Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning

Have Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) actually created change in higher education teaching? Have they been able to demonstrate this change? How have their strategies evolved and how are they connecting with institutional priorities for larger scale changes? Today we speak with Mary Wright (https://www.brown.edu/sheridan/about/people/staff/mary-wright), Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning at Brown University and author of the newly released book, Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape of Higher Education (2023), for which she surveyed over 1,200 CTLs in universities across the U.S. In this episode, Dr. Wright helps answer these questions and dispels other dead ideas about CTLs. Resource* Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape of Higher Education (2023) by Mary Wright, published through JHUPress (https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12966/centers-teaching-and-learning). Use promo code HCTL23 in the check-out for a discount (active through 7/7/24). 

In our final episode of Season 6, we speak with two undergraduate Columbia University students, Emily Glover and Kyle Gordon, who serve as Teaching and Learning Consultants as part of our Center’s Students as Pedagogical Partners initiative (https://ctl.columbia.edu/faculty/sapp/). Through the initiative, Emily and Kyle have immersed themselves in the research on teaching and learning, broadening their understanding of how learning works, and of the many pervasive dead ideas in higher education. In this episode, they reflect on how this knowledge has changed them as learners, including how they think about student engagement, assessment, learning styles, and the benefits of being “uncomfortable” while learning.  

How can instructors use research on teaching and learning to create change and tackle challenges in their courses? What can learning analytics tell us about student engagement and motivation in our courses? In this episode, we ask Samantha Garbers (https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/profile/samantha-garbers-phd), Associate Professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, with guest host Adam Brown (https://provost.columbia.edu/people/adam-s-brown), Program Director of Columbia’s Science of Learning Research Initiative (https://soler.columbia.edu/) (SOLER). Professor Garber received a Provost's SOLER Seed Grant to work with Dr. Brown to explore how students are engaging (or not!) with course materials and resources.

Tara Harvey (https://www.truenorthintercultural.com/collaboration), Founder of True North Intercultural, defines Intercultural Competence as “the capacity to communicate and act appropriately, effectively, and authentically across cultural differences, both locally and globally.” In this episode, Dr. Harvey discusses how the research behind intercultural learning is unknown by many. She explains why intercultural development is so important in higher education, especially nowadays, for both faculty and students, and how it can be taught. Resources* True North Intercultural Resources (https://www.truenorthintercultural.com/resources)* The Intercultural Development Continuum (https://idiinventory.com/generalinformation/the-intercultural-development-continuum-idc/)* Education in a VUCA-driven World: Salient Features of an Entrepreneurial Pedagogy (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23476311221108808) (2022) by Varghese Panthalookaran

How should we educate students on the science of learning? Does this require systemic change? And do faculty have a moral obligation to teach students the processes necessary to succeed in college, in addition to the content in our fields? In this episode, we discuss these questions with Todd (https://www.med.unc.edu/fammed/directory/todd-d-zakrajsek-phd/)Zakrajsek (https://www.med.unc.edu/fammed/directory/todd-d-zakrajsek-phd/), Associate Professor at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Director of the International Teaching Learning Cooperative, and author of The New Science of Learning, 3rd Edition (2022), a book for students on the science of learning. Resources* The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony With Your Brain, 3rd Edition (2022) by Todd D. Zakrajsek* Teaching At Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, 5th Edition (2023) by Todd D. Zakrajsek and Linda B. Nilson

What does engagement require of your students behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively? Why is it essential to get to know your students, and how can you do this in large classes? Hear advice from Alfredo Spagna (https://psychology.columbia.edu/content/alfredo-spagna), a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Columbia whose research focuses on the psychological and neural mechanisms of attention, perception, and mental imagery. Dr. Spagna shares how he engages students in his courses, and what he has learned from them over the years.  Dr. Spagna is a Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychology and teaches both introductory and advanced seminars in Neuroscience. He also serves as the Director of the Neuroscience and Behavior Major.Resource* “The Power of Relationships in Undergraduate Education (https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/power-relationships-undergraduate-education)” (January 2, 2023) by Steven Mintz, “Higher Ed Gamma” column in Inside Higher Ed