Think UDL

An Online Pedagogy of Kindness with Cate Denial

Welcome to Episode 41 of the ThinkUDL podcast: An Online Pedagogy of Kindness with Cate Denial. Cate Denial is the Bright Distinguished Professor of American History and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. In this episode, which is part of a Summer 2020 series on Universal Design for Learning in online environments, I ask Cate about how she applies the concepts in her 2019 article (and forthcoming book) “A Pedagogy of Kindness” to online courses. In this conversation, Cate explains how her ideas about trusting her students, believing them and believing in them, and employing an ethos of care are utilized in specific online design principles and actions. Along the way, Cate and I connect these ideas to Universal Design for Learning principles to provide our listeners with opportunities to implement not only well-researched and neuro-science based UDL principles in online or hybrid courses, but also --as Cate so eloquently writes and speaks about-- a pedagogy of kindness as well. 

I just wanted to add a short signpost here before the interview. Cate mentions the term LMS several times in our conversation and this refers to a Learning Management System. An LMS is a technological platform managed by the college or university where the instructor and students can access the course content and communicate with each other throughout the course. I am thankful for Cate’s thoughtfulness and, yes, kindness, in wanting us to define our terms for our listeners.

Epic Meaning in Online Learning with Michael Kocher

Welcome to Episode 40 of the ThinkUDL podcast: Epic Meaning in Online Learning with Michael Kocher. Today’s episode is part of a Summer 2020 series on UDL in online environments. Michael Kocher is a UDL consultant at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. There he has created many faculty development opportunities to introduce instructors to Universal Design for Learning principles and help others implement them in seated and online environments. In today’s episode we talk about how to create “epic meaning” for students in online courses by valuing student choice and autonomy, and creating assessments that are authentic and worthwhile for students. Michael shares many other tips to make your online teaching experience a value-added class for both instructor and student, and I am excited to share this conversation with our listeners!

Radical Hope for Online Teaching with Kevin Gannon

Welcome to episode 39 of the Think UDL podcast: Radical Hope for Online Teaching with Kevin Gannon. Today’s episode is part of a Summer 2020 series on UDL in online environments and I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Kevin Gannon today. Kevin is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and Professor of History at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. His book, Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto was released in the spring of 2020 and has already become a “must-read” in academic circles and faculty book clubs throughout the United States and beyond. In Radical Hope, Kevin notes that UDL is one of the most important topics in higher education today and so I was happy when he agreed to speak to me about UDL at this particular moment as countless instructors are moving their courses online. His book deals with both seated and online courses, as his teaching manifesto is modality agnostic. However, our conversation focuses on how to implement the ideas he offers in his book specifically in online courses. Kevin has been a generous scholar and faculty developer in the several years that I have come to know him through the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network and I am so thankful for his time to talk to me about Radical Hope for online teaching.

Online Faculty Learning Communities with Christina Moore

Welcome to Episode 38 of the ThinkUDL podcast: Online Faculty Learning Communities with Christina Moore. Today’s episode is part of a Summer 2020 series on UDL in online environments. Christina Moore is the Virtual Faculty Developer at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. In today’s episode we talk about faculty Online Learning Communities, also known as Personal Learning Networks. In this time of separation, how can colleagues come together and share ideas? We will discuss organizing resources around teaching topics with multiple formats that include podcasts, articles, videos, and even people to follow on Twitter, plus “Mobile learning” and accessibility in online environments. I have learned so much from Christina in her role as a Virtual Faculty Developer and I am excited to share this conversation with our listeners!

HyFlex Course Design Model with Brian Beatty

Welcome to Episode 37 of the ThinkUDL podcast. Today’s episode is part of a Summer 2020 series on UDL in online environments. I have the opportunity to speak with the creator of the Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) Course Design model, Brian Beatty, who is an Associate Professor of Instructional Technologies in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies and Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University. Brian’s primary areas of interest and research include social interaction in online learning, flipped classroom implementation, and developing instructional design theory for Hybrid-Flexible learning environments.

At SFSU, Dr. Beatty pioneered the development and evaluation of the HyFlex course design model for blended learning environments, implementing a “student-directed-hybrid” approach to better support student learning. In today’s episode, Brian and I will discuss the values and principles of the HyFlex course design model, along with its history and implementation in several contexts. Is the HyFlex model right for you? Brian will help us process the questions one needs to answer in order to determine if this is the right model for you and provide you with the resources to get started. All of the resources that Brian and Lillian mention today can be found on Episode 37 of the ThinkUDL.org web page. Thank you for joining the conversation on the ThinkUDL podcast!

Design for Learning Equity with Kevin Kelly

Welcome to Episode 36 of the ThinkUDL podcast: Design for Learning Equity with Kevin Kelly. Kevin is a Faculty Lecturer in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies & Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University. I talked with Kevin at the Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning Lilly Conference in San Diego, California, February 27-29, 2020. I was so excited to get a chance to sit down with Kevin to talk about creating equity in learning environments, especially in online learning environments. Our conversation is filled with an almost overwhelming amount of resources from Kevin’s encyclopedic grasp of equity and online learning studies and materials that he applies to his courses and graciously shares with us in this conversation. The resources mentioned in this episode are available on Episode 36 of our ThinkUDL.org resource page. If you want to look further into anything we discuss in today’s episode, you can follow up there. I am so glad to share this convicting, interesting, and information-rich conversation with our listeners!

Transcripts, taxonomies and podcast websites with Bonni Stachowiak

On episode 35, we get to talk with Bonni Stachowiak. Bonni is the host and producer of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, an Associate Professor of Business and Management and Dean of Teaching and Learning at Vanguard University of Southern California. I talked with Bonni at the Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning Lilly Conference in San Diego, California, February 27-29, 2020. I was able to steal Bonni away briefly to talk about her recent additions to and reorganization of her Teaching in Higher Ed podcast website. It began with the additions of transcripts to all of her podcasts (which made her topics more “discoverable”) and then led to a taxonomy of searchable topics and other improvements along the way. In our conversation we talk about engagement strategies, blog posts, podcasts, storytelling, “choose your own adventure” stories, and even the harrowing story of the “Naked Dutchman.” 

Everything that Bonni and I talk about is also available on our ThinkUDL.org resource page so if you want to look further into anything we discuss in today’s episode, you can follow up there. This conversation is filled with lots of UDL applications that may be helpful for anyone who wishes to reach a multitude of people with their course, podcast, website, blogs, or whatever method of teaching and dissemination of learning they happen to create! Join me and Bonni for a fun conversation about how some seemingly unintentional UDL upgrades made a difference for all!

Student Choice Menus with Eric Boyer

Welcome to Episode 34 of the ThinkUDL podcast: Student Choice Menus with Eric Boyer.  Eric Boyer is an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations in the College of Education and Counseling at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington. I got the chance to sit down with Eric at the Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning Lilly Conference in San Diego, California, February 27-29, 2020. Our conversation hits the high points of multiple intelligences, choice theory, self-determination theory, and reflective journaling. Eric’s background teaching high school and then teaching in the Education department at St. Martin’s University brings theory to practice in providing a menu of choices and motivational engagement to his classes. All of the things that Eric and I talk about are also available on our ThinkUDL.org resource page so if you want to look further into anything we discuss in today’s episode, you can follow up there. This conversation is filled with creative ideas and UDL applications and great ideas for teaching that could be applied to many different subject areas and circumstances. Join us for a lively conversation focussing on student choice and teaching innovation!

Engaging Lilly Conferences with Todd Zakrajsek

Welcome to Episode 33 of the ThinkUDL podcast: Engaging Lilly Conferences with Todd Zakrajsek!  This episode was recorded at the Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning Lilly Conference in San Diego, California, February 27-29, 2020. This conference is just one of the engaging Lilly Conferences organized by the International Teaching and Learning Cooperative and the fabulous ITLC team. This podcast also kicks off a series of four podcasts from the conference that focuses on UDL conversations that were discussed by participants or speakers that I had a chance to interview while the ThinkUDL team was there. We start out this series with the President and Conference Director of the ITLC, Todd Zakrajsek. Todd has been organizing Lilly conferences for years all over the country and the world and he has incorporated so many helpful and engaging tools that showcase the effectiveness of Universal Design for Learning principles in the conference format that I wanted to talk to him and tell our listeners about how different the Lilly conferences are from the traditional academic conferences. He and his team have made so many innovations and improvements to the typical conference of yore. From engaging conference books to concrete learning objectives for each session, and even designated metacognitive exercises throughout the conference, Todd and the ITLC team have set the bar high for conference engagement and innovation! Additionally, I personally have learned so much in my participation in Lilly conferences over the years and have made lasting connections with other colleagues around the country and I wanted to share all of the good things that happen at Lilly Conferences with our listeners. I think you will find our conversation full of insights about how to make a conference both adaptive to and empowering for conference participants and see how thoughtful and UDL-oriented the ITLC team is in organizing and presenting every one of the Lilly Conferences around the world.

UDL and Culturally Responsive Teaching with Adam Nemeroff

Welcome to Episode 32 of the ThinkUDL podcast: UDL and Culturally Responsive Teaching with Adam Nemeroff. Adam is a Learning Designer at Dartmouth College and has created a very innovative way to share his ideas about Culturally Responsive Teaching and inclusive design by using a Trello Board. This episode will investigate the ways culturally responsive teaching and Universal Design for Learning are related to and also inform each other, and Adam has organized this information using what he calls a “vision board” which he created using the Trello tool. If you are unfamiliar with Trello, we have provided links in today’s resources to investigate this tool further, and you will also find Adam’s Trello board there. We think you’ll find this discussion enlightening and full of ideas for how Universal Design for Learning principles and Culturally Responsive Teaching mutually uphold one another.