81 episodes

The Teach Better Podcast is a series of conversations with teachers about teaching. We talk mostly with faculty in higher education, but will occasionally talk with other teachers too. Your hosts are Doug McKee and Edward O’Neill.

The Teach Better Podcast Doug McKee and Edward O'Neill

    • Education
    • 4.5 • 21 Ratings

The Teach Better Podcast is a series of conversations with teachers about teaching. We talk mostly with faculty in higher education, but will occasionally talk with other teachers too. Your hosts are Doug McKee and Edward O’Neill.

    Podcast #81: Becoming a Teacher with Kevin Gannon

    Podcast #81: Becoming a Teacher with Kevin Gannon

    Kevin Gannon is the director of the Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, and he’s also a Professor of History. Many of our listeners may know him from his articles in the Chronicle of Higher Ed or his popular Twitter feed where he writes about teaching, dogs, race, politics, and seemingly whatever else is on his mind. In this episode we dig deep on Kevin’s personal teaching journey and learn how he came to be the teacher he is today and what kind of teacher he aspires to be in the future.

    Podcast #80: Classrooms for Active Learning with Robert Talbert

    Podcast #80: Classrooms for Active Learning with Robert Talbert

    The evidence is clear that when students work actively in the classroom, they learn more. It's also true that most of the classrooms we teach in were designed for a professor to lecture to a group of students that sit passively and take notes. What do classrooms designed for active learning look like? Do students learn more when we teach in active learning classrooms? And what other impacts might teaching in active learning classrooms have on students and instructors? Robert Talbert, a math professor and education researcher at Grand Valley State University, recently took a deep dive into the literature on these questions, and in this episode he shares what he's learned.

    Podcast #79: The Fundamentals of Teaching with Doug Robertson

    Podcast #79: The Fundamentals of Teaching with Doug Robertson

    Our guest today, Doug Robertson, is one of the best teachers on the planet. He teaches 4th grade at Powell Valley Elementary School outside Portland, Oregon, and you might know him from his multiple interviews and podcasts, his books, his YouTube channel, or maybe his incredibly entertaining Twitter stream. While we usually focus on higher ed on the show, we had a great conversation with Doug about how we apply the fundamental principles of teaching in our respective classrooms.

    Podcast #78: Edward and Doug Debrief

    Podcast #78: Edward and Doug Debrief

    This fall Doug and Edward both taught classes of their own. In their latest episode, they reflect on their challenges, what they tried, and what they learned.

    Podcast #77: Active Learning, Motivation, and Peer Assessment with Jose Vazquez

    Podcast #77: Active Learning, Motivation, and Peer Assessment with Jose Vazquez

    Jose Vasquez has been teaching economics at the University of Illinois for 14 years. He teaches one of the largest introductory microeconomics classes in the world every semester with more than 900 students. He also teaches one of the biggest intro micro MOOC’s in the world: His Coursera course has had more than 100,000 students register in the last five years. He thinks deeply about how best to use his class time and what he wants students to do outside class.
    Our conversation covers a wide range as Jose explains what still excites him about teaching and how he got to where he is. Among other things, we talk about the joys of active learning, the importance of motivating our students, and the benefits (and costs) of peer assessment.

    Podcast #76: Applying Teaching Insights across Disciplines with Justin Cerenzia

    Podcast #76: Applying Teaching Insights across Disciplines with Justin Cerenzia

    Justin Cerenzia teaches history at St George’s School in Middletown, Rhode Island. We don’t usually have guests from high schools on the show, but Justin is no ordinary high school teacher. He’s also the director of the school’s teaching center and someone who pays keen attention to research on pedagogy across the board. In this episode we talk to Justin about how teaching methods and ideas being popularized in STEM fields can translate to the humanities.

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
21 Ratings

21 Ratings

K3ll33n ,

Pretty Good

It's an interesting take on education from non-education professors. I really appreciate hearing the biggest failure at the end of each podcast. Each professor interviewed gives a different take on how to move past and build off their past mistakes.
My favorite episodes are 10, 11, 13, 14, and 18.

librariandee ,

Are they all this good?

This was my first episode and it was great! I love Cult of Pedagogy and I was hoping to find another podcast that was just as good. This is it. I'm looking forward to listening to more episodes to get more ideas.

MilesCal ,

A great podcast!

This is a fantastic podcast. McKee and O'Neill look at important issues in the classroom, all wrapped up in casual, fun conversations with brilliant instructors.

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