Professors Talk Pedagogy

Kindness in the Academy with Catherine Denial

Today our guest is Dr. Catherine Denial, Mary Elizabeth Hand Bright and Edwin Winslow Bright Distinguished Professor of American History; and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College. Dr. Denial’s historical research has focused on nineteenth-century marriage, divorce, pregnancy, childbirth, and infancy among Native and non-Native communities in the land we currently call Minnesota. In addition to her historical scholarship, Catherine is a scholar of teaching. She was Principal Investigator on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant “Pedagogies, Communities, and Practices of Care in the Academy after COVID-19.” She contributed a chapter to the edited collection Teaching and Generative AI: Pedagogical Possibilities and Productive Tensions and is a contributor to Hybrid Pedagogy. Her book A Pedagogy of Kindness has been making waves since it was published in July of 2024. We are delighted to have Dr. Denial on the show to discuss care in teaching, the intersection of kindness and AI, and much more.

Resources:

Catherine Denial, A Pedagogy of Kindness

https://www.knox.edu/care-in-the-academy

John Malesic, The End of Burnout

Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Unraveling Faculty Burnout

Learning from Students How to Teach

Today, we have a special episode with several guests that was recorded as a live panel discussion here at Baylor. Noah Harvey is the program manager for supplemental instruction at Baylor University. And joining him on a live panel are three fantastic Baylor student supplemental instructors: Melissa Ratcliffe, Emma Franzen, and Shivana Mishra. We’re delighted to have them all on the show to discuss how they help students learn (without giving them the answers), what students struggle with most, and what all instructors can learn from their experiences.

 

Resources:

Supplemental Instruction at Baylor University

Myths about Learning with Ben Schwartz

Today our guest is Dr. Ben Schwartz, Neuroscience Advisor and Lecturer in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Baylor University. Dr. Schwartz earned his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2021, following his B.S. from UCLA in 2016. His academic journey has been driven by a profound interest in neural plasticity and its critical roles in learning, memory, development, and recovery from central nervous system damage. At Baylor, Dr. Schwartz teaches Learning and Behavior and Affective Neuroscience, and a graduate seminar on teaching psychology. With this clinical research background, Ben speaks across campus about the biological bases for learning and how this can inform our teaching. We’re delighted to have Dr. Schwartz on the show to discuss common myths about learning and continual improvement in teaching.

Resources:

Pashler et al., “Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence”

Living the Questions with Stephen Sloan

Today, our guest is Dr. Stephen Sloan. Dr. Sloan completed his PhD at Arizona State University, specializing in Post-1945, Public History, and the American West. He began his academic career as the co-director of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2007, he joined Baylor University as a professor in the Department of History and the Director of the Institute for Oral History. Dr. Sloan is a prominent figure in local history organizations, having served as the president of both the Historic Waco Foundation and the Heart of Texas Regional History Fair. He is the visionary behind Waco History, a website and free mobile app dedicated to local history, and the host of the Waco History Podcast. In the broader community of oral historians, Dr. Sloan serves as the Executive Director of the national Oral History Association and publishes research and guides for oral history. With his Baylor colleague Julie deGraffenried, Stephen edited the monumental primary source reader, The United States in Global Perspective.

In 2022, Stephen was an active learning lab fellow. And this year, Stephen was selected as the Cornelia Marshall Smith professor of the year, which is awarded to a faculty member who makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor, including teaching that is judged to be of the highest order of intellectual acumen, and pedagogical effectiveness. We are delighted to have Dr. Sloan on the show to discuss role play and simulations in teaching, incorporating oral history into teaching, and what it means to instill in students the habit of “living the questions.”

Resources:

Baylor Institute for Oral History

The United States in Global Perspective: A Primary Source Reader

Stephen’s Cornelia Marshall Smith Lecture

A World Where Teaching Matters with Lindsay Masland

Today, our guest is Dr. Lindsay Masland. Dr. Masland currently serves as the Interim Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Student Success at Appalachian State University. In this role, Dr. Masland leads initiatives such as the Student Instructional Feedback Technique (SIFT) program, Course ReDesign, Agile Academy, and the Teaching and Student Success Lab (TASSL), while also facilitating book clubs and Appalachian Learning Communities. Dr. Masland is widely recognized for her expertise, providing teaching observations, consultations, and workshops on transformative teaching for individuals and programs. She also serves as a consulting editor for two prestigious journals, Teaching of Psychology and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. Dr. Masland's commitment to teaching excellence has earned her both university and national awards, including the Jane S. Halonen Teaching Excellence Award. We are delighted to have Dr. Masland on the join to discuss pedagogical values, the importance of context for teaching, and the tricky business of defining teaching excellence.

Resources:

“In Defense of Teacher-Centered Teaching”

The Teaching Quality Framework at Appalachian State University, https://cetlss.appstate.edu/teaching-learning/teaching-quality-framework-0

Teaching as Social Responsibility with David Pace

Today, our guest is Dr. David Pace. David has dedicated his career to enhancing student engagement in the learning process, beginning his journey as an instructor in the History Department at Indiana University Bloomington in 1971. His teaching has earned him prestigious accolades, including the American Historical Association’s Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award and Indiana University’s Frederic Bachman Lieber Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching.

David’s contributions extend beyond the classroom. Since the 1990s, he has been a pivotal figure in the scholarship of teaching and learning, serving as a Fellow in the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and as President of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in History for a decade. In 2019, he was honored as a Fellow in the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

David has authored several influential books and numerous articles and book chapters, contributing to esteemed publications worldwide. Alongside Joan Middendorf, he co-directed the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project, pioneering the Decoding the Disciplines approach to enhance college learning. Though officially retired, David continues to teach and offer workshops globally, sharing his expertise in decoding, history teaching, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. We are delighted to have Dr. Pace on the show to discuss the evolution of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, evaluating teaching, and the ethics of teaching.

 

Resources:

David's Blog: https://decodingtheivorytower.net/  

Decoding the Disciplines

Stories in the Age of AI with Sarah Jane Murray

Today, our guest is Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, professor of Great Texts and Creative Writing at Baylor University. Dr. Murray is scholar of Medieval and Renaissance texts. In addition to her doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton, Sarah-Jane completed a professional program in screenwriting at UCLA. Heavily involved in digital humanities and storytelling projects, she is an EMMY-nominated writer and producer who also teaches screenwriting and documentary filmmaking in the Baylor’s Department of Film and Digital Media. Her body of collaborative work has played at major international film festivals and has been distributed by PBS, LinkTV, Amazon, and Netflix. At present, she is in post-production on her feature-length directorial debut (currently in post-production). Sarah-Jane’s writing, producing, and directing for short formats has also been recognized with over twenty international creative awards. Most recently, Sarah-Jane’s quest to break down barriers of access to engaging with the Great Texts while inspiring awe, wonder, and critical thinking led to the founding of her edumedia^™ project, The Greats Story Lab^™. We are delighted to have Dr. Murray on the show to discuss the well-formed (rather than well-filled) mind, film in education, and why we need stories.

Resources:

https://www.thegreats.org/

https://rtalbert.org/the-12-week-plan-for-building-courses/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjmurray/

Michele Stover: Students as Whole Persons

Today, our guest is Dr. Michele Stover, lecturer in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Baylor University. Dr. Stover was selected to be a Baylor Fellow for the 2023-24 academic year, part of a cohort of faculty recognized for teaching excellence and charged to further experiment with their teaching and share their experiences with the broader Baylor community. Bringing her passion and experience as a high school teacher into higher education, Michele has experimented particularly with active learning pedagogies in large STEM courses as a way to increase student success. She has also served as Senior class co-leader for the William Carey Crane Scholars, a program for undergraduates exploring faith-animated learning and scholarship. We are delighted to have Dr. Stover on the show to discuss teaching technologies, treating students as whole persons, and much more.  

Resources:

William Carey Crane Scholars

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