Professors Talk Pedagogy

Today, our guest is Dr. Caitlin Kirby, Associate Director of Research and interim co-Director at the Evidence-Driven Learning Innovation (EDLI) team at Michigan State University. Caitlin’s work focuses on developing and researching equitable and engaging learning experiences, especially those that leverage digital and online components.   Prior to her current role, Caitlin was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, studying how undergraduates develop scientific literacy around socioscientific issues. She earned her PhD in Environmental Science and Policy and STEM Education at Michigan State University, where she also completed a Fulbright student research grant in Germany. Her research spans contexts from climate change and urban agriculture to university classrooms and Indigenous spaces.   Caitlin also holds certifications in college science and math teaching and in community engagement, highlighting her commitment to bridging research and practice. We are delighted to have Caitlin on the show to discuss developing your approach to AI for teaching, what (the heck) we mean by “AI Literacy,” and building equity into digital education. https://www.scholarlyteacher.com/post/developing-your-approach-to-generative-ai Authority, Passion, and Subject-Centered Teaching

Today, our guest is Dr. Maura Jortner, senior lecturer in English at Baylor University. Maura Jortner's research interests include 19th-Century American and English drama. She has published multiple articles in Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film and The Journal of American Drama and Theatre. She is also a creative writer. Her middle grade book, 102 DAYS OF LYING ABOUT LAUREN, was published by Holiday House in 2023. KEEPERS OF THE MARSH will be published by Holiday House in 2025. She teaches two creative writing courses—Writing the YA Novel and Writing the Middle Grade Novel—and both are rooted in intensive, hands-on mentoring. We are delighted to have Dr. Jortner on the show to discuss long- and short-term relationships with students, how to mentor well, and walking with students through the intensive and personal process of creative writing. https://www.maurajortner.com/

Today, our guest is Dr. Sarah Varga, lecturer in the Department of Communication at Baylor University. Sarah holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Texas A&M University, an M.A. in Interpersonal Communication from Baylor University, and a Ph.D. in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a speaker and communication coach who often works with individuals and groups on everything from public speaking to healthy communication in the workplace and at home. At Baylor, she teaches a variety of courses, including Interpersonal Communication, Nonverbal Communication, and Speech for Business and Professional Students. Her research and teaching focus on the role of communication in relationship development. Dr. Varga's work aims to understand how communication fosters meaningful connections and improves well-being. We are delighted to have Dr. Varga on the show to discuss how professors can improve their communication skills, the importance of “Defining the Relationship” with students, and much more.

Today, our guest is Dr. Scott Freeman, lecturer emeritus in biology at the University of Washington. Since the mid-1990s, Dr. Freeman’s focus has been on textbook writing and teaching. He co-authored Evolutionary Analysis and was sole author of Biological Science, each through four editions. He is a recipient of a UW Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Freeman’s research interests center on the impact of active learning strategies and high-structure course designs on student performance in college science courses. Specifically, he investigates whether certain types of course designs have a positive impact on achievement by underrepresented minority and economically disadvantaged students, the impact of course-based undergraduate research experiences, and the support of underprepared, at-risk students in chemistry. We are delighted to have Dr. Freeman on the show to discuss his work in scholarship of teaching and learning, some of the surprising findings from the research on active learning and what it means to create a high-structured course. Dr. Scott Freeman, thank you so much for joining the show today.

Today our guest is Dr. Tracey Jones, clinical assistant professor at Baylor, specializing in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and bilingual education. Dr. Jones’ teaching career spans 25 years and various contexts, including high school ESOL, Spanish, and English, Modern languages at the college level, and English for International Students in Baylor’s Global Gateway Program. Her areas of research interest include second language acquisition, bilingual and dual language education, TESOL methodology, Spanish language teaching methodology, Spanish for Heritage Speakers and community engagement. Her work explores connecting university students to their local communities, specifically in and through the Spanish language. We are delighted to Dr. Jones on the show to discuss how K12 teaching influences her approach to college teaching, what language acquisition has to say about learning more broadly, the learning benefits of connecting college students to the community, and much more.

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

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

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”

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

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

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

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/

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 TopHat

Today our guest is Dr. Rebecca Flavin, senior lecturer in Political Science and director of Engaged Learning Curriculum at Baylor University. Dr. Flavin has research and teaching experience in constitutional law, the history of political philosophy, and American politics, particularly in the area of religion and politics. She is also co-author of a widely used textbook on Constitutional Law. Rebecca also serves as faculty advisor for Baylor’s Model United Nations. We are delighted to have her on the show to discuss the many permutations of engaged learning, how the teacher’s role changes based on context, and much more. Resources: AACU High-Impact Practices

Today, our guest is Dr. Keith Sanford, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Baylor University. Dr. Sanford’s work research falls into three categories. Psychometric (techniques to develop and validate ways of assessing people); the influence of interpersonal relationships on health-related attitudes and behaviors, and discrimination and racial disparities in health. He teaches courses on data analysis and a course he developed titled "History of Psychology, Racism, and the United States." He is an enthusiastic experimenter in his teaching, using flipped learning and recording his own music videos to help students learn key material. Dr. Sanford is also a current Active Learning Lab fellow, selected in a competitive process to teach and reflect on pedagogy in one of Baylor’s premier active learning spaces. We are delighted to have Dr. Sanford on the show to discuss the journey of flipping a course, how music can help people learn, and wading into interdisciplinary teaching.   Resources: ForwardFaith.org

Today, our guest is Dr. Dave Bridge, Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University. Dr. Bridge researches American politics, American political and constitutional development, American public policy, judicial politics, and the Supreme Court. He teaches courses on American constitutional development, public policy and campaigns and elections. In 2022, 23 academic year, Dave was named an outstanding faculty awardee in teaching. And in 2022, he also received a Core Curriculum Virtues Recognition Award for his efforts to facilitate the development of the virtue of respect in his undergraduate courses. We are delighted to have Dr. Bridge, along with a special student guest, Noah Falk, on the show to discuss using games and simulations in teaching, developing virtues in our students and much more. Jean Twenge, iGen  

Today, our guest is Dr. Sam Perry, associate professor of communication in the honors college and Director of the Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Rhetorical Studies at Baylor University. Dr. Perry studies race and racism in the United States with a particular focus on the ways in which anti-black racism manifests in the public sphere through political, religious, and popular discourse, and emphasis on representations of violence in protests. In addition to rhetoric and social world courses, Dr. Perry teaches a capstone course, The Allegory of the Cave and Contemporary Film. His scholarly research appears in journals like Rhetorical Society Quarterly and Southern Communication Journal, and Dr. Perry also writes about politics and rhetoric for the website The Conversation. In 2015, Dr. Perry was named the Outstanding Professor of the Year for tenure track teaching at Baylor.   We are delighted to have Dr. Perry on the show to discuss politics in the classroom, teaching controversial topics, and what the university owes students. https://theconversation.com/profiles/samuel-perry-239674/articles Authority, Passion, and Subject-Centered 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.

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.

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.