Teaching in Higher Ed

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.

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.

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.  

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.  

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.

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.

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.  

Jesse Stommel, shares about how he enhances his teaching with Twitter. Podcast notes Teaching with Twitter Guest: Jesse Stommel About Hybrid Pedagogy Twitter basics Getting started with Twitter Jesse’s blog post: Teaching with Twitter Twitter Pedagogy: An educator down the Twitter rabbit hole, by Kelsey Schmitz The rules of Twitter, by Dorothy Kim Jesse’s background When I grew up, I always wanted to have my own school… [Hybrid Pedagogy] is not really as much a repository for articles, but a space for community and for engaging. – Jesse Stommel Was recently in Canada for the Digital Humanities Summer Institute, where he broke his ankle On kindness Kindness is what drives my pedagogy. It’s about seeing people for who they really are and engaging with their full selves. – Jesse Stommel Part of [kindness] is also about bringing your full self to the relationship you have with your coworkers, your students, and [other collaborators] that you use as a guiding ethic. – Jesse Stommel What the 140 limitation does The constraints of Twitter are also its affordances. Being asked to take an idea and put it in this constrained linguistic space of 140 characters forces us to think about and question our thinking in ways we wouldn’t otherwise. – Jesse Stommel Twitter allows for improvisation within a framework What students should know Twitter lets us play out our ideas Twitter is a space for trying out ideas. It encourages us to iterate… – Jesse Stommel [Twitter] is like a tool in the way that a pencil is a tool. A tool that lots of people can use for lots of different reasons. It becomes this platform that you can use in different ways and environments. – Jesse Stommel Conversation with Steve Wheeler re: digital natives on episode 38 Literacies Each person has to find a different relationship to these tools and build their own self inside of the network. – Jesse Stommel Privacy literacy Anyone who imagines that they can become private just with the flip of a switch is not really understanding how these networks work. – Jesse Stommel Reflections on Teaching in Higher Ed episode 31 on the social network Yik Yak Creative ways to teach with Twitter Twitter vs Zombies Pete Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel share about Twitter vs Zombies with GamifiED OOC The Twitter essay, by Jesse Stommel 12 Steps for designing an assignment, by Jesse Stommel (slide show that addresses some of the questions around how to grade these types of assignments) Some things need to be public. – Jesse Stommel Canvassers study in episode #555 of This American Life has been retracted He was peer-reviewing my tweets before I sent each one out [at our wedding]… – Jesse Stommel Today I’m live-tweeting my wedding to Joshua Lee. Because some things need to be public. — Jesse Stommel (@Jessifer) June 13, 2014 I want my students to know someone in a place that is so different than the place that they are in. – Jesse Stommel Maha Bali in Egypt on Twitter Tweetdeck Net Smart by Howard Rheingold Recommendations Bonni recommends: Teaching with Twitter class, via Hybrid Pedagogy, taught by Jesse Jesse recommends: Net Smart by Howard Rheingold Jesse on Twitter Hybrid Pedagogy 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.  

Mark Hofer shares how he implements Universal Design for Learning in his teaching, so that all students have the opportunity to learn. Podcast notes Guest: Mark Hofer Universal design for learning Student, Tony, who helped Mark identify the need for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) …gives all individuals equal opportunities to learn. – National Center on Universal Design for Learning National Center on Universal Design for Learning UDL on Campus Interactive version of UDL guidelines Printable version of UDL guidelines Universal design in architecture If you think about [the UDL] components as you’re designing your course, you’re going to wind up with better learning experiences for all your students. – Mark Hofer Addressing concerns about UDL We inadvertently put up barriers for our students in their learning. Mark’s compare and contrast example Get started incorporating UDL into a course Step 1: What do I know that students struggle with related to this [topic or competency]? Step 2: What kind of options could I include to help them with [those common challenges]? It does take students some time to get used to the idea that there may be more than one way to [accomplish] something. – Mark Hofer Guidelines Engagement – Mark is building his course around badges and experiences (through gamification and choice) …goal is to try to make the learning as relevant and interesting to the learning, not just initially, but to sustain their interest in the learning… – Mark Hofer Representation – pulling together readings, videos, interactives, where you can choose the way to learn Action and expression – Mark is creating, for each project, 3 different options, all measured by the same rubric While it is more [work] to select the various kinds of resources, it’s paid back when in class the students are more prepared and we can go into further depth. -Mark Hofer Getting started with UDL Peter Newbury describes getting started with peer instruction on episode #053 Don’t try to do [UDL] for every lesson, every day; it’s a recipe for burnout. – Mark Hofer Make sure all assignments aren’t of the same type, over the course of a semester “Pick a topic / concept that you know that students struggle with and try to find a range of different materials and see if it makes a difference.” – Mark Hofer Common misconception about UDL While technology can help you implement UDL, it isn’t dependent on using it… UDL is an instructional approach and does not require technology In relation to universal design If you apply good accessibility practices to [course content], it will really benefit multiple learners in the process. – Mark Hofer Recommendations Bonni recommends: Listen to Mac Power Users 265 on Apple Music Mark recommends: UDLcenter.org 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.  

Managing email using the Inbox Zero approach. Podcast notes Getting to zero inbox Be strategic about what times you check email Use email like a real mailbox with physical mail Leverage a to do list / task manager Make use of snippets for commonly-asked questions (TextExpander or Breevy) Schedule meetings with doodle or the best day Create a hub for committees and other collaboration Merlin Mann’s video on Inbox Zero Recommendations Bonni recommends: Tim Stringer’s Learn OmniFocus calendar webinar (OmniFocus users)