Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning

Chris Hakala, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship (CETLS) at Springfield College, joins us this week to dismantle a persistent myth about centers for teaching and learning. With over 30 years in faculty development, assessment, and the study of student learning, Hakala challenges the dead idea that a CTL’s job is to simply hand faculty a fixed set of best practices about student learning.

Instead, Hakala argues that fixed practices don’t always meet faculty where they are or reflect the realities of a given academic discipline. Particularly in the age of AI, the most effective CTLs are grounded in evidence-based pedagogical theory while remaining adaptive and creative in their recommendations on how those theories can be expressed in a given classroom. CTLs can and should recognize that every school, department, and discipline will need a customized approach to student learning.

Recommended Readings / References:

Cramblet Alvarez, Leslie D., and Christopher M. Hakala. Understanding Educational Developers: Tales from the Center. Routledge, 2024.

Schofield, Paul. "Why Pedagogy ‘Experts’ Are Wrong."https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-pedagogy-experts-are-wrongThe Chronicle of Higher Education, 22 Apr. 2026,https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-pedagogy-experts-are-wronghttps://www.chronicle.com/article/why-pedagogy-experts-are-wrong.

Appert, Lucy, host. What Learning Looks Like. NYU Arts & Science Office of Teaching Excellence & Innovation, 2024, http://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/whatlearninglookslikepodcast/home.

Dr. Tommy Lee, a behavioral neuroscientist in Barnard College at Columbia University’s Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, joins Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning to challenge one of higher ed’s most persistent assumptions: that memorization is a low-level task standing in the way of real learning. Dr. Lee’s research considers how the brain forms episodic memory, including our memories of experiences and spaces.

In this episode, we tackle the dead idea that remembering and thinking are opposites. Lee complicates this notion by drawing on his own research into the hippocampus and other studies on working memory, disproving the notion that memorization crowds out critical thinking. Lee argues that as AI agents make it easier to “just look up info,” this dead idea is again becoming pervasive in higher education. We end the episode with practical guidance for instructors looking to build retrieval practice into their coursework. The end result is a classroom that lowers the stakes for students, reduces their anxiety, and makes progress more tangible.

Recommended Readings / References:

Lee, S. L. T. (Forthcoming 2027). Neuroscience of learning for AI-enhanced teaching. In E. R. Reynolds & B.R. Johnson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education. Oxford University Press.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212–218.https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2

Pfeiffer, B. E., & Foster, D. J. (2013). Hippocampal place-cell sequences depict future paths to remembered goals. Nature, 497(7447), Article 7447.https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12112https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12112

Pan, S. C., & Rickard, T. C. (2018). Transfer of test-enhanced learning: Meta-analytic review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 144(7), 710–756.https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000151https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000151

Cowan, N. (2010). The Magical Mystery Four: How Is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(1), 51–57.https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721409359277https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721409359277

Gobet, F., & Simon, H. A. (1996). Recall of rapidly presented random chess positions is a function of skill. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3(2), 159–163.https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212414https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212414

Qin, S., Cho, S., Chen, T., Rosenberg-Lee, M., Geary, D. C., & Menon, V. (2014). Hippocampal-neocortical functional reorganization underlies children’s cognitive development. Nature Neuroscience, 17(9), 1263–1269.https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3788https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3788

Bastani, H., Bastani, O., Sungu, A., Ge, H., Kabakcı, Ö., & Mariman, R. (2025). Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(26), e2422633122.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122

Smith, A. M., Floerke, V. A., & Thomas, A. K. (2016). Retrieval practice protects memory against acute stress. Science, 354(6315), 1046–1048.https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5067https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5067

Haak, D. C., Hille Ris Lambers, J., Pitre, E., & Freeman, S. (2011). Increased Structure and Active Learning Reduce the Achievement Gap in Introductory Biology. Science, 332(6034), 1213–1216.https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204820https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204820

Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), Article 2.https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2762

Thomas Tobin, one of the foremost voices on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), joins us to preview his forthcoming book, UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning. Where his earlier work made UDL manageable for individual instructors, Tobin's new publication asks what happens when an entire campus — including administrators — advocates for and values universal design. Tobin first joined the Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning podcast to discuss inclusive teaching in 2022 (listen to "Student Perceptions of Instructor Authority and Inclusive Teaching").

In this episode, we tackle the dead idea that learners make impartial, rational decisions about how they learn best. Tobin complicates this notion by sharing a contemporary example: students' increased reliance on AI to bypass the fundamental building blocks of learning. He argues that students will thrive as co-designers of learning only when UDL supports underlie those classroom experiences. UDL is only effective when it is possible, permitted, supported, rewarded, and expected across an educational institution at the faculty, student, and administrative levels.

Learn more about our guest’s new publication: Tobin, Thomas J. UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning (Oklahoma University Press, 2026)

Other publications mentioned in this discussion:

Tobin, Thomas J. Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education (West Virginia University Press, 2018)

Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice (Wiley, 2013)

Thomas Tobin, one of the foremost voices on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), joins us to preview his forthcoming book, UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning. Where his earlier work made UDL manageable for individual instructors, Tobin's new publication asks what happens when an entire campus — including administrators — advocates for and values universal design. Tobin first joined the Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning podcast to discuss inclusive teaching in 2022 (listen to "Student Perceptions of Instructor Authority and Inclusive Teaching").

In this episode, we tackle the dead idea that learners make impartial, rational decisions about how they learn best. Tobin complicates this notion by sharing a contemporary example: students' increased reliance on AI to bypass the fundamental building blocks of learning. He argues that students will thrive as co-designers of learning only when UDL supports underlie those classroom experiences. UDL is only effective when it is possible, permitted, supported, rewarded, and expected across an educational institution at the faculty, student, and administrative levels.

Learn more about our guest’s new publication: Tobin, Thomas J. UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning (Oklahoma University Press, 2026)

Other publications mentioned in this discussion:

Tobin, Thomas J. Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education (West Virginia University Press, 2018)

Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice (Wiley, 2013)

For five years, Chris Gallagher, Kristi Girdharry, and Kevin Smith sat down each semester with the same set of twenty Northeastern University students. What began as an analysis of these students’ writing skills evolved into a book on how students often understand the learning process more clearly than faculty recognize.

Gallagher, Girdharry, and Smith's new book, Getting Learning Right: The Promise of Higher Education, takes aim at some of the myths that circulate in public discourse about college - that students enroll simply for the credential or that everything can be learned online, for example. In this episode, we focus instead on what the students themselves had to say about their own undergraduate experience. These anecdotes and the insights they provide might just be the inspiration we need to reshape the future of higher education.

Learn more about our guests’ new publication, Getting Learning Right: The Promise of Higher Education (MIT Press).

Other articles mentioned in this conversation: “Not Just Another AI Statement: Modeling Process and Collaboration in Higher Education” (Inside Higher Ed)

In this special bonus episode, we step away from our typical one-on-one interview format to share excerpts from a student panel that our host Amanda Irvin moderated at the recent "Reimagining Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI" Forum. This event was a joint effort coordinated by the Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning, the Data Science Institute, Columbia Alliance, the School of Engineering, and Teachers College.

Four Columbia students, representing a range of disciplines, backgrounds, and relationships with AI, reflect candidly on what it's actually like to be a learner in this moment. They share how AI functions in their academic lives, what they wish faculty understood about their use of it, and what they need from instructors as the landscape continues to shift. The conversation is less a debate about AI and more an exploration about the relational fabric of learning.

A full transcript with speaker attributions and bios, as well as a link to the video recording, are available in the show notes.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Madisson Whitman, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Director of Curriculum Development at Columbia University's Center for Science and Society, and Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology. Drawing on her work in Science and Technology Studies (STS), Whitman challenges one of the most pervasive assumptions of our moment: that AI in higher education is a foregone conclusion.

In her recent letter to the editor in the Columbia Spectator, a student-run campus newspaper, Whitman offered a direct rebuttal to the sentiment that "AI is here to stay, so what does that mean for Columbia?" Instead, she invites us to resist the sense of "technological inevitability" that pervades so much of today's academic dialogue and to ask what we might be foreclosing when we don’t question AI’s presence in education.

Together, we trace the through-lines between pandemic-era surveillance, "dysfunction creep," and the quiet ways AI is being folded into the learning management systems. We also consider what it looks like to teach with AI rather than through it. Dr. Whitman reminds us that progress is never as linear as it's sold. Educators must keep learning at the center of the conversation, even when urgency and marketing do their best to crowd it out.

Other materials referenced in this episode:

"AI Is Here to Stay: What Does That Mean for Columbia?" — Columbia Spectator

"Letter to the Editor: AI Is Not Inevitable" — Madisson Whitman

"A Rant About Technology" — Ursula K. Le Guin

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Lucy Appert, Senior Director of Teaching Excellence & Innovation at NYU Arts & Science, and host of the new NYU Office of Teaching Excellence and Innovation’s podcast, What Learning Looks Like. As an academic with 25+ years of teaching experience and a deep commitment to student-centered practices, Lucy shared with us her insights on what learning truly means in an age of AI-driven "efficiency."

Together, we discuss a key problem in higher education: while educators may accept the messy, developmental nature of learning, students are being marketed an idealized reality where AI-supplemented education is frictionless and instantaneous. The What Learning Looks Like podcast offers a counter-messaging to this misleading EdTech and AI marketing. Instead, true learning involves struggle, synthesis, and personal transformation. Lucy also challenges one of higher education's most persistent “Dead Ideas”: that we cannot change. From pandemic pivots to new faculty communities exploring AI in the classroom, it is clear that higher education is very capable of fluctuation and change.

Explore the What Learning Looks Like podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-learning-looks-like/id1839490516

Other materials referenced in this episode:

Learning Objectives & Bloom’s Taxonomy

In this episode, we talk with Mike Whitenton, Director of Academic Initiatives at Interfaith America (IA). Mike works at the intersection of rhetoric, religious narrative, and cognitive science to help educators create classroom spaces where students can engage meaningfully across differences.

Our conversation explores what pluralism means in practice and how it intersects with existing research and practice to foster inclusivity and belonging in the classroom. Mike introduces listeners to the three core principles of pluralism: Respect for diverse identities (even those that make us uncomfortable); Relate to those around us in a way that is genuine and mutually enriching; and Cooperate together in the service of the common good. Rather than avoiding disagreement, pluralism asks us to lean into it intentionally. In an educational environment, this means giving students structured opportunities to develop empathy, practice perspective-taking, and build bridges before they encounter real-world conflicts. By creating low-stakes opportunities for students to engage with divergent perspectives, we help them develop the skills they'll need long after they leave our classrooms.

Learn more about Interfaith America: https://www.interfaithamerica.org/

Other materials referenced in this episode:

• Eck, D. L. (n.d.). The Pluralism Project. Harvard University.https://pluralism.org/https://pluralism.org/
• Ed Up Experience Podcast [Audio podcast].https://www.edupexperience.com/https://www.edupexperience.com/
• Interfaith America. (n.d.). Pedagogies for pluralism.https://www.interfaithamerica.org/resources/pedagogies-for-pluralism/https://www.interfaithamerica.org/resources/pedagogies-for-pluralism/
• Interfaith America. (n.d.). Pluralism Texts Bibliography. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/resources/pluralism-texts-bibliography/
• Interfaith America. (n.d.). Teaching & Learning Pluralism Cohort. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/teaching-learning-pluralism-cohort/
• Zangwill, I. (1909). The melting-pot: Drama in four acts. Macmillan.

Welcome to Season 11! In our opening episode, we sit down with Karen Costa, a faculty development facilitator specializing in online pedagogy, trauma awareness, and course/community design. Our conversation focused on her forthcoming book, An Educator's Guide to ADHD: Designing and Teaching for Student Success, to be published in January 2026.

In this conversation, Karen challenges educators to rethink how we frame ADHD in the classroom. In reframing ADHD as a normal variant of the human experience rather than a disorder to be corrected, we can avoid ableist language that undermines our pedagogical aims in the classroom. Karen also shared practical strategies for supporting ADHD students, including offering multiple assignment formats and providing clear task lists and deadlines. Both of these approaches strike a delicate balance between creative freedom and helpful constraints in course design. Throughout our discussion, Karen reminds us that reducing shame in the classroom and celebrating students' diverse strengths may be the most powerful tools we have as educators.

Learn more about Karen Costa’s work in her forthcoming book:

Costa, K. (2026). An Educator's Guide to ADHD: Designing and Teaching for Student Success. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Other materials referenced in this episode include:

Costa, K. (2020). 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos: A Guide for Online Teachers and Flipped Classes. Routledge.

Karen Costa’s website: https://www.100faculty.com/

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Robert Gray, Associate Professor of University Pedagogy at the University of Bergen in Norway, to explore a fundamental question about the purpose of higher education: should learning be an act of consumption or production? Maybe the best learning experiences don't simply ask students to absorb information—they invite students to actively re-write and co-create knowledge with the teacher.

Dr. Gray's research draws on Roland Barthes' concepts of "readerly" and "writerly" texts, arguing that valuable learning happens when students are encouraged to "re-write" their classroom materials and become active producers of meaning. We discuss how students bring diverse perspectives and contexts to shared texts and lectures, creating something new and innovative from the materials we provide. As educators, we are challenged to foster an active, collaborative campus culture where learning becomes genuinely additive and co-creative.

Learn more about Dr. Gray’s research in his article: “Learning Is [Like] an Act of Writing: The Writerly Turn in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education”

Other materials referenced in this episode include:

Barthes, R. (1975). The pleasure of the text(R. Miller, Trans.). Hill and Wang. (Original work published 1973).

This week, we have two guests on the podcast. We’re joined by Gene Flenady, Lecturer in Philosophy at Monash University, whose research concerns the structure and social conditions of human rational agency, including the implications of new technologies for meaningful work and tertiary pedagogy. Our second guest is Robert Sparrow, Professor of Philosophy at Monash University. His research interests include political philosophy and the ethics of science and technology with an eye towards real-world applications.

Flenady and Sparrow argue that GenAI systems are "constitutively irresponsible" because their algorithms are designed to predict what "sounds good" - not necessarily what is true or contextually appropriate. Our guests suggest that it's unfair to expect learners themselves to determine when AI is wrong or misleading. Doing so puts students in an impossible position and gets in the way of building meaningful relationships with their human teachers and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

Learn more about Drs. Flenady and Sparrow’s work in their article: “Cut the bullshit: why GenAI systems are neither collaborators nor tutors”

Other materials referenced in this episode include:

Frankfurt, H. G. (2005). On bullshit. Princeton University Press.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Phill Dawson about how and why college students “cheat.” Phillip (Phill) Dawson is the Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University. His research focuses on cheating, AI teaching assessments, and academic feedback tools.

What counts as cheating? How does cheating shortchange students in their learning journeys and professional development? And perhaps most pressingly, how is AI changing our definition of “cheating” in higher education? Tune in to hear our thoughts on these and other questions in our conversation with Dr. Dawson.

Can you truly engage students in active learning when facing hundreds of faces in a lecture hall? We explore this challenge with Justin Shaffer, Founder of Recombinant Education, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, and Teaching Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering and Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.

Dr. Shaffer shares insights on managing the intensity of teaching to "880 eyeballs" and reveals how highly structured course design transforms large classroom experiences. Together, we examine backwards design principles, effective assessment techniques, and practical classroom activities that enable educators to foster deeper student learning, even at scale.

Learn more about Dr. Shaffer’s work in his publication - High Structure Course Design.

Other materials referenced in this episode include:

• S. Freeman, S.L. Eddy, M. McDonough, M.K. Smith, N. Okoroafor, H. Jordt, & M.P. Wenderoth, Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111 (23) 8410-8415, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111 (2014).
• E.J. Theobald, M.J. Hill, E. Tran, S. Agrawal, E.N. Arroyo, S. Behling, N. Chambwe, D.L. Cintrón, J.D. Cooper, G. Dunster, J.A. Grummer, K. Hennessey, J. Hsiao, N. Iranon, L. Jones, H. Jordt, M. Keller, M.E. Lacey, C.E. Littlefield, A. Lowe, S. Newman, V. Okolo, S. Olroyd, B.R. Peecook, S.B. Pickett, D.L. Slager, I.W. Caviedes-Solis, K.E. Stanchak, V. Sundaravardan, C. Valdebenito, C.R. Williams, K. Zinsli, & S. Freeman, Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117 (12) 6476-6483, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916903117 (2020).
• M.T. Owens, S.B. Seidel, M. Wong, T.E. Bejines, S. Lietz, J.R. Perez, S. Sit, Z. Subedar, G.N. Acker, S.F. Akana, B. Balukjian, H.P. Benton, J.R. Blair, S.M. Boaz, K.E. Boyer, J.B. Bram, L.W. Burrus, D.T. Byrd, N. Caporale, E.J. Carpenter, Y.M. Chan, L. Chen, A. Chovnick, D.S. Chu, B.K. Clarkson, S.E. Cooper, C. Creech, K.D. Crow, J.R. de la Torre, W.F. Denetclaw, K.E. Duncan, A.S. Edwards, K.L. Erickson, M. Fuse, J.J. Gorga, B. Govindan, L.J. Green, P.Z. Hankamp, H.E. Harris, Z. He, S. Ingalls, P.D. Ingmire, J.R. Jacobs, M. Kamakea, R.R. Kimpo, J.D. Knight, S.K. Krause, L.E. Krueger, T.L. Light, L. Lund, L.M. Márquez-Magaña, B.K. McCarthy, L.J. McPheron, V.C. Miller-Sims, C.A. Moffatt, P.C. Muick, P.H. Nagami, G.L. Nusse, K.M. Okimura, S.G. Pasion, R. Patterson, P.S. Pennings, B. Riggs, J. Romeo, S.W. Roy, T. Russo-Tait, L.M. Schultheis, L. Sengupta, R. Small, G.S. Spicer, J.H. Stillman, A. Swei, J.M. Wade, S.B. Waters, S.L. Weinstein, J.K. Willsie, D.W. Wright, C.D. Harrison, L.A. Kelley, G. Trujillo, C.R. Domingo, J.N. Schinske, & K.D. Tanner, Classroom sound can be used to classify teaching practices in college science courses, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114 (12) 3085-3090, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1618693114 (2017).
• A.M. Hermundstad, D.S. Bassett, K.S. Brown, E.M. Aminoff, D. Clewett, S. Freeman, A. Frithsen, A. Johnson, C.M. Tipper, M.B. Miller, S.T. Grafton, & J.M. Carlson, Structural foundations of resting-state and task-based functional connectivity in the human brain, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110 (15) 6169-6174, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1219562110 (2013).

Welcome to Season 10! In our opening episode, we sit down with Dr. Michelle Miller—Professor of Psychological Sciences and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University—to explore the simple yet powerful practice of learning students’ names.

Drawing upon her research in memory, attention, and the impact of technology on learning, Dr. Miller shares how addressing students by name fosters belonging and community in the classroom. We also discuss the practical challenges faculty face in remembering so many new names and faces. Together, we review practical strategies to strengthen memory and build instructor confidence in this vital classroom practice.

Learn more about Dr. Miller’s work in her publication - Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology.

In the introduction of Liz Norell’s new book, The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching (2024), she opens with two statements: “When you cannot be present, you cannot teach effectively” and “What’s good for students is good for us, too.” In this episode, Dr. Norell elaborates on these statements, and examines the importance of presence and authenticity in teaching and learning for both instructors and students. Dr. Norell, who serves as Associate Director of Instructional Support in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, also shares tools for cultivating self-knowledge, and discusses how they can positively impact teaching.

This will be the last episode of Season 9 of Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning. We will be back in spring 2025 with Season 10. Thank you for listening!

Kristi Rudenga, author of The Chronicle of Higher Education article, “How to Rebuild a Broken Connection With Students” (2024), writes that while intergenerational misunderstanding isn’t anything new, “the tumult of the past five years seems to have supercharged the disconnect between students and faculty members.” In this episode, Dr. Rudenga, Director of the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence at Notre Dame, discusses her article and shares why human connection is essential, both for an instructor’s own job satisfaction and as an important precursor to student learning. Kristi shares practical, simple strategies that instructors can use to help build connections with students.

How can instructors build trust, community, and a sense of belonging with their students to ultimately improve student learning? In today’s episode, we tackle this question with Peter Felten, Rachel Forsyth, and Kath Sutherland, authors of the two recent articles, “Building Trust in the Classroom: A Conceptual Model for Teachers, Scholars, and Academic Developers in Higher Education” and “Expressions of Trust: How University STEM Teachers Describe the Role of Trust in their Teaching.” Drs. Felton, Forsyth, and Sutherland share ways that teachers can consciously build trust with their students—a previously under-explored topic—through what they call “trust moves.”

Welcome to Season 9 of Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning! In this season, with our new host Columbia CTL Executive Director Amanda Irvin, we are exploring the dead idea that the world “outside” of the classroom doesn’t or shouldn’t influence the world “inside” the classroom—that students are exclusively intellectual beings when they step across the threshold (physical or virtual) of the classroom space.

In our first episode we speak with guest Cate Denial, the Bright Distinguished Professor of American History and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and author of the book A Pedagogy of Kindness (2024). Cate’s new book argues for the strength and capacity instructors and students gain when they meet each other as whole human beings. Dr. Denial discusses her book and shares suggestions for instructors everywhere on how to implement a pedagogy of kindness in their own classrooms.

Resource: A Pedagogy of Kindness (2024) by Cate Denial

In today’s episode, we say a bittersweet goodbye to our wonderful podcast host, Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Executive Director Catherine Ross, as she will be retiring from Columbia in June. Catherine sits down with Amanda Irvin, Senior Director of Faculty Programs and Services here at the Columbia CTL, who will be taking the helm as our next podcast host, starting in the fall 2024 season. Catherine and Amanda reflect on their “favorite” dead ideas and episodes, as well as dead ideas that have yet to be discussed, and how this podcast has impacted our Center’s work internally.

We’d like to thank Catherine for her passion and leadership as our podcast host over the past four years, and for her unfailing dedication to changing higher education teaching!

This will be the last episode of Season 8 of Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning. We will be back in fall 2024 with Season 9. Thank you for listening!