Teaching Matters

Excellence in teaching and learning is increasingly tied to the need for assessment. As both students and methods of instruction change, faculty are called upon to assess learning in ways that are increasingly nuanced so that meaningful improvements can be made across programs and within specific courses. Dr. Terri Givens, an education consultant and former provost, argued in a recent Inside Highe...

Learning to play a musical instrument presents a number of winding paths for students. Besides needing to learn concepts related to music theory, students must also integrate their conceptual understanding with development of fine motor skills. Often overlooked is the affective dimension of learning. How can music educators keep students motivated to practice so that they can move their musical ex...

In this podcast, I explore the big picture of the Healthy Living Imitative from the perspective of it being a catalytic learning environment. In particular, we learn about three specific characteristics of the imitative that, in my opinion, serve as catalysts for learning that have positive effects for researchers, faculty, students, and community members.

In addition to the project-based work surrounding the fight against Chagas disease, students and faculty engaged in service learning project. In this episode, participants described two of the project. Following their explanations, I reflect on the important role of reflexivity in these types of learning situations.

The October 27 Primary School serves approximately 40 students who live in the three villages serving as the primary focal point of the Healthy Living Initiative. In this episode, I provide a description of the school and introduce you, though the translation skills of my colleague Lori Lammert, to two of the teachers at the school. After meeting the teachers and learning more about the school, I...

This episode is the first in a series of podcasts about my summer trip to Ecuador to participate in a place based/problem based learning project. This Episode focuses on the core part of the project—the search for Chucuro (or “Kissing Bugs”)—within homes constructed of adobe located in three small Southern Ecuadorian villages. In the podcast you meet various people involved in the bug search and I...

Teaching Matters is starting its third season! This short podcast provides an overview of some of the topics we are booking for the season. It also highlights two special series of Teaching Matters podcasts. One of the special series explores an international trip by students and faculty who engaged in place based/problem based learning, and the other highlights several Ohio K-12 teachers who are...

In an effort to improve assessment practices, a collaboration between 19 different organizations representing educational researchers, educational policy reform advocates, private sector interests, and others, recently released “The Ten Principles for Building a High Quality System of Assessment.” (http://deeperlearning4all.org/10-principles-building-high-quality-system-assessments) A primary obje...

Teaching Matters is excited to announce a special series of podcasts with award-winning teachers who will share their personal stories about teaching excellence. The second program in this series is with Jitka Nelson, who was selected as the 2017 Indiana Teacher of the Year through a program of the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSCO), which is the oldest and most prestigious national h...

A constant challenge facing educators is to determine the best ways in which to motivate students to succeed. A recent collaboration between JFF, Persistence Plus, and several community colleges explored the use of “behavioral nudges,” or short personalized messages, to promote student success. Barbara Endel, Senior Director at Jobs for the Future, Jill Frankfort, Co-Founder and President of Persi...

Dr. Lynn Gangone is President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, a national advocacy group based on Washington, D.C. The AACTE advocates at both national and state levels in support of high-quality teacher preparation. The organization represents over 800 postsecondary institutions with teacher education programs. Dr. Gangone explains core tenets of the AACTE ap...

Dr. Brittany Peterson is an award-winning teacher in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. Peterson was awarded the title of “Presidential Teacher” from 2017-2020; the Presidential Teacher Award is the highest teaching award given to one Ohio University faculty member each year. Recently, Peterson was also awarded the title of “University Professor,” which is a yearly award besto...

This episode expands on the topic of place-based learning, which was also covered in Episode 103. Whereas the previous interview focused on place-based learning in an urban setting, this episode focuses on a rural-based program, the Teton Science School. The science school offers place-based experiences for students and faculty, and also helps conduct workshops on this topic for faculty. We are jo...

Linda Darling-Hammond led a team of researchers to conduct an international comparative study, Empowered Educators. The study and accompanying series of policy briefs related to teacher recruitment, professional development, appraisal, and other topics was funded and supported by the National Center on Education and the Economy, a Washington DC-based organization led by Marc Tucker, with the help...

Eva Moskowitz is a leading figure in the education reform movement promoting charter schools. Her charter school system, the Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City, has 45 locations and serves nearly 15,000 students. In this episode of Teaching Matters, Moskowitz describes how her schools have created a culture of success despite the many political challenges advanced by charter school o...

Teaching Matters is excited to announce a special series of podcasts with award-winning teachers who will share their personal stories about teaching excellence. The first program in this series is with Sydney Chaffee, who was selected as the 2017 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year through a program run by the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSCO), which is the oldest and most prestigious...

Math and Science education poses challenges for teachers as they confront phobias, anxieties and perceived differential abilities among students. Dr. Courtney Koestler, Director of the OHIO Center for Equity in Math and Science in the Patton College of Education at Ohio University, discusses the political dimensions of math and science education as well as the role played by the center in promotin...

Students have a variety of motives for communicating with their instructors over the course of a semester or term. In this episode, Dr. Scott Myers from West Virginia University discusses a recent study he published in the journal, Communication Education, titled, “A longitudinal analysis of students’ motives for communicating with their instructors.” Dr. Myers research observes that, in general,...

Virtual and augmented reality are poised to disrupt media consumption in all areas—entertainment, journalism, and education to name a few. Are you skeptical about this influencing your teaching and learning? If so, think about how smart phones and mobile computing has changed the ways in which we consume information. Virtual and augmented reality is the next evolution of mobile media consumption,...

On this episode, Scott Titsworth welcomes two members of the Appalachian Peace & Justice Network, a non-profit organization that empowers and challenges groups and individuals to work for peace and social justice, to talk about how the organization helps to embed social and emotional learning directly into schools in the region. Mara Giglio, director of the Appalachian Peace and Justice Network, w...

Dr. Craig Davis and Mr. Chuck Borghese teach courses in strategic communication in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Both Craig and Chuck draw upon years of experience working in the communication industry to integrate real world, problem-based learning into their courses. They emphasize creativity, problem-solving, team-based collaboration, and real-world application. In...

Academic Service Learning is a pedagogical approach to problem-based learning that involves maximizing benefits for both learners and local communities in which educational projects are enacted. This episode describes an ongoing (20-year) project in Ecuador involving faculty from multiple disciplines and multiple universities. Dr. Mario Grijalva, Director of Ohio University’s Infectious and Tropic...

This program focuses on the link between educational credentials and future earning potential for students. Guests on the program describe an initiative called, Accelerating Opportunity, which is designed to advance the credentials of underprepared students with the objective of increasing their preparedness for careers that could increase their earning potential. Our discussion is centered on a r...

On this episode of Teaching Matters, Scott discusses the problem, the challenge, and the rewards of technology, specifically cell phones, in the classroom with Dave Panzer, Director of Sales at Pocket Points, Inc. and Dr. Jeff Kuznekoff, Assistant Professor of Communication at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Pocket Points is a new app providing a powerful and innovative solution to a modern day...

On this episode of Teaching Matters, host Scott Titsworth talks with Dr. Renee Middleton, Dean of Ohio University's Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education and Human Services, about how their college prepares new and experienced teachers for the constantly changing landscape of education.