Tea for Teaching

Teaching Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling provides students the opportunity to bring their lived experiences into the classroom as creators rather than consumers of knowledge. In this episode, Tom Mackey and Sheila Aird join us to discuss ways digital storytelling can be used to increase student information literacy, critical thinking skills, and to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Tom is a Professor of Arts and Media and Program Coordinator for the BA and BS degrees in Digital Media Arts at SUNY Empire State University. He is the recipient of a 2022 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities and the recipient of several other awards for his teaching and mentoring work. Tom is also the co-author of several books and two MOOCs that focus on metaliteracy. Sheila is an Associate Professor and European Director of International Programs at SUNY’s Empire State University in Prague, in the Czech Republic. Her work broadly focuses on cultural history and public scholarship with a particular focus on  public history, pop culture, children of colonial enslavement, and issues of race in the African Diaspora community. Sheila has presented her work in many domestic and international venues and has co-authored two papers with Tom. Sheila and Tom are the co-editors of the new book, Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives, published in 2024 by Rowman and Littlefield. They also co-authored the framing chapter for this volume based on their collaborative development and teaching of Digital Storytelling as a virtual exchange between SUNY Empire students studying in Prague and the United States.

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

Teaching Creativity

When thinking about creativity, many students (and faculty) believe that they are either creative or not. In this episode, Susan Keller-Mathers joins us to discuss how the study of creativity can help us get past this false dichotomy in order to develop our creative thinking skills. Sue is an Associate Professor at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University.  She teaches graduate courses in creativity and has published over 30 articles, chapters, and books on creativity, creative behavior, and the use of deliberate methods to facilitate creative learning. Sue has worked with multiple departments on her campus and with colleagues in over a dozen countries to help infuse creative learning into teaching and learning practices.

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

Class Dismissed

Institutional racism in the form of redlining and unequal access to educational and housing opportunities have left generations of students without equitable access to higher education. In this episode, Anthony Abraham Jack joins us to discuss the challenges that first-gen students face and what colleges and faculty can do to reduce these inequities. 

Tony is the Inaugural Faculty Director of the Boston University Newbury Center and Associate Professor of Higher Education Leadership at Boston University. Tony’s research has appeared in numerous scholarly publications and he is the recipient of numerous awards from the American Sociological Association, American Educational Studies Association, Association for the Study of Higher Education, Eastern Sociological Society, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He is the author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students and Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price.

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

Beyond ChatGPT

Faculty concerns over student use of AI tools often focus on issues of academic integrity. In this episode, Marc Watkins joins us to discussion how the use of AI tools may have on student skill development. Marc is the Assistant Director for Academic Innovation at the University of Mississippi, where he helped found and currently directs the AI Institute for Teachers.

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

Extending Kindness

Beginning faculty often receive warnings that lead to antagonistic relationships with their students. In this episode, Cate Denial joins us to discuss how a pedagogy of kindness can build productive learning environments for all students.

Cate is the Bright Distinguished Professor of American History and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College. She is the winner of the American Historical Association’s 2018 Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award and sits on the board of Commonplace: A Journal of Early American Life. She is also the author of A Pedagogy of Kindness, one of the first publications in the new Oklahoma University Press series on teaching and learning, edited by Jim Lang and Michelle Miller.

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

Nudging, not Judging

During the pandemic, faculty participation in professional development activities expanded dramatically. Faculty involvement, though, has been gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels. In this episode, Sarah Rose Cavanagh joins us to discuss strategies for bringing more faculty into discussions of teaching and learning.

Sarah is a psychologist and the author of four books related to teaching and learning. She is the senior associate director for teaching and learning and associate professor of practice at Simmons University and also is a regular contributor to the Chronicle and many other publications. Sarah often serves as a keynote speaker and we were very fortunate to have Sarah join us for a keynote address at our Academic Affairs Retreat in Oswego last August.

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

Growth-Mindset Messaging

First-generation college students, on average, have lower GPAs and higher dropout rates than continuing-generation students. In this episode, Elizabeth Canning, Makita White, and William B. Davis join us to discuss a growth-mindset intervention that has eliminated this equity gap in a large STEM class. 

Elizabeth is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Washington State University. Makita is a graduate student at WSU’s Experimental Psychology Program, and William is a Professor of Molecular Biology and the Interim Vice Provost for Academic Excellence and Student Achievement at WSU.

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

Classroom Assessment Techniques

Classroom assessment techniques can be used to shape instruction to the needs of our students. In this episode, Thomas A. Angelo joins us to discuss the origin of these techniques and evidence concerning their efficacy. 

Tom is Clinical Professor Emeritus and Director Emeritus at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to teaching for 40 years, he has been long involved in professional development and has served as faculty member and Director of teaching, learning and assessment centers at UNC, LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, the University of Akron, and Boston College. Tom is best known for his work with K. Patricia Cross on Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, which was first published in 1988, with a second edition in 1993.

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

New Era - New Urgency

Public confidence in the U.S. educational system has been declining while reports of student disengagement have been rising. In this episode, Deborah Pomeroy and F. Joseph Merlino join us to discuss the possibility of repurposing our educational system to better support the needs of our students and our society.

Deborah has over 50 years of education experience and is professor emeritus at Arcadia University. She has co-directed a Dewitt-Wallace grant, Students at the Center, for inner-city schools in Philadelphia and was actively engaged in the Bioko Biodiversity program in Equatorial Guinea. Joe Merlino has spent 39 years in education. He has been a principal or co-principal investigator and/or project director on numerous federal grants. He currently directs a seven-year USAID grant in Egypt where a team of US faculty are co-developing 180 new undergraduate STEM teacher-preparation courses for five large Egyptian universities. 

Deborah and Joe are co-founders of The 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education where Joe has served as president since its founding in 2007. They are also the co-authors of New Era - New Urgency: The Case for Repurposing Education, which was recently released by Lexington Books. 

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

Failing Our Future

The traditional grading system that we are all used to is of relatively recent historical origin. In this episode, Josh Eyler joins us to discuss research on problems associated with traditional grading systems and possible solutions at different scales and in different educational contexts.

Josh is the Director of Faculty Development, the Director of the ThinkForward Quality Enhancement Plan, and a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective Teaching and a forthcoming  book, Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do About It.

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