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Episode 81: Becoming a Teacher with Kevin Gannon 06/25/2019

Episode 80: Classrooms for Active Learning with Robert Talbert 04/19/2019

Episode 79: The Fundamentals of Teaching with Doug Robertson 02/26/2019

Episode 78: Reflecting on What Worked: Doug and Edward Debrief Their Fall Teaching 12/21/2018

Episode 77: Active Learning, Motivation, and Peer Assessment with Jose Vazquez 11/21/2018

Episode 76: Applying Teaching Insights across Disciplines with Justin Cerenzia 09/25/2018

Episode 75: Classroom Observation with Marilyne Stains 08/07/2018

Episode 74: Engaged Learning with Monroe Weber-Shirk 06/20/2018

Episode 73: Teaching Physics Teachers with Mac Stetzer 05/03/2018

Episode 72: Course Evaluations with Betsy Barre 03/22/2018

Episode 71: Virtual Reality and Teaching with Andrea Stevenson Won 03/07/2018

Episode 70: Encouraging Creativity with Robert Sternberg 02/13/2018

Episode 69: Extreme Teaching 01/23/2018

Episode 68: Teaching Online with Doug, Edward, and Laura Gibbs 12/16/2017

Podcast Episode 67: Beyond Multiple Choice with Mark Urban-Lurain 11/27/2017

Podcast Episode 66: Concept Inventories with Michelle Smith 11/07/2017

Podcast Episode 65: Modeling Instruction with Eric Brewe 10/27/2017

Podcast Episode 64: Collaborative Exams with Teddy Svoronos 10/10/2017

Podcast Episode 63: A Better Way to Integrate Student Presentations with Ileen Devault 09/27/2017

Podcast Episode 62: Reinventing Science Labs with Natasha Grace Holmes 09/12/2017

Episode 61: The Future of Educational Technology 08/29/2017

Podcast Episode 60: Low-Tech Alternatives 08/06/2017

Podcast Episode 59: Games and Simulations in the Classroom 07/26/2017

Podcast Episode 58: Digital Textbooks 07/10/2017

Podcast Episode 58: Digital Textbooks In the latest installment of we focus on digital textbooks. These products go far beyond simple digital versions of the text, and often include embedded quizzes, smart highlighting, note taking, and interactive figures, all on top of attractive formatting. The big publishers have come a long way in the past few years. (College of the Sequoias) shares her experience teaching with , (UCSD) tells us about , and (Cornell) explains what she and her students liked (and didn’t like) about the . Along the way we compare features, pricing, and availability of content. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:33 Why we think it’s helpful to hear stories from several actual users. 2:15 Follow-up on : How does give their product away for free? What’s their business model? 4:40 What IS a digital textbook? It’s not just an ebook or a pdf. Who’s going to talk about what. 8:02 on using to teach sociology. Using a digital textbook to help students acquire better study skills. Improving students’ quiz scores by giving them more practice. 14:40 Students can use the digital textbook on any device–including their phones. The instructor can see which quiz questions students struggle on–and then focus on that in class. Revel can also evaluate student essays algorithmically. 18:47 Students can also pay a bit more and get a physical version of the book. Students can listen to the textbook being read to them. Revel is being updated constantly. Students can also use many features of the digital textbook offline. 22:15 The digital version of her textbook is cheaper than the paper version, and the rental lasts longer than one semester. It’s easy for professors to . 25:00 Doug’s interest in going paperless. and he saw an introductory economics textbook authored specifically for that platform. Products in this category look a lot better than they used to. Textbooks also reflect the tastes of the time: 28:56 on writing and teaching with a digital textbook: . 31:49 SmartBook is adaptive: The software asks students questions tailored to the answers they give. 37:19 McGraw Hill also offers a platform with a bank of tests, videos, and more. SmarBbooks ask students about their level of confidence in their answers and respond accordingly. Cost is also a concern, since there are not ‘used’ SmartBooks. And a rental textbook can shut out economically-disadvantaged students. 44:53 Kate’s department is large enough to negotiate for the best prices. 47:07 What is the killer feature of the SmartBook? 48:32 on teaching economics using . Why go paperless? Mindtap is sort of a learning management system that includes, supports and expands upon the textbook. The instructor can also add materials. 50:17 Google Chrome can translate the MindTap text for students. The cost of the ebook, a workbook, and web site access is less than a new paper textbook. Many students also purchase a loose-leaf hard copy–where a few years ago, they wanted everything digital. 54:01 MindTap will read the textbook to you. Most of the feedback from students has been positive. Students appreciated a deep bank of practice questions. Cost was an issue for students. The platform offers a graphing tool for student input. 57:31 Stephanie was drawn both to the textbook and to the extra materials. How to . 1:00:08 The MindTap platform limits the way the instructor can layout text. LMS integration is possible, but not where Stephanie teaches. Stephanie is continuing with the platform. 1:02:04 Doug suggests picking a textbook for content first and then for features. What is the calculus of choosing a digital textbook? More and more publishers are motivated to create digital textbooks: there’s no used market. Inducing students to read before class–so you can do more interesting things in class. 1:08:23 Choose a digital textbook to meet a specific need. 1:10:09 Coming edtech summer topics: simulations and games, live video in the classroom 1:11:00 Signing off. /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534221

Podcast Episode 57: Classroom Response Systems 06/27/2017

Podcast Episode 57: Classroom Response Systems In our first , we talk about classroom response systems, aka clickers. We’re joined by three guests who have each used a different product extensively in their classes. First, (Cornell) shares how she uses to assess students’ understanding of pre-class video. Next, (Vanguard and the ) explains why and how gets students engaged. Finally, (Florida State, Jacksonville) talks about how much fun her students have with Along the way we tell you what tools might be the best fit in different situations and how to get started with each tool. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:52 Launching 3:33 What are clickers? Or more generally, what is a classroom response system? 6:19 Why not just ask students to raise their hands? 7:09 About our guests and our goals. 12:48 on using to teach introductory economics courses. Trying to flip the classroom—in part because there was a library of video content for the course. Challenges in getting the students to watch the content beforehand. 18:06 Why choose iClicker? Good on-campus support is not a bad reason. iClicker is currently a hybrid hardware software solution. If you want students to use hardware clickers, the instructor needs to bring and connect a to the classroom. With it’s a mobile app, too. Jenny didn’t want students distracted by their mobile devices. And students can log in from elsewhere. 22:25 iClicker Cloud lets you restrict answers to a specific physical area (like your classroom). Things get complicated when students mix-and-match clickers and apps. 24:24 The pleasures of motivating students and even helping them make mistakes and chang their minds. iClicker advantage: ease-of-use. How the process actually works. The software version allows a variety of question types, but students with hardware clickers are stuck with multiple choice. 29:24 Getting started. Students can find the clickers on Amazon, for instance. You can also simply engage and interact with the students about social or topical matters. You can use it for attendance. 33:50 : It was supported and easy to integrate–there’s no need to set up the questions on the iClicker website. Why stop using it? To reduce his hardware setup to . The iClicker base station doesn’t plug into a tablet or phone. 37:40 from the on using to help students retain information. Trying to focus students’ attention and building stronger neural connections: . Getting information OUT of students’ heads, not just into them. 41:59 Using clickers to find out what the students are actually learning. The classic mistake of computer software trainers: “Did y’all get that?” People may not know they are lost or want to admit it. Why PollEverywhere? Her students all have smartphones. Her classes are small enough that she can use the free plan. is more generous. Students can be polled anonymously. 46:40 Bonni likes the question type which lets learners pick a spot on an image. Bonnie doesn’t mind her students having their devices out. Since students have their own screens, you don’t need a room with a projector–you can teach outdoors. 51:10 How to get started. Pro tip: Pick a memorable user name. 54:11 Doug didn’t have the time to get into PollEverywhere’s tools for creating questions using mathematical notation. 55:09 is another software-based polling solution, but it presents itself as fun games with animation and music. 56:08 has been using Kahoot! for over two years. It’s web-based–there’s no app to install. And it’s like a trivia game where speed and accuracy both matter: it’s competitive and fun. You can track students by the screen name they use and give them credit for answering. But when a student uses the screen name “Zeus”…. It can be used to engage students, break up a long lecture, help students understand where they need to study further, and more. 1:01:32 Why not use another tool? Susan found PollEverywhere harder to use than Kahoot! And Kahoot! is just more fun. Students like the music–and earning points, though these can both be turned off. 1:04:28 Susan would like more question types—like open-ended questions. Her students don’t notice the class is over, they’re so involved. And it’s free. 1:07:43 How do you get started? Just go to . 1:09:01 Doug doesn’t see Kahoot! as his cup of tea. Edward plays devil’s advocate. Doug wants to explore . 1:11:40 Our next topic in : digital textbooks. Faculty can also author their own ebook–e.g., instructors in the USC French department . Future topics include games and simulations. ! 1:15:02 Signing off. /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534222

Podcast Episode 56: Inclusive Teaching with A.T. Miller 06/12/2017

Podcast Episode 56: Inclusive Teaching with A.T. Miller has published numerous articles on inclusive and multicultural teaching, and as the Associate Vice Provost for Academic Diversity, he currently directs Cornell’s . In this episode we talk with A.T. about the valuable skills and alternative perspectives that non-traditional students bring to the classroom, and what “normal” academic things might not be obvious or comfortable for these students. A.T. shares a whole host practical ways to provide a level playing field to all your students. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:40 Welcoming our guest and his career. How are first-generation and non-traditional students are different from the prototypical college students? College is opaque to students whose parents may not have gone. 6:51 How the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives at Cornell came into being. Pursuing equity for a range of student populations. 12:28 Higher ed, tweed jackets, and sherry. Sometimes first-generation and non-traditional students may not know what whole disciplines and majors are. These students may also not know all of what the college experience offers. 18:41 Students may have specific academic gaps, but those are not so hard to fix. 22:25 Things that hold back non-traditional students: curving grades, students picking their own groups or teams. Clear rotating roles in group work avoids systematically disadvantaging students who are different. 28:28 If you want to know what’s going on with your students, you might actually ask them. You as the professor can’t provide a diversity you don’t bring. Incorporate the students’ voices. 35:11 Hold required office hours. Many of these issues have simple solutions which do a lot of work for you and the students. 40:23 You can learn about your own implicit bias by taking . Asking someone to observe you is a good way to discover implicit bias more concretely in the classroom. Athletes can also be stereotyped by instructors. Non-traditional students may not feel entitled to ask for an extension, say. 48:26 Less stringent deadlines can also help non-traditional students. In STEM classes, takehome exams are trickier. The unproductive dynamic of dangling grades over students is especially unproductive for non-traditional students. 54:39 Students need to be ready to solve the kinds of questions they will see on the exam. The more real-world the problems are, the better for non-traditional students. In a multicultural calculus course, the problems are part of weeklong stories. (This lowered withdrawals and drops.) 57:13 Teaching fails: shutting down a student to show he’s naive and you’re not. Picking on what AT thought were the privileged kids. But the privileged students can learn from their non-traditional peers. And that student can be blind to the advantages he’s had. 1:02:14 Signing off. /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534223

Podcast Episode 55: Reflections on a First Year of Teaching with Peter Rich 05/30/2017

Podcast Episode 55: Reflections on a First Year of Teaching with Peter Rich , from Cornell’s , just finished his first year of college teaching. In this episode we focus on his big undergraduate class: . Peter generously shares how he prepared, how it went, and what he learned from the experience. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:39 Welcoming Peter Rich. Teaching social problems as your first college teaching assignment. 4:09 Teaching undergraduates–for the first time. To textbook or not to textbook, that is the question. Not a textbook but parts of something textbook-like. 10:06 Teaching students with a range of preparation and interests. Introducing them to the major and the discipline. Teaching micro-aggressions the first day and using the discussion to define classroom climate. 14:43 Working with at the . Learning at Cornell’s 17:06 Trying to make explicit what the students could expect from him, and using learning objectives to communicate goals and standards. 21:40 Worrying if you have the requisite mastery of the material to teach it. 26:23 Peter draws on his high school teaching and tutoring experiences. The flawed ‘banking approach’ to teaching: making deposits to the students’ knowledge. Peter builds his first syllabus. Picking reading you want to do–to stretch and think more as a generalist than a specialist. Getting gains from research in your teaching. 31:23 “This was probably the most intellectually engaging semester I had since starting grad school.” Learning about other literatures that shed light on your own. Inviting guest speakers (including ) to broaden the range of views and voices–and giving grad students experience teaching and lecturing. 38:28 Planning how class time is spent: the spreadsheet that didn’t work. Time management when lecturing. Wanting closure on the week’s topic. Using to get to know your students. 43:34 Edward suggests NOT looking for closure at the end of each lecture. Satisfying the students when some topics have little resolution. Doug’s strategies for creating continuity across class meetings. 46:56 Focusing on questions vs. answers. Pushing fundamental questions onto the students: an example from American film history. “Why this question?” is an important disciplinary meta-question. Peter: “Every way of seeing is also a way of not seeing.” Supporting students with unpopular opinions. Edward argues for . 54:11 The Speed Round. What worked–and surprised you? Peter’s accountability system for helping students do the reading using . How to assign points for clicker questions and how to let students make up for questions they miss. 1:01:54 Last question. In teaching your first class, what did not go to plan? Starting with policy issues instead of ending them. Doug and Peter discuss grading group projects and handling group problems. 1:09:09 A teaching mistake: not knowing enough about one of the clips you show. Scholarly credibility is tricky. 1:13:32 An impressive performance teaching a first college course. Signing off. /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534224

Podcast Episode 54: Social Media and Teaching with Drew Margolin 05/16/2017

Podcast Episode 54: Social Media and Teaching with Drew Margolin In this episode we are joined by Professor from the . Drew is an expert on the role of technology in communication and in particular social media. During our wide-ranging conversation he shares his thoughts on the growing importance of social media in our lives and our students’ lives, as well as how he uses Twitter to engage students in the classroom. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:39 Introducing Drew Margolin. The importance of proper pronunciation. 2:27 What’s so interesting about social media? Social media let us observe social communication on a large scale. Social media aren’t a proxy for social interaction: They are social interaction. Twitter gives us access to information before the news media have processed it. 8:47 Social media conversations aren’t polite, but Drew’s research shows when people on Twitter are more likely to accept correction. People tend to part on good terms on Twitter. Drew’s new research focuses on the emotional tone of social media conversations. Doug suggests a ‘bot’ that downregulates anger. 14:17 Drew teaches about Twitter, and many students have no experience with it. People don’t argue so much on, say, Instagram 16:55 Teaching “Communication and Information Science” to 200+ students. Drew inherited the course structure but is continuously revising it. 23:05 Drew tells us what students do on Snapchat. Why Twitter is interesting for analytical purposes. 28:21 Social media is both the object of study and educational technology. Requiring students to use Twitter but letting them use an anonymous account, and using student communication in a lecture. Exploring tools and apps that many students (and even the professor) haven’t seen or used. 37:22 Doug uses seven tools for classroom interactions, and Drew just uses one: Twitter. 41:12 It’s hard just to get students on the same page. Helping students thinking critically about media: communication has dimensions, and Twitter lives in there. It’s very seductive to think that because we have access to more information that we know more. We may have more information, but we also seem to have less in common. 50:35 How we use technology is procedural, but we often imagine that “knowledge” is declarative. Donald Norman’s . Should you worry about students knowing the conceptual nomenclature? 55:31 Teaching mistakes? Remembering that however casual you want things to be, you are still the teacher, and words can sting. Being clear with students that you’re experimenting–and that future students will reap the benefit. . /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534225

Podcast Episode 53: What's a Course? with Edward and Doug 05/01/2017

Podcast Episode 53: What's a Course? with Edward and Doug In this episode we go conceptual and talk about a new way Edward has devised to categorize courses into three distinct types. The first, Interpret-and-Explain is common in the humanities, business schools, and some advanced courses in the social sciences. The second, Explain-and-Predict is the predominant type in the sciences where theories, models, and methods are central. The third type, Plan-and-Create is the primary mode of many arts and engineering courses. We look back at our past episodes for good examples of each, and discuss when and why you might want to teach using a method that’s atypical for your discipline. At the end we go meta and try to fit our podcast into this ontology and ruminate on our goals for the podcast. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:39 Stepping back, thinking big. To transfer or redesign a course, it helps to know what a “course” is–It’s not just a stack of slides or lecture notes. 4:55 Talking to an economist, you can ask what the “model” for the course is. The design for a thing is not the thing: you can’t drive the design for a car. 7:05 Thinking about courses like a software engineer: the specifications, the implementation, and the design. The software layer model: the data layer, the interface layer, and the business rules between the two. 10:44 First Course Type: interpreting and analyzing a series of cases within a single system: many films, one Hollywood system; many poems, the English language. You can’t always spell out how the system works. Bottom-up vs. top-down. 14:44 Second Course Type: explaining and predicting, comparing methods, hypothesis-testing. Doug’s econometrics course is theory-driven but uses motivating examples. But an econ course about a single substantive topic (like the healthcare system) can use the interpret-and-analyze approach. 21:15 The case study model interprets and analyzes. The course types can be blended, and more advanced courses tend to blend the types. 22:50 Third Course Type: Planning, making, or creating; and it’s common in the fine and practical arts (including design and engineering). Teaching screenwriting. Avoiding fake plan-make-create. Students don’t know when they start making something what will and won’t work. 28:46 The course types also correspond to a naturalistic sequence of: analyzing past cases, testing hypotheses, and planning and making something new. 30:12 uses a Socratic approach to get students to interpret and explain a series of business cases. dramatizes historical events. We usually contrast lectures and seminars, but we’re doing something different. The course types bring students into the core disciplinary methods: interpreting, predicting, designing. 34:45 role-plays or simulates the cases: students still need to interpret and explain; they also make predictions; but it’s interactive, not a lecture. Content layer vs. interaction layer: yes there are a series of paintings, but what does someone do with that? 38:41 Unusual approaches to interpreting & explaining: on organizational psychology. uses film clips in a physics class as cases that students need to interpret. 43:24 teaching neurobiology in a prison. teaches about networks with clickers and other interactive elements. It’s hard to teach history as a predictive art. teaches intermediate microeconomic theory as a series of models. Slowly removing presuppositions. The challenge of teaching abstractions and methods. 52:28 has his students plan, make, and create: computer games. Teaching design often starts with simple but highly-structured problems, then moves to complex unstructured problems. Students and teachers can also make explicit heuristics and rules-of-thumb that makers use. Print is declining and video is rising. 1:00:12 The types can also be blended. ’s graduate course on proteins asks students to role-play. ’s students create an historical exhibition: interpret-and-explain becomes plan-make-create. 1:07:58 Doug’s dry intermediate micro-economics course: . 1:10:56 Seeing enough examples to recognizing patterns. 1:12:55 Which ‘type’ is this podcast? Interpreting and explaining cases of good teaching. Sometimes rules-of-thumb emerge, too. 1:19:04 The podcast as edutainment. Signing off. Our handy wall chart of course types: /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534226

Podcast Episode 52: Teams and Game Design with Walker White 04/17/2017

Podcast Episode 52: Teams and Game Design with Walker White has one of the coolest jobs in higher ed. He directs Cornell’s , and teaches beginning and advanced game design classes in the computer science department. In this episode we go deep inside Walker’s introductory games course for programmers, writers, and artists. He tells us how he organizes his students in heterogeneous teams, gives them copious feedback, and helps each team build a brand new playable game by the end of the semester. You can subscribe to the through your favorite podcast app or simply if you don’t have one yet. //= segmentEnd) { audio.pause(); } console.log("current: " + audio.currentTime + ", segmentEnd: " + segmentEnd); }, false); function playpauseSegment(startTime, endTime){ if (audio.paused) { if (audio.currentTime = endTime) { audio.currentTime = startTime; } segmentEnd = endTime; audio.play(); } else { audio.pause(); } } //]]> Show Notes 0:00 Intro 0:39 Welcome Walker White. Game hobbyists at Dartmouth in days of yore. A club of gamers who were also game-makers. Games with explicit rules vs. software-based games. , , and . Changing game rules to make things more interesting–. 6:56 The OG game console: . An exalted pong machine. Avoiding 3D game engines for educational purposes. 11:10 An academic teaching game design and industry changes. Game design as a minor that can be attached to many majors. Students learn to work with experts in other domains–where professors often work largely with other experts in their own fields. 18:32 The teacher as project manager rather than a content deliverer. The mechanics of signing up for the course and being put in teams. A large number of students are already sharing the code publicly. Education that’s grounded in a design process. Doug’s favorite dungeon crawler / word game: . 25:34 It’s not pre-professional training. It’s more from scratch. But it’s also about learning to work with experts. 31:20 Lecturing on an as-needed basis based on the students’ projects. One third of the class is lecture, the rest is student group work and student presentations. The course also counts towards a technical writing requirement. 37:15 Only the final project is graded. The other work is required and gets regular feedback. The course is structured around two-week design sprints. More like a writing seminar: students write documentation. The documentation propels the work forward: it’s not just a reflection of what was done. 43:21 Why wiki’s don’t work for student collaboration. Students write minimalist design documents in natural language. Using every two weeks for peer assessment. When collaboration goes wrong: a restraining order. Intervening in groups but also respecting their wisehs. 51:45 How the course changes every year. Helping the students avoid working too hard. (A problem most faculty don’t have.) Student ownership of student projects at Cornell. 59:58 Walker’s teaching mistakes: “moments for potential improvement.” Sometimes you go to far fixing a mistake. 1:03:21 Signing off. /episode/index/show/teachbetter/id/5534227

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