Intentional Teaching

Derek Bruff

Intentional Teaching is a podcast aimed at educators to help them develop foundational teaching skills and explore new ideas in teaching. Hosted by educator and author Derek Bruff, the podcast features interviews with educators throughout higher ed.Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

  1. Benchmarking Online Education with Bruce Etter and Julie Uranis

    SEP 2

    Benchmarking Online Education with Bruce Etter and Julie Uranis

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. The online education wings of most colleges and universities have changed a lot since 2020, with online units moving in from the periphery to the center of operations at most institutions. On the podcast today, we’re going to take a look at the state of online education in the United States, and to do that, we’ll make use of data from the 2025 Benchmarking Online Enterprise Survey (BOnES) conducted by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.  On the show today, I talk with Bruce Etter, senior director of research and consulting at UPCEA, and Julie Uranis, senior vice president of online and strategic initiatives at UPCEA. Although BOnES surveyed chief online learning officers, there’s a lot in the report of interest to faculty and instructional designers and educational developers, and Bruce and Julie do a great job walking us through some key takeaways. Episode Resources Benchmarking Online Enterprise Survey (BOnES), https://upcea.edu/bones25 Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    39 min
  2. Study Hall with Lance Eaton, Michelle D. Miller, and David Nelson

    AUG 19

    Study Hall with Lance Eaton, Michelle D. Miller, and David Nelson

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. Today on the podcast, I'm excited to try out a new format. I'm calling it "Study Hall" since we're gathered together to discuss some interesting teaching and learning studies, with this edition's studies exploring the intersection of generative AI and education. The panelists for this edition of study hall are Lance Eaton, senior associate director of AI in teaching and learning at Northeastern University; Michelle D. Miller, professor of psychological sciences at Northern Arizona University; and David Nelson, associate director at the Center for Instructional Excellence at Purdue University. Episode Resources Grinschgl, S., & Neubauer, A. C. (2022). Supporting cognition with modern technology: Distributed cognition today and in an AI-enhanced future. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 5(July), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2022.908261 Sun, Y., & Wang, T. (2025). Be friendly, not friends: How llm sycophancy shapes user trust. arXiv preprint https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.10844  Darvishi, A., Khosravi, H., Sadiq, S., Gašević, D., & Siemens, G. (2024). Impact of AI assistance on student agency. Computers & Education, 210, 104967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104967 Lance Eaton’s blog, AI + Education = Simplified, https://aiedusimplified.substack.com/  Michelle Miller’s newsletter, R3, https://michellemillerphd.substack.com/ Dave Nelson’s LinkedIn page, https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-nelson-8698b94a/   Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    51 min
  3. Developing AI Literacy with Alex Ambrose

    AUG 5

    Developing AI Literacy with Alex Ambrose

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. Today on the podcast, we’ll get a window into how AI is affecting the teaching and learning landscape at one university, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. My guest today is Alex Ambrose, professor of the practice and director of the Lab for AI in Teaching and Learning at the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence at Notre Dame. Alex discusses Notre Dame’s recent decision to adopt Google Gemini campuswide, surveys of Notre Dame students and faculty about their changing views of generative AI, and the need for higher ed to do a better job teaching AI literacy than we did teaching digital literacy a decade ago. Plus, we hear about a really interesting project in the Notre Dame physics department using AI to provide feedback on handwritten student work on physics problems. Episode Resources Alex Ambrose’s website “Navigating AI’s Evolving Role in Teaching and Learning” with Jim Lang and Alex Ambrose, Designed for Learning podcast “What Is AI Literacy? Competencies and Design Considerations,” Duri Long & Brian Magerko, Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems “Assessing and Developing Generative AI Literacy in Instructors,” Alex Ambrose, Si Chen, & Xiuxui Tang, University of Central Florida 2025 Teaching & Learning with AI Conference “Student Perspectives on Generative AI: Usage, Ethics, and Institutional Support in the Humanities,” Xiuxui Tang et al., 2025 Midwest Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference “Leveraging AI for Rubric Scoring and Feedback: Evaluating Generative AI’s Role in Academic Assessment,” Xuixui Tang et al., University of Central Florida 2025 Teaching & Learning with AI Conference Anthropic’s AI Fluency course, https://www.anthropic.com/ai-fluency  “Validity of peer grading using Calibrated Peer Review in a guided-inquiry, conceptual physics course,” Price, Goldberg, Robinson, & McKean, Physics Review Physics Education Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    39 min
  4. Defending Higher Education with Kevin McClure

    JUL 22

    Defending Higher Education with Kevin McClure

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. On two recent episodes of this podcast, we talked about an essay titled "Higher Ed Is Adrift" by Kevin McClure. In the essay, Kevin outlines some of the many attacks the current U.S. presidential administration is leveraging against higher ed, and he notes that many faculty and staff are finding their institutional leaders' responses lacking.  Today on the show, I talk with Kevin McClure, who is a professor of higher education and chair of educational leadership at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, about his essay and the responses it has generated. Kevin comes to this conversation as a faculty member and as a former student affairs staffer and as someone who studies higher education. He’s the author of a new book, The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation, published this year by Johns Hopkins University Press. In our conversation, we talk about individual and collective action in the current moment, higher ed’s “communication battle,” and his advice for academic leaders. Episode Resources Kevin McClure’s website The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation, Kevin McClure, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025 “Higher Ed Is Adrift,” Kevin McClure, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2025 “Five Steps to Defend Higher Ed,” Kevin McClure, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 3, 2025 Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    41 min
  5. Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT with Dan Levy and Angela Pérez Albertos

    JUL 8

    Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT with Dan Levy and Angela Pérez Albertos

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. I have now read a few books on the intersection of higher education teaching and generative AI, and Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT is by far my favorite. There’s no hyperbole here, just practical advice on making the most of generative AI with dozens of concrete examples from the authors and from other instructors in their network. The book was written by Dan Levy, senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Angela Pérez Albertos, who was first a student in Dan’s class, then a teaching assistant working with Dan, and is now the head of U.S. strategy at Innovamat, a global educational organization focusing on math learning.  Today I get to share my conversation with Dan and Angela about Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT, and I think you’ll find it interesting, whether you’re eagerly embracing AI in your teaching, actively resisting it, or somewhere in between. Episode Resources: Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT website Dan Levy’s faculty page Angela Pérez Albertos on LinkedIn A short ChatGPT prompt to learn about anything “Talking to Colleagues about Generative AI” by me “AI-Enhanced Live Polling” by me Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    41 min
  6. Take It or Leave It with Stacey Johnson, Liz Norell, and Viji Sathy

    JUN 24

    Take It or Leave It with Stacey Johnson, Liz Norell, and Viji Sathy

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. I’m back with another “Take It or Leave It” panel! I know it’s only been a couple of episodes since the last one, but there’s a lot happening in higher ed in the US right now and I find these panels helpful for making sense of it all. Once again I’ve invited three smart colleagues on the show to discuss recent op-eds that address the challenges that colleges and universities and their teaching missions are facing here in 2025. For each essay, we decide if we want to Take It (that is, agree with the central thesis of the essay) or Leave It (that is, disagree). It’s an artificial binary that generates lots of useful discussion about the state of higher ed. The panelists for this edition of Take It or Leave It are Stacey Johnson, director of learning and engagement at the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities and co-editor of the book How We Take Action: Social Justice in the PK-16 Language Classrooms; Liz Norell, associate director of instructional support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi and author of the book The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching; and Viji Sathy, professor of the practice of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-author of the book Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom. Episode Resources ·       Stacey Johnson’s website ·       Liz Norell’s website ·       Viji Sathy’s website ·       Essay 1: “Higher Ed Is Adrift,” Kevin McClure, April 25, 2025 ·       Essay 2: “I Teach Computer Science and That Is All,” Boaz Barak, May 2, 2025 ·       Essay 3: “Ghosts Are Everywhere,” Patrick Scanlon, April 18, 2025 Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    56 min
  7. Teaching with AI Agents with Matthew Clemson, Isabelle Hesse, and Danny Liu

    JUN 10

    Teaching with AI Agents with Matthew Clemson, Isabelle Hesse, and Danny Liu

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. Cogniti is a tool developed at the University of Sydney that instructors can use to create custom AI chatbots ("agents") for use in their teaching. Cogniti makes it easy to create a special-purpose agent, invite students to interact with the agent, and have some visibility into how students are using the agent.  I have a theory that in a few years, teaching-focused custom AI chatbots are going to be standard tools available to higher education instructors. I may be wrong about that, but if it turns out to be the case, it makes sense to start figuring out the affordances and limitations of these tools now. On this episode, I talk with Danny Liu, professor of educational technology at the University of Sydney and lead developer of Cogniti, about the tools origin and uses. Danny brought along a couple of University of Sydney colleagues who have been experimenting with the tool: Matthew Clemson, senior lecturer of biochemistry, and Isabelle Hesse, senior lecturer of English. We had a great conversation about the current and potential roles of custom chatbots in teaching and learning. Episode Resources ·       Cogniti website ·       Videos from the 2024 Cogniti Mini-Symposium ·       Matthew Clemson’s faculty page ·       Isabelle Hesse’s faculty page ·       Danny Liu’s faculty page ·       “Dr MattTabolism: An AI Assistant That Helps Me Help Students with Biochemistry” by Matthew Clemson, Minh Huynh, and Alice Huang ·       “AI as a Research and Feedback Assistant in Essay Plans and Annotated Bibliographies” by Isabelle Hesse ·       Are You a Witch?, a custom GPT by Marc Watkins ·       “Structure Matters: Custom Chatbot Edition” by Derek Bruff Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    42 min
  8. Take It or Leave It with Betsy Barre, Bryan Dewsbury, and Emily Donahoe

    MAY 28

    Take It or Leave It with Betsy Barre, Bryan Dewsbury, and Emily Donahoe

    Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message. Higher education in the United States has been faced with some unique challenges in 2025, largely because of actions taken by the new U.S. presidential administration. In this "Take It or Leave It" edition of the podcast, I invited three wise colleagues on the show to discuss recent op-eds that address ongoing challenges to the teaching missions of colleges and universities. For each essay, we decide if we want to Take It (that is, agree with the central thesis of the essay) or Leave It. Our judgments might be binary, but our discussion of the essays and the challenges they address is full of nuance and complexity. The panelists for this edition of Take It or Leave It are Betsy Barre, assistant provost and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at Wake Forest University; Bryan Dewsbury, associate professor of biology and associate director of the STEM Transformation Institute at Florida International University; and Emily Donahoe, associate director of instructional support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi. All three are experienced Take It or Leave It panelists, and I am very excited to have them back on the show. Episode Resources ·       Betsy Barre’s website ·       Bryan Dewsbury’s website ·       Emily Donahoe’s Substack ·       Essay 1: Higher Ed Is Adrift, Kevin McClure, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2025 ·       Essay 2: Institutional Neutrality Is a Copout, John Jenkins, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 7, 2025 ·       Essay 3: Are You Ready for the AI University?, Scott Latham, April 8, 2025     Support the show Podcast Links: Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association. Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe Subscribe to Intentional Teaching bonus episodes: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/supporters/new Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky. See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.

    57 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Intentional Teaching is a podcast aimed at educators to help them develop foundational teaching skills and explore new ideas in teaching. Hosted by educator and author Derek Bruff, the podcast features interviews with educators throughout higher ed.Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.

You Might Also Like