TOPcast: The Teaching Online Podcast

In this “call-in show” episode, hosts Tom and Kelvin are joined by some of the past year’s guests in sharing observations about 2024 as it ends and predictions and hopes about 2025 as it begins. Some of the themes emerging include balancing humanness and technology-assistance and staying focused on the aspirational goals of our collective work. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF #advgb-col...

Guest Phil Hill joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to discuss substantive insights on the role of the LMS and trends in online higher ed enrollments. (Must see TV. Even if it is a podcast.) Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF #advgb-cols-daad4a23-7d9c-45ee-874b-786051e79031{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-daad4a23-7d9c-45ee-874b-786051e79031{}}@media screen and (max-width: 767px...

Hosts Tom and Kelvin talk through themes from the CHLOE 9 report that stand out as broadly applicable to all online education professionals while we all seek to anticipate or shape the future. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF #advgb-cols-07bb8094-6041-4bf5-937d-09fc09be7fd9{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-07bb8094-6041-4bf5-937d-09fc09be7fd9{}}@media screen and (max-w...

Guest and former Hubert Humphrey Fellow Angelica Gabriela Rocha Guevara joins hosts Tom and Kelvin from Guatemala to discuss the similarities and differences of her country’s pursuit of online education compared to that of other countries around the globe. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Angie Rocha #advgb-cols-2f43d9c9-b872-4896-9b2f-b97ab75ce1a6{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px)...

Hosts Kelvin and Tom consider the centrality that online learners’ needs must have in shaping the work of online higher education. Particular attention is given to how responsibility for this common goal must be shared between individual faculty and institutional processes to assure quality at scale. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 171 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter Vi...

Return guest Nicolaas Matthijs joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to discuss some of the trends he’s seeing in the rapidly changing AI-assisted technology space with an eye toward how digital learning professionals can make wise use of the tools in our work. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Nicolaas Matthijs #advgb-cols-53746947-8b8e-4203-8b4b-04c8c7f55255{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px)...

Hosts Tom and Kelvin discuss the relationship between the strategic value institutions find in online education and institutions establishing senior roles of responsibility for online and digital learning. Implications for a variety of institutional roles are considered. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 169 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode hi...

Guest Melissa Loble joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to share an optimistic vision for the future of technology-enabled higher education. Amidst heightened automation and AI assistance, the uniquely human affordances of relationships are all the more crucial in solving our challenges. Podcast Recording Guest Melissa Loble #advgb-cols-299ad386-c1cd-4614-868c-032d01745858{}@media screen and (max-width: 10...

Hosts Kelvin and Tom explore the catalyzing personal and organizational value of individuals cultivating a “startup mindset,” regardless of personal role, in the work of digital higher education. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 167 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee Links  Fellow Drops’ profile page for “ Funkonia...

Guest Dr. Justin Shaffer joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to discuss the role high structure course design can play in making online STEM courses more effective… and fun! Podcast Recording Guest Dr. Justin Shaffer #advgb-cols-e3c64bf3-24dd-48e9-a167-06c0c4619a4a{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-e3c64bf3-24dd-48e9-a167-06c0c4619a4a{}}@media screen and (max-width: 767px) {#advgb-cols-e3...

In this episode, hosts Tom and Kelvin explore the rationale underlying continued institutional efforts to prepare faculty for online course design and teaching. Hint: It’s about students. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 165 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee Links  “ New Orleans Style Coffee with Chicory ” fr...

Dr. Jenny Sumner joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to discuss the growing role “coaching” plays, especially online, in centering students and their success within our higher ed work. Podcast Recording Guest Dr. Jenny Sumner #advgb-cols-7de64101-79b5-4f17-89d9-b4da4d106f31{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-7de64101-79b5-4f17-89d9-b4da4d106f31{}}@media screen and (max-width: 767px) {#advg...

In this episode, hosts Tom and Kelvin invite “fun with syllabi” by exploring the multiple roles played by the syllabus in online courses and encouraging adjustments to make syllabi more meaningful and inviting for students. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 163 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee Links  Single-O...

In this time-sensitive episode (listen now!), return guests Russ Poulin and Cheryl Dowd explain how proposed actions by the US Department of Education (US ED) may negatively impact many online learners and US higher education institutions. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Guest Russ Poulin #advgb-cols-b3e8f648-fc2a-4800-8525-d35a6a9d544e{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-col...

In this Season 10 kick-off episode, hosts Kelvin Thompson and Thomas Cavanagh revisit a “time capsule” of past predictions and pivot toward the various flavors of “possible futures” available now in online education. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 161 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee Links  “ Yes, You Can...

Guest Dr. Jean Mandernach joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to discuss how faculty and instructional designers can design more meaningful and engaging learning assignments for students, online or anywhere. Podcast Recording Guest Dr. Jean Mandernach #advgb-cols-fa9f28ca-8dbd-4e2c-9f9c-4a2579a69682{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-fa9f28ca-8dbd-4e2c-9f9c-4a2579a69682{}}@media screen and...

Hosts Kelvin and Tom talk through the importance of consulting trusted sources of data and information as the basis for sound decision making in online education, no matter what role one holds. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 159 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee Links  Single-Origin Honduras Las Flore s (Da...

Guest Nicolaas Matthijs joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to discuss the emergence of AI-assistance built into educational technology platforms and how this is a departure from past phases of artificial intelligence implementation. Podcast Recording Guest Nicolaas Matthijs #advgb-cols-113dab99-ab5f-4391-abf5-004b5602f357{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-113dab99-ab5f-4391-abf5-004b5602...

In this episode, hosts Tom and Kelvin summarize the current issues surrounding proposed changes to “inclusive access programs” for digital instructional materials and how this affects the affordability work of digital education professionals. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 157 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee L...

Guest Dr. Carmin Chan joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to consider how we might reframe the typical institutional data that might not present clearly the needs and progress of post-traditional learners served by online education. Podcast Recording Guest Dr. Carmin Chan #advgb-cols-e7336272-6ac3-46cb-9abb-3fb038c658f4{}@media screen and (max-width: 1023px) {#advgb-cols-e7336272-6ac3-46cb-9abb-3fb038c658f...

About Episode 155 In this episode, spring-boarding from one of the chapters in the new SAGE Handbook of Online Higher Education , hosts Kelvin and Tom advocate for high-quality online discussions and reflect upon research-based practices that lead to well-designed and successful discussion experiences. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 155 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter...

About Episode 154 Guest Dr. Anna Porcaro joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to share insights on how higher education institutions can be more effective in meeting workforce needs through digital alternative educational programs. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 154 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights via Twitter Coffee Links  Single-Ori...

About Episode 153 As a follow-up to the pre-2024 call-in show, hosts Tom and Kelvin talk through the need to re-examine, challenge, and change existing institutional structures as we seek to serve learners better – both existing students and a wider variety of potential new students. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 153 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete...

About Episode 152: Guest Patti O’Sullivan joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to discuss the significance of advance planning for academic continuity and the role that digital teaching and learning can play. Important all the time – not just for global pandemics. Podcast Recording Download Transcript: PDF Episode 152 Show Notes: Episode Synopsis via Twitter View complete list of episode highlights vi...

About Episode 150: In this “call-in show” episode, hosts Kelvin and Tom are joined by multiple voices from the online education community to help us all make sense of 2023’s disruptions and make the most of 2024’s opportunities in our collective work. Themes include meeting the needs of diverse potential students and incorporating continually-evolving AI resources in this work. Podcast Recording D...