Tea for Teaching

Student Access and Earnings

The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” contains a provision eliminating federal loan availability for programs in which past graduates had early career earnings that fall below a designated threshold. In this episode, Debbie Furlong joins us to discuss the statistical measures used to determine federal loan eligibility. 

Debbie has served for over 30 years doing applied higher education policy analysis at public comprehensive universities, most recently as the Director of Institutional Research at SUNY Oswego. Prior to her arrival at Oswego, she worked and taught at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, St. Norbert College in Wisconsin, and the American University in Washington, DC, where she had completed her PhD degree in international relations.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

UDL at Scale

The Universal Design for Learning framework is often adopted by individual faculty for particular courses. In this episode, Tom Tobin joins us to discuss the potential benefits associated with an institution-wide adoption of this framework.

Tom is an internationally recognized scholar, author and speaker on technology mediated education, especially copyright, evaluation of teaching practices, academic integrity, accessibility, and universal design for learning, which is a topic we'll be talking about today. He helped found the University of Wisconsin Madison Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring. Tom is on Ed Tech Magazine's Influencers Dean's List, and has been honored with the Wagner Leadership Award in Distance Learning Administration, and he is one of EduFlow’s global top 100 learning influencers. Tom serves on the boards of Advances in Online Education, The Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, and the Oklahoma University Press: Teaching, engaging and thriving in higher ed series. We're very glad that he's made time to be with us with all these activities. His books include Evaluating Online Teaching, The Copyright Ninja, Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: UDL in Higher Education, Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers, Implementing UDL in Irish Further Education and Training, and what we'll be talking about today, UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning, which is coming out this summer.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Insights From The Field

This podcast is a recording of a panel session featuring three online learning leaders, that was presented at the SUNY Online Learning Summit on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. The panelists are Yakut Gazi, Marina Amini, and Van Davis. Yakut is the Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Digital Education at Duke University. Marina is the Executive Director of the California Virtual Campus, and Van is the Executive Director of WCET and the Vice President of Digital Learning at WICHE.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

IDEAS for International Collaboration

In an increasingly globalized and networked economy, it is important to help students develop intercultural competence. In this episode, Josh McKeown and Christina Lee join us to discuss how two institutions are working together on a grant-funded collaborative exchange experience involving STEM students and faculty in the U.S., South Korea, and Taiwan.

Josh is the Associate Provost for International Education and Programs and the Director of the Office of International Education and Programs here at SUNY-Oswego. Christina is the Director of Global Education and International Services at Monroe Community College.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

An Educator's Guide to ADHD

Each student brings individual strengths and challenges to our classroom communities. In this episode, Karen Costa joins us to discuss ways to help students with ADHD thrive.

Karen is a faculty development facilitator specializing in online pedagogy, trauma-aware teaching, and supporting ADHD learners. Karen holds graduate degrees and certificates in education and education leadership; trauma and resilience; trauma-informed organizations; and neuroscience, learning, and online instruction. She is the author of 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos, and has served as a facilitator for the Online Learning Consortium, the Online Learning Toolkit, and Lumen Learning. Her most recent book, An Educator’s Guide to ADHD, has just been released by Johns Hopkins Press. Through her business, 100 Faculty, Karen offers supportive, fun, and engaging faculty support and development to faculty from all over the world.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

The University Unfettered

Colleges and universities have survived many challenges. In this episode, Ian McNeely joins us to discuss how public higher ed institutions continued to thrive despite the challenges of the Great Recession, low-quality online diploma mills, and the COVID pandemic. Ian is a Professor of History and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, He specializes in German history and the history of knowledge. Ian is the author of The University Unfettered: Public Higher Education in an Age of Disruption, which examines how modern research universities responded to the disruptions in higher education between the Great Recession and COVID-19 and the lessons learned from these experiences.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Preparing for Title II

Updates to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations require public colleges to increase their efforts to ensure that digital content meets accessibility standards. In this episode, Sean Moriarty joins us to discuss strategies to foster a culture of access across an institution. Sean is the Chief Technology Officer at SUNY Oswego. Sean and Rebecca have worked collaboratively on digital accessibility initiatives at SUNY Oswego since 2017

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Teacher by Teacher

During the past decade, public confidence in education has been declining. In this episode, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. joins us to discuss his new book that provides a compelling narrative of the value of education in transforming lives.

Chancellor King  has a long history of involvement with education. After graduating from Harvard, he acquired a Master's degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and taught high school social studies. He later co-founded Roxbury Preparatory Charter School and served as a co-Director for five years. Under his leadership, students in this school attained the highest scores of any urban middle school in the state and closed the racial achievement gap. After acquiring his doctoral degree from Columbia and a law degree from Yale, Dr. King served as New York State’s Education Commissioner from 2011 to 2014. He left NY for a while to work in the Obama administration as Deputy Secretary of Education from 2015 to 2016 and joined Obama’s Cabinet as Secretary of Education from 2016 to 2017. Following his work in the Obama Administration, Dr. King continued to advocate for increased educational equity and access as President and CEO of the Education Trust. He now serves as Chancellor of the State University of New York. We’re interviewing Dr. King in his role as the author of his new book and not in his role as the SUNY Chancellor.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Inclusive Math Instruction

Undergraduate math courses, as traditionally taught, often serve as barriers to entry into many STEM disciplines. In this episode, Aris Winger joins us to discuss strategies that can increase student success and reduce equity gaps in student outcomes in these classes.

Aris is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Georgia Gwinnett College. His current areas of interest include equity in mathematics education, culturally responsive teaching, and social justice mathematics. He is a co-author of the book series Advocating for Students of Color in Mathematics and is the Executive Director of the National Association of Mathematicians.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

UDL, Access, and AI

In November 2024, we moderated a panel at the OLC Accelerate Conference that used the universal design for learning (or UDL) framework to consider the impact generative AI has on equity and access. This episode is the live recording of this session. The panelists were: Liz Norell, Sherri Restauri, and Thomas J. Tobin. 

Liz is a political scientist and Associate Director of Instructional Support at the University of Mississippi Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She is also the author of The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching, which has recently been released as part of the Oklahoma University series on teaching and learning. Sherri is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Coastal Carolina University, having recently left administration in her role overseeing digital learning and access. She has been working in the field of digital and online learning for 24 years and now runs an educational consulting business to provide support to educational companies and institutions alike throughout the world. Sherri's research and work focuses on neurodiversity and mental health in higher education, and she has published, as well as presented, extensively on these topics over the years. Tom is a founding member of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of the forthcoming book, UDL at Scale: Adopting Universal Design for Learning across Higher Education, as well as Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education and several other works related to teaching and learning.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.