: Cathy was a Teaching in Higher Ed guest on episode #028
Perhaps the worst people to teach writing are the best writers. – Lee Skallerup Bessette
Bonni recommends:
Critical Digital Pedagogy Resources and Tools by Andrea Rehn
Lee inspires us for the start to the academic year:
Be hopeful. Be optimistic. And give your students the benefit of the doubt right from the start. – Lee Skallerup Bessette
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Aug 6, 2015 • 39min
Practical instructional design
Edward Oneill joins me to talk about practical instructional design.
Podcast notes
Practical instructional design
Guest
Edward Oneill, Senior instructional designer at Yale.
Teach Better Podcast
I know a little bit about a lot of things. – Edward Oneill (and also Diana Krall, etc.)
What Edward’s clients often need
intuitively-appealing ways of conceptualizing the learning process
a survey of the relevant tools & which fit their needs & capacities
Edward’s special skill
…finding the points in the learning process where assessment and evaluation can be woven in seamlessly
Design approach of Edward’s early courses
Successes
Made sure students had to do something every week
Ensured consistent deadlines
Weekly messages, creatively introducing them to that week
Failures
Disconnected topics, no second chances
You don’t learn anything by doing it once. – Edward Oneill
Not opportunities for practice
I wanted to see it as the students’ fault. It’s so hard to get out of that [mindset]. – Edward Oneill
Biggest challenges in our teaching
We know our content, but we don’t realize how tightly packed our knowledge is…
Edward’s blog post about the Five stages of teaching
Peter Newbury – prior Teaching in Higher Ed guest on episode #053 shared about recall / connections
Rehearsal and elaboration
It’s about stepping away from the center and helping [students] communicate with each other. – Edward Oneill
Methods for incorporating assessment and evaluation into the design of courses
Have shorter/smaller forms of assessment that aren’t necessarily graded 100% of the time
Use their performance as your own assessment
Bonni shares about teaching with Ellen’s Heads Up iPad game
Jeopardy game as form of reinforcement
Recommendations
Bonni recommends:
Parker Palmer quote
I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illumined by the lightning-life of the mind—then teaching is the finest work I know. – Parker Palmer
Edward comments:
There is a special privilege in people letting you help them grow and change. – Edward Oneill
Edward recommends:
On Becoming a Person, by Carl Rogers
As a teacher, I need to see you as a unique learner. If I really try to understand you and try to help you grow, it is not so much about information transfer; it is a more humane kind of relationship. – Edward Oneill
When you’re passionate about teaching and you focus on it and you try to improve – you do. – Edward Oneill
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Jul 30, 2015 • 21min
The terror of teaching
Bonni Stachowiak shares some of her fears about teaching and ways that she often attempts to resolve them.
Podcast Notes
The Skillful Teacher, by Stephen Brookfield
Common fears
Quantity over quality
Confusion
Lacking balance
Being inadequate
Attempts to resolve fears
Carve out time for deeper connections
Use checklists and leverage Remind more
Ideal week template | Outsource (virtual assistants)/insource and say no more often
Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less, by Greg McKeown
Have evidence to the contrary (letters, emails, etc.)
Recommendations
Tommy Emmanuel’s Tall Fidler
Closing notes
Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.
Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests.
Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.