Centering Centers

In this episode, Holly Parker from the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Vermont speaks with Leigh Wright, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at Murray State University and Ciera Cornelison, Instructional Designer at the University of Alabama about their experiences and thoughts on alternative grading practices. They discuss how these approaches can promo...

What is the role of a graduate student in a center for teaching and learning? Does it vary by institution or are there predictable patterns that we as educational developers can use to craft job descriptions, direct projects, and provide opportunities for growth through assessment and reflection? This episode is hosted by Laura March and Yianna Vovides from CNDLS and features interviews with: Stef...

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, faculty and students alike have experienced burnout, stress, and disengagement with professional activities. For educational developers, this can show up as dwindling numbers of participants in our programs and services. As developers we know our job is to make our programs relevant and impactful to our academic communities, but how do we re-engage them in ethical,...

What is the journey to educational development like? What are the challenges and opportunities that come with starting out as a new faculty developer? This episode is another installment of our PODFest episodes featuring a conversation between April Tallant, Senior Educational Developer at Coulter Faculty Commons at Western Carolina University; and the POD Network's DRI Committee Co-Chair, Yia...

How do we make SoTL accessible (and not scary) to new faculty? This episode features a lively and engaging conversation between Maria Gallardo-Williams of North Carolina State University, Nancy Chick of Rollins College, and Erin Garcia of Auburn University on the topic of introducing faculty to SoTL. It was recorded as part of the PODFest event hosted by the DRI committee on December 1st, 2022. Tr...

Professors are expected to have extensive expertise in their fields of study in order to qualify to teach at the post-secondary level, but can graduate coursework in quantum mechanics or X-ray crystallography prepare you to be a supportive advisor and an inclusive educator? Ashley McNeill, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Springfield College in Springfield, MA, and Elizabeth McDonald, Instructi...

Is it time that your teaching center started its own podcast? That’s the question that brought four POD Network colleagues together in a breakout session at PODFest 2022 to talk about teaching center podcasts. What goals might a teaching center podcast have? How would you know if you were meeting those goals? And how would your center go about planning and producing a podcast? This episode feature...

I do not know which to prefer,    The beauty of inflections    Or the beauty of innuendoes,    The blackbird whistling    Or just after.    -- Wallace Stevens, "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"   In this season of Centering Centers, we are speaking with educational developers from diverse centers about their inspirations and innovations – what drives their work and approaches that have...

In this episode of Centering Centers, guest host Derek Bruff talks with Jessica Riddell, professor of early modern literature and the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence at Bishop’s University in Quebec, Canada. Jessica is also the executive director of the Maple League of Universities, which is not, in fact, a group of Canadian super-heroes, but rather a consortium o...

“I want my people to look like the experts they are, because I want them to be treated as colleagues, even though we are a service organization.” In this episode of Centering Centers, guest host Derek Bruff talks with Shawn Miller, director of Learning Innovation at Duke University. Shawn’s unit combines faculty development, instructional technology, online program management, and more. Shawn shar...

In this episode of Centering Centers, we are concluding our trifecta of episodes on the AI disruption by sharing a specific example of how one center is responding to the challenge. Many of us have been benefitted from sharing examples of policies, statements, assignments, and ideas online through the AI for Educators Google group and pod listserv, in that spirit, I wanted to share out through thi...

In our last episode, we learned about ChatGPT with Cynthia Alby. Today we are diving deeper into the ethics of AI and how we as educational developers might best support the conversations happening across our campuses. To guide us in this conversation, we are speaking with Dr. Kevin Yee, Director of the Faculty Center at the University of Central Florida. Kevin has held numerous faculty and leader...

Today on "Centering Centers", we are speaking with Cynthia Alby,  who is Professor of Teacher Education and Faculty Director of Georgia College Journeys, in Milledgeville, Georgia, USA. She shares her perspectives on ChatGPT and how it can catalyze needed change in the teaching landscape of  higher education. Learning that matters: A field guide to course design for transformative educat...

Today on "Centering Centers", we are speaking with Teresa Focarile who is the Associate Director for Educational Development at the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing at Boise State University. We discussed the many-layered approach they are implementing to support adjunct faculty's professional learning as well as job sati...

Today on "Centering Centers", we are speaking with Tom Laughner who is the Director of the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center Teaching and Learning center, in Memphis, Tennessee.  Our conversation explores his work supporting faculty in the health professions and the successful micro-credentialing program called the Medallion Program. Learn more about the Medallion initiative ! Tr...

Today on "Centering Centers", we are speaking with Dana Grossman Leeman who is the Senior Associate Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Tufts University. We discussed her experiences, noticings and wonderings from attending the POD conference in person in Seattle this fall. Episode Transcript

This is Episode 30 and we are speaking with Cassandra Volpe Horii and Martin Springborg about their new free, open-access book: “ What Teaching Looks Like: Higher Education through Photographs .” Click on the title to go to access the book through the Elon University's Series on Engaged Learning website.  Cassandra Volpe Horii (@cvhorii ) is the associate vice provost for education and direct...

This is episode 29 of the CC podcast. This is the next installment in our chapter on SoEd. Our guest is Dr. Laura Baecher. Laura is an Associate Professor of TESOL at Hunter College (which is part of cuny system)  and she is a leader in their Academic Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. We know Laura as the founder and co-host of the centering centers podcast and that is the focus...

This is Episode 28 of the Centering Centers Podcast. I’m your host for this episode, Lindsay Doukopoulos. I serve as Associate Director for Educational Development in the Biggio Center at Auburn University. I also serve as co-chair of PODs Digital Resources and Innovations committee. This episode is the next installment in our chapter on the Scholarship of Educational Development and today I’m thr...

Julie Timmermans is a Senior Lecturer in the Higher Education Development Centre at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Julie is a teacher, researcher, and academic developer with experience facilitating learning in various universities and countries, including Canada, Japan, France, and now, New Zealand. Her research interests focus on academic development and threshold concepts. Jul...

Should educational development seek to define itself as a discipline? What are the urgent conversations around our research and practice? Is the academy improving?  In today's episode, I am excited to share my conversation with Michael Palmer and Lindsay Wheeler, Co-Editors of To Improve the Academy (TIA for short), which is the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the POD Network. It is an...

This is the first episode of our 5th season of Centering Centers which focuses on the Scholarship of Educational Development and I’m thrilled to welcome Laura Cruz today who will give us an overview of the SoED landscape. Laura Cruz is an associate research professor of Teaching and Learning Scholarship At Penn State's Schreyer Institute of Teaching Excellence. In addition to authoring numerous ar...

This is part 2 of Episode 23 of the Centering Centers podcast. This is the second half of our interview with Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of LUMS, which is the top raked university in Pakistan. In part one of our conversation, Dr. Ahmad shared his journey from a professor of Accounting who struggled with his teaching to 3M National Teaching Fellow - Canada’s most prestigious recognition of te...

This is episode 23 of the Centering Centers podcast. This is the first of a two part interview with Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of LUMS, which is the top raked university in Pakistan. In part one of our conversation, Dr. Ahmad shares his journey from a professor of Accounting who struggled with his teaching to 3M National Teaching Fellow - Canada’s most prestigious recognition of teaching at...

This is Episode 22 of "Centering Centers", a POD Network podcast that explores the work of Centers of Teaching and Learning and the vision and insights of educational developers in higher education. We are speaking with Tracy Zou (@ZouTracy) who has worked as an educational developer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and who has now transitioned back to a faculty role as an ass...