Tea for Teaching

The Joyful Online Teacher

Online classes provide opportunities for students not served by traditional in-person classes, but asynchronous experiences can seem isolating for both students and instructors. In this episode, Flower Darby joins us to discuss ways to make online instruction more joyful for both students and faculty.

Flower is an Associate Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at the University of Missouri. Prior to this position, she served as an Assistant Dean of Online and Innovative Pedagogies and Director of Teaching for Student Success. Flower has over 30 years of teaching experience, including both in-person and online modalities, and is frequently invited as a keynote speaker at academic conferences. She is a co-author of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Sciences in Online Classes, and The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching. Her new book, The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes, has just been released by the University of Oklahoma Press.

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

Academic Freedom

Academic freedom in the U.S. is increasingly under attack. In this episode, Kent Kauffman joins us to discuss the legal and contractual origins of, current threats to, and the social benefits resulting from maintaining academic freedom. Kent is an Associate Professor of Business Law and MBA Programs Faculty Liaison in the Department of Economics and Finance at Purdue University. He is also the author of Navigating Choppy Waters: Key Legal Issues College Faculty Need to Know.

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

Supporting Teamwork

Teamwork skills are highly valued by employers but most faculty have not been trained to create effective team projects. In this episode, Tim Franz and Lauren Vicker join us to discuss a resource they developed to help faculty create more effective team assignments and projects.

Tim is a Professor in the Psychology Department at St. John Fisher University and Lauren is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Media and Communication, also at St. John Fisher University. They are the authors of Making Team Projects Work: A College Instructor’s Guide to Successful Student Groupwork which has been recently released by Routledge.

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

Teaching with AI

The rapid evolution of AI tools provides a challenge for educators exploring educational applications. In this episode, José Antonio Bowen joins us to discuss ways in which faculty and institutions can better prepare students for their future lives and careers in a world in which AI tools are ubiquitous. 

José has a joint PhD in musicology and humanities, served for several years as President of Goucher College, and is the author and co-author of several books, including: Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning; Teaching Naked Techniques: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Classes; Teaching Change: How to Develop Independent Thinkers Using Relationships, Resilience, and Reflection, and a co-author, with C. Edward Watson, of the first and second editions of Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning.

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

Covering or Teaching

New faculty often begin their teaching careers by emulating the teaching methods that they have observed, but these practices are often not consistent with evidence on how students learn. In this episode, Chris Hakala joins us to discuss the role that educational developers can play in shifting faculty focus from presenting to teaching.

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

Title II

While the Americans with Disabilities Act has long required digital content to be accessible, specific technical requirements were recently defined in updates to Title II of the ADA. In this episode, Mark Greenfield joins us to discuss the new regulations and what that means for public colleges and universities as the April 2026 deadline approaches.

Mark retired as the University at Buffalo's Web Accessibility Officer after 35 years of service at the institution. He continues to consult on digital accessibility and serves as a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (or ACM) U.S. Technology Committee, which educates and informs Congress, the Administration and courts about digital technology developments and how they may impact public policy in the US.

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

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Faculty often struggle to reduce equity gaps and to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion in their classes. In this episode, Courtney Plotts joins us to discuss course design strategies to increase transparency and to allow students to express and share their own cultural identities as part of an inclusive class community.

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.

Don't Let Email Control You

One of the challenges facing faculty, staff, and administrators is keeping up with the continuous flow of email. In this episode, Robert Talbert joins us to discuss strategies to efficiently handle email so we can allocate time to other essential tasks. 

Robert is a Professor of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University and the author of Flipped Learning: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty and a co-author of Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education.

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.