Tea for Teaching

Revisiting A Curated AI Framework

Shortly before the start of the spring semester, Tim Curry joined us for an episode discussing his ambitious plan to create structured learning experiences for students using chatbots. In this episode, we check back to see how this experiment developed. Tim is a lecturer in the Department of Health Sciences at Northern Arizona University. He is developing AI applications for autism research and tribal health service while building Northern Arizona University’s Applied Health Analytics program. He’s also working on the completion of his PhD degree in health equity technology.

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

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.

Teaching Neurodivergent College Students

Neurodivergent students experience challenges in traditional lecture settings. In this episode, Jennifer Pusateri joins us to discuss strategies to reduce these challenges while supporting and leveraging the strengths that neurodivergent students bring to our classrooms.

Jennifer is the Senior Universal Design Consultant at The University of Kentucky and has served as the co-chair of the international UDL in Higher Education Network. She is a member of the CAST National Faculty and is the author of Transform Your Teaching with Universal Design for Learning: Six Steps to Jumpstart Your Practice. Her newest book, A Practical Guide to Teaching Neurodivergent College Students has recently been released by Harvard Education Press.

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

Not Token Gestures

While colleges and universities have made substantial progress in attracting a diverse mix of students, there are still substantial equity gaps in student outcomes. In this episode, Roberta Hurtado joins us to discuss approaches that can be used to reduce these gaps. Roberta is an associate professor in the English and Creative Writing Department here at SUNY Oswego, where she also serves as Director of Latino and Latin American Studies, and has been a fellow in the Triandiflou Institute for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Transformative Practice. She also has served as a 2023 Fellow in the SUNY Hispanic Leadership Institute.

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

Impostor Phenomenon

Impostor phenomena can deter college students, especially students from historically underrepresented groups, from pursuing majors in STEM disciplines. In this episode, Sara Kien joins us to discuss strategies that can reduce imposter phenomena and reduce equity gaps in student success.

Sara is an Associate Teaching Professor at Northern Arizona University. She has a PhD in cognitive psychology and recently completed a masters degree in information and data science. Sara is an award winning educator with over 20 years of experience and the author of Data Science and AI in Psychology, an interactive eTextbook on data science, big data, and machine learning in psychology.

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.

TUnE Bio

Students planning to major in STEM fields, especially students from groups historically underrepresented in these fields, are often deterred by their experiences in introductory courses. In this episode, Sarah Rose Cavanagh joins us to discuss an NSF-funded initiative designed to enhance student success in introductory Biology classes.

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 her join us for a keynote address at a recent Academic Affairs Retreat on our  campus.

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 Science of Learning Meets AI

The widespread adoption of and the rapid evolution of generative AI platforms have created substantial challenges for faculty in how we assess student learning. In this episode, Lew Ludwig and Todd Zakrajsek join us to discuss a new resource they have created that is designed to help faculty use AI to efficiently support teaching practices based on the science of learning.

Lew is a Professor of Mathematics at Denison University, where he served as Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching from 2020 to 2025. Much of his recent work has focused on innovative methods for utilizing generative AI. Todd is an Adjunct Associate Research Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he just retired a few months ago after 17 years. He is also the Director of the International Teaching Learning Cooperative and the Director of four Lilly conferences on evidence-based teaching and learning. Todd is the author of many superb books, and has published six books (so far) in the past five years.

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