Professors Talk Pedagogy

Baylor Senior Fellows: Experiments in Teaching

Today, our guests are a roster of Senior Fellows from recent years of our Baylor Fellows program. This fellowship recognizes professors across the disciplinary spectrum who exemplify excellence in teaching. Baylor Fellows are committed to a year-long process of pedagogical innovation, inspirational teaching, and the cultivation of these among Baylor faculty. We are delighted to have these great faculty on the show to discuss how pedagogical experiments take shape, what we can learn from colleagues in other disciplines, and thinking about your long-term trajectory as a teacher.

Scott Cunningham: Who’s Afraid of AI?

Today, our guest is Dr. Scott Cunningham, the Ben H. Williams professor of economics at Baylor University. Dr. Cunningham studies a number of topics including mental healthcare, sex work, abortion and drug policy. He is the co-editor of The Handbook for the Economics of Prostitution with Oxford University Press and the author of widely-read book Causal Inference: the Mixtape (which after several years, is still in Amazon’s top ten books in Economics and Statistics). On his Substack, Dr. Cunningham has been sharing his adventures with ChatGPT in his work, especially his teaching. We are delighted to have Dr. Cunningham on the show to discuss using artificial intelligence as a pedagogical partner, fostering students’ self-love, and much more.

Nadine Welch: Universal Design for Learning

Today, our guest is Nadine Welch, Associate Chair of Residential Academic Programs, Clinical Associate Professor, and Undergraduate Program Director in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Baylor University. Professor Welch researches augmentative communication and language and literacy disorders and teaches a range of courses in speech-language pathology, audiology and technology in communication and sciences and disorders. In the 2022-23 academic year, she was also a double award winner in her teaching. She simultaneously served as Active Learning Lab fellow and a Baylor teaching fellow. We are delighted to have Professor Welch on the show to discuss these fellowship experiences, supporting first generation students, and how the principles of Universal Design undergird nearly all she does.

Rishi Sriram: Where Talent Comes From

Today our guest is Dr. Rishi Sriram, Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs, Graduate Program Director for the Department of Educational Leadership in the School of Education and Residential College Faculty Steward of Brooks Residential College at Baylor University. Dr. Shriram researches student affairs practice collaboration between academic and student affairs and college student retention, achievement and learning. He is currently at work on a book about the development of talent. We are delighted to have Dr. Shriram on the show to discuss where talent comes from, how students and instructors think about talent, and how higher ed faculty and student affairs can cooperate to improve student outcomes.

Hollylynne Lee: Educational Design

Today our guest is Dr. Hollylynne S. Lee, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Education at North Carolina State University. In Spring 2023, Dr. Lee is in residence at Baylor University as the recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. Dr. Lee has secured millions of dollars in external and internal grant funding, and she has committed much time and energy to creating open educational resources, offering free online courses for educators from around the world, and sharing research-based multimedia materials via Creative Commons licensing. Her scholarship and writings include over 100 journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceeding papers, four co-authored books, and a co-edited book on Scholarly Practices and Inquiry in the Preparation of Mathematics Teachers. We are delighted to have Dr. Lee on the show to discuss teaching future teachers, creating resources for teacher development, and much more.

Michelle Herridge: STEM and Beyond

Today our guest is Dr. Michelle Herridge, post-doctoral fellow in stem education with the Academy for Teaching and Learning at Baylor University. Dr. Herridge has earned her PhD at the University of Arizona in chemistry with a minor in teaching and teacher education. She has worked in discipline-based education research since 2013 and has a BS in chemistry and a BS in sociology from Clemson University and an MS in chemistry from Missouri State University. Her research explores assessment and instructional practices, primarily in chemistry education and professional development for graduate teaching assistants and new faculty. She has taught in a variety of courses including Baylor Interdisciplinary Core’s Natural World Sequence, a science and integration course for pre-service teachers. We are delighted to have Dr. Herridge on the show to discuss recent developments in discipline-based education research, what excites stem college instructors, and what it's like to teach outside your area of expertise.

Affordable Course Materials Fellows

Today our guests are Drs. Amy Fleming (lecturer in music theory), Andrea Shepherd (Clinical Instructor at Louise Herrington School of Nursing), and Karenna Malavanti (returning guest and senior lecturer in psychology and neuroscience) at Baylor University. All three of our guests are recent fellows in Baylor’s Summer Affordable Course Materials Program, which offers Baylor faculty the opportunity to re-evaluate their course materials with an eye toward replacing required course materials with low- to zero-cost materials, such as open educational resources or OERs, in order to reduce the per-class costs for our students. We are delighted to have Drs. Fleming, Malavanti, and Shepherd on the show to discuss the inspiration, challenges, and impact of adopting, adapting, or creating affordable course materials.

Kelly Jo Hollingsworth: Giving Students Your Best

Today our guest is Dr. Kelly Jo Hollingsworth, assistant professor of Elementary Music Education in the School of Music at Baylor University. In addition to her teaching in higher education, Dr. Hollingsworth has 17 years of teaching experience in early childhood and elementary school settings and worked with over 60 university students as lab students or interns in her classroom. Recently, Dr. Hollingsworth was recognized as Outstanding Faculty in teaching at Baylor. We are delighted to have Dr. Hollingsworth on the show to discuss the pedagogy of music, teaching future teachers, helping students take notes, what performing at Disney’s Magic Kingdom has to do with teaching, and much more.