EdSurge Podcast

What if the way we think about testing and how we measure students is broken? That’s the argument made by our guest today, Todd Rose, author of the bestselling "The End of Average," who has researched the history of grades and standardized tests, and argues for a new way to think about them.

What is the purpose of education? It's a question that William Shakespeare raises in his comedy "Love's Labour's Lost. And the playwright's own training—in rhetoric, craftsmanship and conversation—reveals the answer. That's the premise of a new book by Scott Newstok, an English professor at Rhodes College.

Over the past year the pandemic has dramatically altered college teaching, and one side-effect seems to be a rise in exam cheating. In some cases, students are using homework help sites, including Chegg, to get answers during exams. The company has taken steps to respond, but critics say more change is needed. And some say it’s professors who need to change their testing strategies.

In his Inaugural Address, Joe Biden spoke at length about unity, calling on Americans to “listen to one another, see one another, hear one another and show respect to one another.” But what would it really take to do that? Mylien Duong, a clinical psychologist and social-emotional learning research scientist, explains why listening and empathy are so complex and elusive.

An online course at Concordia University is being taught by a legend of Canadian art -- well, by video lectures he recorded years ago. But a student in the course said he was surprised to find that even though the professor died in 2019, he's still listed as the teacher on the syllabus. What can we learn from this unusual moment in online teaching?

With COVID-19 vaccinations rolling out across the country, there's hope that more schools in the U.S. will soon go back to in-person learning. But there is also a sense of added urgency. But new strains of the coronavirus are emerging, bring a new sense of concern. Asaf Bitton, a physician, public health researcher, and executive director of Ariadne Labs, talks about how soon he sees a chance for kids to have "just a regular boring school day" again.

Teachers are becoming stars these days on TikTok, that social media platform for sharing short videos. Some of them say the platform serves as a kind of virtual teaching lounge during COVID. But is it a good thing for the teaching profession that classroom instructors are part of a site known for dance crazes, jokes and other irreverent content?

Last semester was historic: the first full term under the shadow of COVID-19, and nobody really knew what to expect or how well various teaching adaptations would work. So what are some lessons from the fall semester? We talked with the professors and students who participated in our Pandemic Campus Diaries podcast series in the fall for their takeaways.

This week we talk with a history professor who thinks that not only can colleges do more to encourage civic education that could prevent future crises like the mob storming the U.S. Capitol last week, but that higher education is partly to blame for last week’s events.

On this episode we’re going to revisit some of the most memorable moments from our podcast in 2020 -- and some bonus material that we wanted to get on but just didn’t quite fit.