Better Educators Podcast

In this book review the third chapter of What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain and his research team explore the question: How do they prepare to teach? After surveying those classified as the best teachers in their field, Bain discusses 13 techniques that emerge from the data.

In the second chapter of “What the Best College Teachers Do,” Ken Bain answers the question “What do they Know about How We Learn?” He explores this question by investigating if great teachers have a deep knowledge about the process of learning or if there is some innate quality that they possess. One of the key findings is that great college teachers try to change the way we think about the ideas in their discipline so that we understand them in new and important ways. Great insights in this chapter, listen to the podcast for a summary and review.

As a professor of communication, i am always on the lookout for ways to improve my teaching. I just finished reading the book “What the Best College Teachers Do,” by Ken Bain. I have created a series of podcasts summarizing and reviewing the content from the first five chapters. While this will provide a great overview of the material, I strongly encourage reading this book to get a close look at the case studies and research Bain uses as support.

In this interview guest Brooke Hopkins and host Eric Robertson explore the potential of personalized learning to enhance student engagement, curiosity, and resilience. Hopkins advocates for beginning courses with student interest and learning preferences inventories and using that information to enhance lectures, design real world applications, and develop a wider range of assignment and assessment options for students. The discussion of the implications of personalized learning ranges from thoughts about the relationship between personal learning preferences and group dynamics to ideas about alternative assignment structures, the use of technology and personalized learning networks, the importance of failure and resilience in learning, and the power of research driven by each individual student’s curiosity. You can learn more about Brooke Hopkins' (Malik’s) work and personalized learning by visiting her website.

In this podcast, host Eric Robertson interviews MiraCosta College Faculty Director of Online Learning Jim Julius about Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Dr. Julius begins the discussion by explaining how Universal Design for Learning advocates for the use of multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression in educational contexts. Then he and Eric explore the implications of those principles for lecturing and other presentation techniques, flipped classrooms, activity and assignment design, feedback to students, and online learning. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Julius explains how UDL can inform all of these pedagogical questions and consistently advocates for an incremental, exploratory approach as faculty test new ways to diversify their students’ learning options. Other topics discussed include the implications of Universal Design for Learning for MOOC’s, adaptive learning approaches, student engagement through choices, and learning styles. You can follow up with Jim Julius on twitter, a

In this interview, host Eric Robertson has a conversation with renowned communications expert, entrepreneur, speaker and author Nancy Duarte about how her work on presentations and visual story telling can inform teaching. Topics explored include strategies for engaging with an audience, the importance of passion in presentation and teaching, the impact that flipped classrooms will have on teachers as both presenters and learning activity designers and the potential impact of entrepreneurial and self-directed pedagogies. The conversation concludes with Duarte’s reflections on the extraordinary teaching and lecturing of Richard Feynman, who communicated his own sense of wonder through passionate, poetic, and brilliantly structured lectures. You can further explore Nancy Duarte’s work by visiting her Ted Profile page, following her on twitter, or taking a look at her two books: Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audience and slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations.

Host Eric Robertson and professional development technology facilitator Laura Conley discuss strategies for improving professional development activities for educators. As Conley shares her “flipped” approach to professional development, she advocates for promoting a sense of ownership among professional development participants by asking faculty what they need and designing sessions that respond to those needs. Based on strategies like working with faculty in small groups, developing workshop agendas with links to interesting technology resources, and asking faculty to prepare in advance for those workshops, Conley’s approach shifts the emphasis from presenters showing people what they can do to faculty exploring shared interests in a focused and productive environment. This discussion of flipped professional development also includes descriptions of effective but easy to learn online tools like Evernote, thinglink, and Pictochart and concludes with an invitation to further explore Conley’s ideas via her twi

In this interview with Dr. Bernard Robin from the University of Houston, Eric Robertson addresses the question of how doctors learn to become educators. Similar to college educators, medical professionals are often placed in teaching roles with little to no training on how to teach, and Dr. Robin shares his experience developing a program to help those who are already experts, become expert teachers. One highlight of the programs Dr. Robin has created is the feature of digital storytelling. Dr. Robin discusses examples of the implementation of digital storytelling from his website (http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/) and ways to bring it into a variety of classes.

In his interview with MiraCosta College French Professor Rachéle DeMéo, host Eric Roberston inquires about differences between French and American educational systems before exploring Professor DeMéo’s experience with learning styles in her language classes. An enthusiastic advocate of the power of learning style awareness to enhance student learning and teacher pedagogy, DeMéo reviews the basic learner types (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic), shares a wide range of specific techniques and activities, and rebuts research skeptical about learning styles approaches.

A discussion of the new bill in California (SB520) and how it may create change in the UC and Cal State University system. A study by the McKinsey Center for Government is also explored and how the path from education to employment needs to change.

Guest Rita Soza, a Business Professor at MiraCosta college, shares the story of Dr. Helen Miller Bailey, an extraordinary community college educator who taught at East Los Angeles Community College for twenty-eight years. As a former Bailey student and current community college professor, Soza has been inspired to spend seven years researching Dr. Bailey’s life and work, particularly her unshakeable belief in her students’ potential and profoundly effective non-traditional teaching approaches. Professor Soza explains how Bailey’s authenticity and willingness to share so much of her self—her paintings, her scholarship, her travel experiences, and even her home–left behind a legacy of students whose lives were transformed by their professor’s faith and personal investment in them. As host Eric Robertson and Professor Soza reflect on Dr. Bailey’s life, they explore how the relationships between teachers and students have changed since Bailey’s era and wonder how we can find new ways to enhance our personal conne

Host Eric Robertson’s conversation with Michael Truong, Associate Director of UC Merced’s Center for Research on Teaching Excellence looks at technology innovations at the UC system’s newest campus as an indicator for what is happening nationally. After covering topics ranging from the role of Learning Management Systems to trends in student technology purchases, their conversation focuses on UC Merced’s Mobile App Learning Lounge, a resource designed to help students and faculty explore the possibilities of teaching and learning using mobile applications. Truong argues that mobile tools are dramatically enhancing assessment, communication between students and faculty, collaboration activities, and even access to and time spent with learning materials. The conversation concludes with a fascinating discussion about the challenges of teaching in an age of technology driven distraction. Referencing thinkers like Michael Wesch, Sherry Terkle and Nicholas Carr, Robertson and Truong explore how faculty can help stu

A discussion with Jackie Lopez regarding education, culture, and service. Jackie discusses her experiences and research in the Philippines as well as her work with Americorps.

Lisa M. Lane MOOCs and Quality Online Instruction In this interview, Lisa M. Lane discusses her experience of over 15 years of teaching online. She shares her perspective on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) as well as things to consider when teaching online. Topics discussed include the Cathy Davidson quote from the HASTAC website "If we can be replaced by a computer screen, we should be" as well as overall critical conversation regarding the difference between training and education and their relationship to massive automated courses.