Podagogies: A Learning and Teaching Podcast

Chelsea and Curtis return to the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Learning and Teaching Conference to speak with faculty, contract lecturers, and staff attending this annual event. Attendees share their thoughts on the conference, collaboration, and building trust in the classroom. Many thanks to James Loney, Ashley Hannah, and James Maclean from TMU Libraries’ Digital Media Experience (DME) Lab...

In this episode of Podagogies, we speak with mathematician, educator, and 3M National Teaching Fellow Anna Stokke about what cognitive science can teach us about learning. We explore retrieval practice, “desirable difficulties,” phones and laptops in the classroom, and the growing impact of Generative AI on math education. Anna also reflects on why so many students come to believe they are “not ma...

Going beyond the traditional English lecture, this episode explores Dr. Sarah Bull's course Cultures of the Book, where students explore the technology behind the text. From working with oak gall inks to creating new visions of what a book can be, Sarah shares how she uses experiential learning to engage her students in an exploration of the written word. Dr. Sarah Bull is an Associate Professor i...

In this episode of Podagogies, Dr. Leanne Taylor shares how she teaches required equity-focused courses in spaces where resistance is real, and learning is sometimes hard-earned. She reflects on how critical hope shapes her approach to course design, assessment, emotional labour, and institutional change. From building classroom community to moving beyond traditional essays, this conversation expl...

Have you been listening to DocTalks, the branch of Podagogies dedicated to exploring the world of medical education? We're cross-posting DocTalks Episode 9 here on Podagogies to share what we can learn from medical educators about how to improve our teaching practice. Emergency physician and award-winning educator Dr. Jonathan Sherbino joins DocTalks to unpack why education research matters, and h...

TMU Psychology Professor Dr. Alyssa Counsell joins us to unpack what statistics literacy truly involves. She shares research that complicates common assumptions about “stats anxiety,” revealing that students’ attitudes are more nuanced than the usual narrative, and strongly shaped by instructor rapport. Alyssa also discusses her work experimenting with interpretation-focused assessments and why ma...

This episode of Podagogies is an exploration of care, from showing care for students in our classes to how instructors can ensure their own care needs are met. Dr. May Friedman and Fiona Cheuk from Toronto Metropolitan University share their approaches to navigating this complicated balance. May Friedman is a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. Much of May’s work explores issues of fat a...

What happens when you turn a lecture hall into an escape room? In this episode of Podagogies, Brock University’s Arica Oliver and Mark Julien discuss how they've gamified human resources education. From puzzle-based test prep to navigating campus offices, their escape room activity blends competition, collaboration, and critical engagement with equity and human rights. The conversation explores ho...

In this special edition of Podagogies, Chelsea and Curtis sit down with faculty, contract lecturers, and staff attending Toronto Metropolitan University’s 2025 Learning and Teaching Conference. The conference has been a tradition every May at TMU for over thirty years. From considering the impacts of GenAI, to imagining more collaborative, caring, and inclusive learning spaces, members of TMU’s te...

In this episode of Podagogies, we speak with Dr. Rachel MacHenry, Assistant Professor of Fashion at TMU, about her innovative course that brings first-year students to the rooftop urban farm to grow, harvest, and dye with natural plants. Blending sustainability, decolonization, and hands-on learning, the course invites students to reimagine fashion as a practice rooted in land-based knowledge and...

In this inaugural episode of DocTalks, we introduce a brand-new branch of Podagogies dedicated to exploring the world of medical education. Co-hosts Curtis Maloley and Chelsea Jones welcome the new DocTalks co-host, Dr. Heather McNeil, Interim Assistant Dean of Faculty Development at the TMU School of Medicine. To kick things off, we’re joined by Dr. Teresa Chan, an educational leader, researcher,...

In this special episode of Podagogies, Chelsea Jones shares insights from her experience leading a massive first-year course with 1,100 students, discussing the challenges of AI, academic integrity, and student engagement. Joined by educational developer Dr. M Dougherty, Chelsea explores critical questions: How are students actually using AI? How do we foster trust in the classroom? And what does...

In this episode of Podagogies, Chelsea Jones and Curtis Maloley continue their deep dive into the realities of teaching a large first-year course with 1,100 students. This time, the focus is on accessibility. Chelsea shares insights from an accessibility audit conducted by Dr. Ann Gagné, Senior Educational Developer for Accessibility and Inclusion at Brock University’s Centre for Pedagogical Innov...

Join us for an insightful episode with Dr. Jennifer Poole, an Associate Professor of Social Work at Toronto Metropolitan University and a Teaching Fellow at the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Dr. Poole shares her groundbreaking research on grief in educational settings, drawing from her extensive experience and personal journey. We explore her use of circle methodology to create s...

In this episode, we explore the integration of Indigenous perspectives into psychology education with guests, Dr. Becky Choma, a social and political psychology professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, and graduate students Anik Obomsawin and Jaiden Herkimer. They discuss the purposeful process they undertook to begin developing a new course on Indigenous Peoples and Psychology, which is bein...

Join hosts Chelsea Jones and Curtis Maloley as they dive into the world of open education and digital technology with Dr. Bonnie Stewart, a keynote speaker at the 2024 TMU Learning and Teaching Conference and associate professor at the University of Windsor. In this episode, Dr. Stewart shares her insights on generative AI, reflecting on her initial skepticism and her current views shaped by decad...

The climate crisis affects students and educators alike, and requires complex solutions that draw upon expertise that transcends disciplinary boundaries. In this episode, Dr. Matthew Hoffmann and Dr. Christine Bolus-Reichert discuss a course they co-teach at the University of Toronto on Climate Futures, which brings together students from the disciplines of Political Science and English to engage...

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Maureen Connolly about the value of dissonance in post-secondary learning and teaching. A 3M National Teaching Fellow, Dr. Connolly discusses how her pedagogy focuses on cycles of change: changing knowledge, changing methods of learning and teaching, and a learning environment that is designed to move students out of habitual behaviors and habits of thought. The...

Ready or not, Artificial Intelligence is part of our classrooms, and we can only begin to predict its impact on learning and teaching in higher education. In this episode, we chat pedagogy, academic integrity, and AI anxiety with Dr. Lai-Tze Fan, Dr. Jan Frijters, and Allyson Miller. Guest Speaker Bios: Lai-Tze Fan's general research and teaching interests include interactive and digital storytell...

In this episode, Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani discusses the role of Open Pedagogy in digital justice and digital education futures. From creating and assessing Open Educational Resources to navigating digital redlining, we critically cover a range of pedagogical practices meant to offer students more agency. Guest Speaker Bio: Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is the Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning at Brock Universi...

In this episode, we speak to a teaching team behind "Connecting for Climate Change Action," a course that blends science with storytelling and student reflection to help students take action. Dr. Katrina Moser, Dr. Beth Hundey, Sara Mai Chitty and Serena Mendizabal relay student stories and tell us how they learned to do more than teach the science of climate change as they work together to expand...

In recognition of Wellbeing Week at TMU, two professors discuss their research on how educators can be purposeful about fostering student wellbeing in the classroom. Dr. Krystal Nunes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology who is studying how students can develop the skill of resilience and learn to appreciate the importance of failure in the sciences. Dr. Dave Colang...

In this episode, Brock University Acting Vice-Provost of Indigenous Engagement Dr. Robin Bourgeois explains what it means to bring “heart-centered” pedagogy to the classroom and beyond. From the position of a classroom “auntie” who invites students to make mistakes, Dr. Bourgeois reveals the magic of her heartful teaching and its wide, growing reach across universities and communities. Read the tr...

Dr. Terri Peters is an Assistant Professor of Architectural Science at X University. Her research focuses on building design, sustainability, health and wellbeing. In this episode, we imagine the future of classroom learning spaces, the benefits of biophilic design, and what it means to invite students back to in-person learning after two years of remote teaching during a global pandemic. Read the...

Dr. Eric Da Silva is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Chair of the Designated Decision Maker Council at Ryerson University (renaming in process), a group of faculty members who are trained to adjudicate suspicions of academic misconduct. In this episode, we discuss the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and remote teaching on the prevalence of academic misconduct, and discuss ways that educator...