When people hear that I have a podcast, they often ask me what podcasts I like to listen to… It is a harder question to answer, since it is like asking what books one has enjoyed reading. I find myself first wanting to ask, “How much time do you have?”

This post will already take hours for me to write. I won’t allow myself to consult my older Podcast Greats posts, lest I find myself changing my mind from their influence. However, you may want to have a look at them, or at some others’ lists of favorite podcasts.

My Past Podcast Posts

• Podcast Greats for 2017
• Podcasts’ Contribution to My Personal Knowledge Management System (2014)
• Top Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast Episodes and Recommended Resources in 2017
• The Transformative Power of Podcasts in the University of Texas at Austin’s FlowJournal

Others’ Favorite Podcast Posts

• Bryan Alexander's Some Podcasts I'm Listening to This Month (2018)
• Bryan Alexander’s Podcasts I’m listening to This Month (2017)
• Katie Linder’s Current Favorite Podcasts (on her home page)
• Listen and Learn: A Guide to Digital Learning Podcasts in Inside Higher Ed
• The 2017 Dean’s List: EdTech’s 50 Must-Read Higher Ed Blogs in EdTech Magazine

My 2018 Podcast Greats

I listen to podcasts for an average of an hour a day. It varies greatly, depending on whether I have a long drive in store that day, or a large amount of dishes to do or laundry to fold.

Higher Education

The majority of the higher education podcasts I listen to are related to teaching. I also enjoy those podcasts that can help me be more effective at pursuing my goals and just having more joy in my life, overall.

You’ve Got This with Dr. Katie Linder – Such an uplifting an encouraging podcast – we can do this – with Katie’s help.

The Black Goat – “Three psychologists talk about doing science.” Great hosts (Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire), talking through important issues in higher education (recent episodes were on finding a job in higher ed and starting out in a new job)

EdSurge On Air – They find terrific guests to interview about what’s happening in higher ed. I was even on an episode in Feb 2018.

Educate: APM Reports – Not restricted to higher ed, but high quality content about education at large

Leading Lines – “A podcast on educational technology, produced out of Vanderbilt Center for Teaching, the Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning, and Office of Scholarly Communications at the Vanderbilt University Library.”

Teach Better – Doug and Edward (the hosts) find such gifted educators to inspire us toward better teaching. I enjoy the end of each episode, where the guest shares a failure that provided a great learning experience. 

Tea for Teaching – Discovered this one very recently and have been enjoying it. Hosted by the individuals who lead the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the State University of New York at Oswego

AcademiGig with Drs. Katie Linder and Sara Langworthy – These two are so much fun to listen to and are encouraging for those exploring “gigs” outside of the traditional academic track. “A podcast for current and aspiring academic creatives, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.”

Ask the Flipped Learning Network – “A podcast for and about the Flipped Learning Network”

The Contrafabulists Podcast – with Audrey Watters and Kin Lane – “discussion of the latest technology (and politics of technology) news.” They regularly challenge me to think more critically about educational technology.

The Deeper Learning Podcast – There haven’t been many episodes, but check out #1 for an incredible, lesser known court case that “shattered many of the legal justifications for segregating public schools and laid the foundation for the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision.”

Student Caring – A current colleague of mine (David) and a former one (Daniel) encourage us to thrive in our teaching and better serve our students.

HybridPod – “Explores conversations of critical digital pedagogy, listening for ways to empower students and champion learning.” It’s been a year or so since I saw a new episode, but as soon as I do see one, I know it will be wonderful.

Context

I have become obsessed with the idea of context and how most of my failings as a teacher have involved my lack of it in some way. I try to regularly digest content that helps me expand my understanding of other people’s contexts. I’m thankful for friendships that help me do that, as well.

Code Switch – Conversations about race and identity

Pod Save the People – “Organizer and activist DeRay McKesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics through deep conversations with influencers and experts, and the weekly news with fellow activists Brittany Packnett and Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Clint Smith” – this one goes to the top of my queue every time. Hear about the news from the context of black activists and influencers…

Ear Hustle – Explores a context most of us are unfamiliar with… “Ear Hustle brings you the stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it.”

Politics and News

I’m grateful that podcasts are available for shows that air in other media channels (such as television and radio), as I love the opportunity to listen on my own schedule. These podcasts help inform me on how to vote, how to be a better citizen, and how to engage in some forms of activism to try influence within my community and beyond. They also help me stay informed on what is happening in the business world.

Up First from NPR – Just ten minutes of news to start your day with

Planet Money from NPR – Fascinating look at economics

The Political Gabfest – Three wonderful hosts take on the week’s top three political news topics and then each make a recommendation at the end of the show (a little thing they call “Cocktail Chatter”).

Radiolab Presents: More Perfect – Absolutely brilliant podcast about the Supreme Court. Haven’t seen an episode since January 30, 2018 and am missing them so…

Democracy Now – A podcast of the Democracy Now television show. Independent, global news.

The Economist: Babbage – Podcast on science and technology. I listen when the episode topic is of interest.

The Gist – This one has moved up in my episodes queue. Mike Pesca invites on a guest each time to explore a topic in depth. Then, he performs that he calls “The Spiel” – which is typically a humorous look at a topic related to politics, the news, or something totally unexpected.

Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates – Smart debates about current topics

APM’s Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal – Great way to catch up with the news, using a lens oriented toward business and economics

Pod Save America – “A political podcast for people not yet ready to give up or go insane… Breaks down the week’s news and helps people figure out what matters and how to help.” Hosted by three individuals who worked for the Obama administration: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! – Very funny game show done weekly to keep us up on the important and just plain bizarre news. I often skip the two middle segments: One where you try to figure out which story of three is the one that really happened and one with a celebrity guest where they quiz them on random stuff. I enjoy those parts, but there’s only so much podcast listening that’s available to me.

Under the Influence from CBC Radio with Terry O’Reilly – Fascinating stories about marketing. I regularly find episodes that relate to the classes I teach.

Social Sciences

My undergraduate degree was in social sciences and I still quite enjoy learning more in this discipline. In many ways, all the podcasts I listen to probably belong in this category.

Hidden Brain – “Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, and shape our choices and direct our relationships.”

This American Life – It was hard to know where to classify this one – It is a little bit of everything and some of the best storytelling I’ve ever encountered

Very Bad Wizards with Tamler Sommers and David Pizarro – “A philosopher and psychologist ponder human morality (warning: they self admittedly have “a market inability to distinguish sacred from profane”)

Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell – Each episode goes “back and reinterprets something from the past: an event, a person, an idea. Something overlooked. Something misunderstood.” 

Leadership and Management

My doctoral degree is in organizational leadership, so it probably isn’t too terribly surprising that I have carried my interest in these topics beyond my dissertation.

Coaching for Leaders with Dave Stachowiak – Spoiler alert – I’m married to the host and am on the podcast once a month for our Q&A episodes. In the remaining three weeks, Dave interviews fabulous guests that challenge us to keep developing ourselves as leaders.

The Look and Sound of Leadership with Tom Henschel – Wish it came out even more often – great advice for leaders in every episode

Women at Work from Harvard Business Review – Only lasted for four episodes – but well worth a listen – excellent podcast

Lead to Win with Michael Hyatt – Solid leadership advice with effective storytelling throughout

WorkLife with Adam Grant – Only recently started listening and am enjoying every episode

HBR IdeaCast – Weekly podcast “featuring the leading thinkers in business and management”

Productivity and Personal Effectiveness

Another unsurprising area of interest is in productivity. In fact, I even wrote a book on the topic.

The 1-3-20 Podcast with Daniel Pink – 1 book, 3 questions, and it all takes less than 20 minutes

Akimbo: A Podcast from Seth Godin – “A podcast about culture and how we can change it. About seeing what’s happening and choosing to do something.” I find much of his content to relate to marketing, which isn’t surprising, given what he is known for…

Better Off with Jill Schlesinger – Terrific financial literacy podcast, sponsored by Betterment (a forward-thinking investment company)

The Productivity Show by Asian Efficiency – I don’t listen to every episode, but the topics that are of interest to me always contain excellent advice and resources

Getting Things Done – It doesn’t come out very often, but when it does, they take content from their paid membership and make it available to those of us who are waiting for the table scraps of productivity advice

Technology and Science

I worked for eleven years for a computer training company, right after graduating with my BA degree. My passion for technology started at that organization – and hasn’t ended. Only in recent years have I found more interest in science and am grateful for the podcasts that help me cultivate that curiosity.

Note to Self with Manoush Zomorodi – Really enjoy their discussion of technology that is more oriented to the ethics side of things and social change

Mac Power Users – Just plain techy fun for Mac users. I was even on an episode back in 2015.

Reply All – “‘A podcast about the internet’ what is actually an unfailingly original exploration of modern life and how to survive it.” – The Guardian

RadioLab – I wish they were my science teachers in my younger days. Who knows what would have happened?

Accidental Tech Podcast – “A tech podcast we accidentally created while trying to do a car show, featuring Marco Arment, Casey List, and John Siracusa. I don’t listen to every episode, but am

Parsing Science – “The unpublished stories behind the world’s most compelling science, as told by the researchers themselves.” Hosted by: Doug Leigh (a former professor of mine and friend) and Ryan Watkins. “Both are professors, at Pepperdine University and George Washington University, respectively. ”

Religion and Spirituality

Thank God for opportunities to reflect on my faith and to hear from people who get me asking even more questions…

On Being with Krista Tippett – On Being is one of my most treasured podcasts. Krista talks with diverse thinkers about “the big questions of meaning in 21st century lives and endeavors – spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and the arts. What does it mean to be human? How do we want to live? And who will we be to each other?”

St. Mark Presbyterian Church – This is our family’s church community. When we wind up missing a service, it is nice not to have to have missed the sermon. “Our diverse congregation is comprised of people from different religious and non-religious backgrounds who are seeking personally authentic ways to live in faith today. We connect with others who are wrestling with questions about God and religion, who care about taking action on social justice issues and the environment, and how we can be agents of change and reconciliation in a world so in need of compassion and healing.”

God Complex Radio – I can’t recall who first told me about God Complex Radio, but I have thoroughly enjoyed every episode I have ever heard. They talk about race, social justice, non-profits that are doing transformative work, and religion.

House for All Sinners and Saints – My favorite episodes are the ones when Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is preaching. She’s like if Anne Lamott had a podcast and was also covered in tattoos.

Your Turn

What are some of your favorite podcasts? I’m almost afraid to ask this question, as you can no doubt tell I am behind on my listening queue 100% of the time… But, yet – I can’t resist learning about even more great podcasts.

It’s your turn now.

Each year, I participate in Jane Hart’s Top 100 Tools for Learning survey. In recent years, she broke the list out into three categories:

• Top 100 Tools for Personal and Professional Learning
• Top 100 Tools for Workplace Learning
• Top 100 Tools for Education

My 2017 votes included tools that fit into each of those three categories.

After publishing this year’s list, Jane Hart developed A Modern Professional Learner’s Toolkit for 2018. These are tools that pursue and support lifelong learning, such as social networks, web course platforms, news and curation tools, and communication and collaboration tools.

In this post, I share my professional learner’s toolkit, with links to the tools I use. At the conclusion of this blog, links to others’ posts with their own toolkits will be shared.

My Professional Learner’s Toolkit

Learning is central to my work and sense of purpose. I enjoy finding tools that help me locate resources that will contribute to my growth, synthesize and organize that learning in such a way as to have it be useful to me now and in the future, and then be able to share what I am learning with others.

Trusted Set of Resources for Problem Solving and Inspiration

The majority of my time taking in new information is spent within my preferred podcasting app: Overcast (iOS). I find podcasts to be an ideal way to learn, since I can take them with me wherever I go. My favorite podcasts are ones that I look forward to listening to each chance I get.

Wikipedia, YouTube, and TED Talks are other sources for inspiration.

Social Networks to Build a Diverse Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Twitter represents the majority of my personal learning network (PLN) connections. It is staggering to me how much I have learned from being in community on this platform. I also enjoy the opportunities to keep up with professional connections and former students on LinkedIn. Instagram is great fun for compelling photographs (like these from National Geographic and these that were #shotoniPhone). Pinterest is fun for ideas for our kids, as well as recipes that I never use (#aspirational). Facebook gets less and less valuable for me, though I am glad to be able to reach out to people when I have lost track of their email address.

Web Browser and Search Engine to Make the Most of the Web

I browse primarily on the Google Chrome browser. It tends to be the most compatible with the web tools I use. However, it is worth mentioning that the Apple Safari browser keeps coming out with cool new features that make me wonder if I should check it out. Google meets my needs as far as search goes, though I know this is an area I should explore more.

News and Curation Tools to Discover New Resources, Store, and Share

I have written and spoken extensively about my personal knowledge management (PKM) system. This post describes my PKM tools, including Feedly, Instapaper, and Pinboard. Recently, I have started reading more on Apple News. I am also getting tempted by the RSS reader Innoreader as a possible replacement for Feedly. Since it supports subscribing to students’ blogs and bringing them into a common feed, as described by Laura Gibbs on her Innoreader post.

Smart Devices for Ubiquitous Access to Content and People

Browsing content on my iPad is incredibly easy. I spend about an hour a day reading on the iPad, usually just before bed. My iPhone and Apple Watch are good companions, particularly for listening to podcasts. The AirPods represent one of my all-time favorite gadgets in recent years, as they make listening to content via my iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch even easier.

Blogging and Website Tools to Share Ideas and Thinking

My blog is a self-hosted WordPress site on the FlyWheel web hosting service. Buffer helps me spread out content that I want to share on social media. On “good weeks,” I spend about an hour setting content up to be shared throughout the week.

Productivity Tools to Help Work Effectively

I have also shared quite a bit about my productivity systems over the years. Most essential to my productivity systems are my task manager (OmniFocus), my calendar (Fantastical), and my email “assistant” that moves unimportant emails out of my inbox (SaneBox).

Web Course Platforms to Acquire Knowledge and Skills in a Formal Way

Lynda.com has content for learning software, business, and creative skills. This link will let you try Lynda.com for ten days. If you wind up signing up, we receive a small referral. I am also really enjoying the course I am finishing with CreativeLive on storytelling through podcasting, with Alex Blumberg. You can get $15 off your first class using this link. I’m also taking Katie Linder’s The Academic Book Promotion Toolkit course, which is fantastic.

Personal Information System to Store Web Clippings, Experiences and Ideas, and Track Professional Development

Evernote is my tool of choice for when what I want to save is better being kept private. Otherwise, Pinboard is what I use under the News and Curation Tools (above). Evernote is also where I track my goals, and professional development pursuits.

Office Tools to Create Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets

I primarily use Office 365 applications for creating documents (Microsoft Word), presentations (PowerPoint), and spreadsheets (Excel). Most of my blog posts start out in a text-based, Mac writing app called Ulysses. That’s also where each podcast episode’s show notes begin, until they get moved over to WordPress.

Communication an Collaboration Tools to Interact, Share, and Learn with Others

At my recent keynote for the DET/CHE 2017 conference, I asked people what their favorite collaboration tools were. The web conferencing tool, Zoom, was given more than any other answer (by a lot). I’m a huge fan, as well. My second go-to collaboration tool (particularly when it comes to sharing) is Dropbox. However, Google Docs is a stand-out for it’s ease of use when wanting to collaborate on a document.

Other Posts on Professional Learning Toolkits

After Jane Hart's original post about her professional learning toolkit, many others have followed suit. Here are some of the posts that resonated with me and inspired me to share my toolkit:

• My Modern Professional Learners Toolkit – Mike Taylor
• Professional learner’s toolkit – Harold Jarche
• A Modern Professional Learner’s Toolkit for 2018 – Modern Workplace Learning Magazine
• My Modern Professional Learning Toolkit | LearnGeek
• My Modern Professional Learning Kit – Activate Learning Solutions
• LearnletsMy Professional Learner's Toolkit – Learnlets

Your Turn

What tools did I not mention that are stand-outs in supporting your learning?

I had the great pleasure of talking with Bryan Alexander today for this week’s Teaching in Higher Ed podcast episode. “Bryan Alexander is an internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of how technology transforms education.”

As happens more than half of the time that I have interviews scheduled, I was incredibly nervous. It turns out that not only does Bryan Alexander know a lot about a lot of things, he’s also incredibly kind and warm.

After we were finished recording, I told him how much I enjoyed his recent post about his favorite podcasts. He said that he often listens to podcasts while chopping wood, caring for the animals that they raise on their property, or during his often-lengthy commutes.

While we have some podcast listening habits in common, I discovered that there are some shows that are among my favorites that he was unfamiliar with…

Since I last wrote about my favorite podcasts in 2014, there are still some of those same shows that top my listening preferences. It’s time for some updating to my list of podcast greats, inspired by Bryan’s recent post.

This time I've categorized them, those this proved to be a harder task than I anticipated. Many of them fit into multiple categories.

Teaching and Other Higher Ed Podcasts

• Contrafabulists – Audrey Watters and Kin Lane describe their podcast (which has recently been re-named) this way: “Fabulists are fable-spinners and myth-makers. We are storytellers ourselves, but we poke holes in the hype and distortion of new digital technologies and the narratives associated with them. Contrafabulists are, as the name would suggest, against lying.” Each time I listen, I’m challenged to think more critically about the technology tools we use in attempting to facilitate learning, as well as what’s happening in the broader political, educational, and technological realms.
• HybridPod | The Podcast from Hybrid Pedagogy – Host Chris Friend is a delightful guide for this “collection of casual, thoughtful discussions designed to challenge and make us all think carefully about how we work with students.”
• Research in Action Podcast – Ecampus Research Unit | Oregon State University – If you teach any kind of research in higher ed, it’s worth checking out the Research in Action podcast, hosted by Katie Linder. It is also helpful, just to increase one’s knowledge of different types of research methods.
• You've Got This – Katie Linder also hosts the You’ve Got This podcast, which is a short, inspirational look at building our confidence and competence at various aspects of a professor’s life.
• The Teach Better Podcast – Doug McKee and Edward O’Neil are the fabulous hosts of the Teach Better podcast. They interview expert faculty from institutions such as Yale and Cornel. Each episode is a new perspective on becoming a more effective teacher. I’m still not sure how it happened, but they even had me on an episode once.
• Leading Lines: A New Podcast on Educational Technology in Higher Education | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University – Derek Bruff, says that the Leading Lines podcast aims to “explore creative, intentional, and effective uses of technology to enhance student learning, uses that point the way to the future of educational technology in college and university settings.  Through interviews with educators, researchers, technologists, and others, we hope to amplify ideas and voices that are (or should be!) shaping how we think about digital learning and digital pedagogy.”
• TOPcast: The Teaching Online Podcast | Center for Distributed Learning – The Teaching Online (TOP) podcast is an informal conversation between Thomas Cavanagh and Kelvin Thompson, with the goal of helping us teach more effectively online. I had the chance to meet them both at an OLC Conference and they’re just as engaging in person as they are on the podcast.

Shows that Stretch my Mind

• Radiolab – I’m so grateful for having come across Radio Lab a few years back. It has helped to make me more curious about science and to feel like it is more accessible to me than I ever realized. One of my favorite episodes was about when things don’t go like you had planned: Be Careful What You Plan For – Radiolab. Useful lessons for when things don't go like we planned in our teaching.
• This American Life – The producers at This American Life are some of the best storytellers I’ve ever witnessed in audio form. I really enjoy their humor on episodes where they share human failures, like what happens when we only have enough knowledge to be dangerous, or about some pretty awful (yet humorous) mistakes
• Democracy Now! – A friend recommended Democracy Now years ago to help me expand my perspective of politics and foreign affairs. It didn’t disappoint and I now listen to episodes almost right after they’re released.
• Very Bad Wizards – Speaking of listening right when episodes come out, Very Bad Wizards is a delight to have show up in my podcasting feed. A philosopher and a psychologist talk about life’s important topics, though I should warn you, in an often-irreverent way.
  My all time favorite episode is their 75th, where they had experts share about something they have changed their mind about in the past five years. I need to cling to the idea that we’re all capable of changing our minds on important issues, or I’m not sure I can bear our current political climate. I also enjoy whenever Paul Bloom is on the show, like this episode where they talked about the movie “Momento” – or this one where they talked about Paul’s book about empathy (with some movies about empathy mixed in to the conversation). Another memorable episode that stretched my thinking was this conversation with Robert Frank about luck. One last fun thing about Very Bad Wizards is the musical talents of one of their hosts, David Pizarro (Peez). Take a listen to some of his beats on SoundCloud.
• Invisibilia : NPR – From their website: “Invisibilia (Latin for invisible things) is about the invisible forces that control human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. Co-hosted by Lulu Miller, Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel, Invisibilia interweaves narrative storytelling with scientific research that will ultimately make you see your own life differently.” They haven’t had a new episode in a long while, as of this blog post being written and I look forward to when more are to come. The other episodes are evergreen and are worth going back to hear.

Business and Management Podcasts

• Marketplace – for years now, Marketplace has been helping me connect what’s happening in the world to how it relates to my students’ lives. It's stated purpose is to be focused on economics, but they go much deeper than that, in my experience. Anyone who wants to learn more about business would benefit from listening to this podcast.
• Coaching for Leaders – Leaders Aren't Born, They're Made – I’ll admit that I’m married to the host, but this still is a fabulous podcast that helps us all become more effective at leading. If you want to receive a prescription of past episodes, based on your needs at a given time, try the section on productivity which includes episodes with David Allen of Getting Things Done, Deep Work with Cal Newport, and a discussion Dave and I have about personal knowledge management (PKM).
• Under The Influence with Terry O'Reilly | CBC Radio – Isabeau Iqbal shared Under the Influence with me a few months ago and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each episode since then. The host, Terry O’Reilly engages us about how marketing has been influencing us through the ages, often without us realizing it.
• Planet Money : NPR – Hardly an episode of Planet Money goes by without me bookmarking it to use in some future class. It talks all about the ways that money is impacting the world. One of my favorite episodes to use in class is this one on How Fake Money Saved Brazil. I like to pause part-way through the episode and have the students predict how they think the experts recommended that Brazil’s leaders fix the problem.
• On the Media Podcast – It isn’t as meta as it sounds – a show about media… But, it is helpful to look at the week’s events through the lens of the media and how it addressed various issues.
• Political Gabfest – This is one of the podcasts that I save up to listen to with my husband, Dave, on our weekend commutes, together. The hosts talk about three different political issues that came up in the past week and then have an eclectic recommendations segment at the end of each show.
• Stephen Explains the News – The premise of this show is that Stephen knows stuff about what's happening in the news  – and much of the time, Kayla doesn't. Stephen is a friend and a colleague, but even if he wasn't, I would be listening regularly to Stephen Explains the News. While it is sometimes a review of what's happening that I have some background on, I find Kayla's questions a good reminder of the topics that our students may also be confused about. Besides, they both have a wonderful sense of humor and their banter is entertaining.

Geeky Podcasts

• Reply All – Gimlet Media – This podcast looks at technology and how it intersects with different parts of our lives. One of my favorite segments is what they call: “Yes, yes, no,” where they challenge each other to interpret something that has happened on the internet that may otherwise go unnoticed by the untrained eye.
• Note to Self | WNYC – I just started listening to this podcast and have really been enjoying it. From the show’s website, “Is your phone watching you? Can wexting make you smarter? Are your kids real? These and other essential quandaries for anyone trying to preserve their humanity in the digital age. Join host Manoush Zomorodi for your weekly reminder to question everything.” I especially like their focus on privacy and how we can all better protect ourselves on the web.
• Mac Power Users – Relay FM – If you use a Mac and you want to leverage it to be more productive, this is a great show for you. Back in 2015, I was on an episode, talking about how I use screencasting to provide richer feedback to my students.

In Community with Others

• Another Round (anotherround) on BuzzFeed – When Peter Newbury was on Teaching in Higher Ed, he stressed the importance of us being connected with people who are like us and people who are different from us. Listening to Another Round, I get reminded not to touch black women’s hair in the funniest way possible. Side note: I didn’t need the reminder, but it was sure funny to hear.
• Code Switch : NPR – another diversity-oriented pursuit comes from listening to Code Switch. From their website: “Ever find yourself in a conversation about race and identity where you just get…stuck? Code Switch can help. We're all journalists of color, and this isn't just the work we do. It's the lives we lead. Sometimes, we'll make you laugh. Other times, you'll get uncomfortable. But we'll always be unflinchingly honest and empathetic. Come mix it up with us.”
• Revisionist History Podcast – this podcast by Malcolm Gladwell could have fit in any number of the categories I’ve created for this list of podcasts. I decided to leave it among those that help us live better in community with one another, since so many of the ways he presents the complex issues he shares about are toward creating more empathy among people with differing perspectives.
• On Being with Krista Tippett — The Big Questions of Meaning | On Being – When I listed to On Being, I feel like I’m being healed in small ways. Based on others’ reactions to the show, I’m not alone in believing we’re all being healed, collectively, when we listen together in community. This episode with John Listen entitled Love in Action is just one of many inspirational episodes.

Podcasts that are Just Getting Started

These next couple of podcasts don’t have many episodes, but they represent the best of what podcasting has to offer.

• LIFE101 – Real Stories about College Life – Mike Wesch is someone who has inspired me greatly in my teaching. He prescribes regular exposure to learning experiences, for us to remain empathetic to our students. He took this idea to heart with his podcast, LIFE101, by having his students give him assignments to tackle. I spoke with him more about the teacher becoming student on episode 118 of Teaching in Higher Ed.
• The Deeper Learning Podcast – Orange County Department of Education – the first episode is about a little-known court case that paved the way for Brown vs Board of Education. My friend and former colleague, Jeff Hittenberger, is the host. He tells me more episodes are on their way and I have to fight to keep from hitting refresh on my podcast catcher to see if a new one is there yet.

I had no idea that this post was going to turn out so long, or that I listened to so many podcasts. Would you believe that this only represents about 60% of them?

As I started to chip away at this post, I realized I was going to have to be much more discerning in which ones I included, than when I first got started with what was supposed to be a relatively easy post.

What podcasts do you listen to that you recommend? Feel free to reply in the comments to this post, or Tweet with your recommendations under the hashtag #trypod.

This post is written to my #edd703 doctoral students, though the contents apply to all of us who are practicing what Karl Weick coined as sense-making… 

We're starting to get further down the path of establishing a personal knowledge management system (PKM) for ourselves. One part that often gets struggled with the most is the sense-making piece.

I find people often want to spend much more time using Baskin Robbin's taster spoon style approaches to try to find another app that they can add to their PKM mix, or even decide to do away with one of the pieces of PKM, completely.

As Peter Senge and others explain:

Weick likened the process of sensemaking to cartography. What we map depends on where we look, what factors we choose to focus on, and what aspects of the terrain we decide to represent. Since these choices will shape the kind of map we produce, there is no perfect map of a terrain. Therefore, making sense is more than an act of analysis; it’s an act of creativity.”

Previously, I proposed that one way we can rid ourselves of the anxiety around sharing is to think of ourselves as curators. Today, I want to introduce you to a person who prefers not to think of herself as a curator, but whose life's work would fit well with what we have been talking about, in terms of PKM.

Maria Popova started her blog as an experimental email sent to seven of her coworkers. She eventually moved her content online and started Brain Pickings. Popova says that her blog:

…is a cross-disciplinary LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces spanning art, science, psychology, design, philosophy, history, politics, anthropology, and more; pieces that enrich our mental pool of resources and empower combinatorial ideas that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful. Above all, it’s about how these different disciplines illuminate one another to glean some insight, directly or indirectly, into that grand question of how to live, and how to live well.”

Popova is held up as one who is massively “productive,” in terms of the amount of information she consumes, makes sense of, and then shares on a daily basis.

In an interview with Krista Tippet for On Being, she was asked about the ways in which her work has been quantified by others.

Tippet inquires as to whether or not the rumors are true that Popova invests 450 hours on a monthly basis in her work. She also asks if Popova truly reads 15 books on a weekly basis, or writes between three and eight hours a day. Popova responds:

I think it’s actually a gross underestimate. I read and write from the minute I wake up to the moment I go to sleep at night and everything in between. Even those — I get around on bikes, so I commute. And whatever I listen to, that feeds in. That’s part of the reading. And so I would say the hours are probably a lot more.” [laughs]

It's tempting to get caught up in the numbers. I read 23 books in 2016, which felt like it required tremendous effort on my part. It's hard to fathom reading 15 books per week, even if it was what “paid the bills.”

It would be easy to glance at Popova's story and move on, since clearly we could never be her, in terms of her productivity. That's why what Popova says next in the On Being interview is so paramount:

…I want to say something important about that. Even if it’s factually true, I think the framing is a little bit misleading because it’s framed as a sort of productivity thing. Look at how much some random person in the world gets done, you know? And for me, it feels very purposeful. And I think what’s funny is that I used to marvel for a long time why my best ideas — and I don’t mean — by ideas, I don’t mean the ideas that — about what to write or all of that, but just insights on the truths of my experience, of the human experience, whatever.

Those ideas, the best of them came to me at the gym or on my bike or in the shower. And I used to have these elaborate theories that maybe there was something about the movement of the body and the water that magically sparked a deeper consciousness. But I’ve really come to realize the obvious thing, which is that these are simply the most unburdened spaces in my life, the moments in which I have the greatest uninterrupted intimacy with my own mind, with my own experience. And there’s nothing magical, at least not in the mystical sense, about that. It’s just a kind of ordinary magic that’s available to each of us just by default if only we made that deliberate choice to make room for it and to invite it in.”

Those of us who are more achievement-oriented can easily turn PKM into a numbers game. When we look to people like Dave Pell or Maria Popova, it's easy to tell ourselves that we won't ever be able to produce that much content, so this whole process must not be for us.

When I'm able to back away at the quantitative aspects of my own engagement online, there's a rich story being told about the opportunities I have had to be invited in to the human experience. As you continue to refine your own PKM systems, I encourage you to think about doing far less, but to make a “deliberate choice to make room for” the gifts that curiosity and reflection can bring.

I hope you'll carve out some time this week to listen to this conversation between Maria Popova and Krista Tippet for On Being. There's so much more than what I've posted here, in terms of “[Popova's] gleanings on what it means to lead a good life — intellectually, creatively, and spiritually.”

Ultimately, I pray you'll “build pockets of stillness” into your days this week, even if it seems impossible.

The Question

I received this question from one of my doctoral students:

I really have no idea how to create a “brand” or how to create my blog to reflect who I am.  Do you have any suggestions on how to figure out who I am, in the land of technology?”

Her question was so powerful that I wanted to share my thoughts to a broader community and invite others to provide suggestions to her, as well. In my reply to her, I'll consider:

• What is a personal brand and is that the “right way” to talk about our online presence?
• How do our blogs and other social media help to reflect who we are?
• How do we figure out who we are, when we're online?

My Response

Let me start by saying how glad I am that you're asking these questions. Part of what has gone wrong with social media in certain contexts is that others haven't pondered in this way, before engaging online. Those of us who are more present online rarely stop asking these questions. Recent examples of these kinds of reflections include:

• My friend and his husband just adopted a beautiful baby girl. They are reflecting on how much they want to share about her online and in what context.
• A friend from college just announced that after the worst year of her life, that she and her husband were now separated, as of New Year's eve. She shared that she usually prefers to keep all her posts on Facebook positive, but she knew people would want to be aware of this change in her life.
• Many educators pondered how to return to the classroom, after the results of the Presidential election had been announced.

Personal Branding

The first time I remember having someone attempt to convince me that I was needed the same thing that my breakfast cereal did, was in a keynote talk given by Tom Peters in the early 90s. Cheerios needed help being identified and valued in the minds of consumers. And I needed help being identified and valued in the minds of current and future employers.

Tom Peters asserted:

Starting today you are a brand.

You're every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop. To start thinking like your own favorite brand manager, ask yourself the same question the brand managers at Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop ask themselves: What is it that my product or service does that makes it different? Give yourself the traditional 15-words-or-less contest challenge. Take the time to write down your answer. And then take the time to read it. Several times.”

I was intrigued, but also wasn't sure that I wanted to be some big corporate brand. Peters also wrote about more of us being freelancers, and at that time, that idea scared the heck out of me. The idea of an A-Z guide for my personal brand seemed too inauthentic for whatever it was I might attempt to do online. Yet, I didn't want to leave the results of what happened whenever someone inevitably Googled me in the hands of others.

Blogging and Social Media as Reflections of “Us”

Finding a voice online is difficult in the same way that figuring out who we are and who we are becoming when we're in-person is hard. We can certainly opt to hide all sorts of things about ourselves when we're online, but we can do that when we're face-to-face, as well. Greg McKeown warns us that thinking of ourselves as a multitude of skills is dangerous and that rather, we should consider our one main distinctive that we want others to perceive about us.

For me, that answer took a long time to come by, but I'm a teacher. That's what I do. That's what I'm good at. That's what I think about, constantly. When I blog or participate in social media, my primary focus is going to be on teaching. These days, I often get to be a teacher of other teachers, which brings me great joy.

In one of my doctoral classes, our professor recommended that we think about who our “stick figure is…” That is, who is it that you serve? Who is your audience of one? Rather than thinking about a broad, target market, he proposed that we find one person who we can always consider ourselves “talking to” when we blog, or give voice to our thoughts in other ways.

Adding Value Online

Once we have started thinking about the primary way we might be able to serve others and who one of the people we provide value for might be, we then can think about how to express some of that online. It can be intimidating to do this for a whole host of reasons, including that it's hard to be authentic, because it requires such vulnerability.

• What if I don't have anything to offer?
• What if I'm wrong about something?
• What if I wind up changing my mind about something, but now my old thoughts are still out there?
• What if I wind up being bullied or trolled online, the way so many others have in the past?

One way to get started is to think less about creating original content and instead provide value by seeking out others' content, making sense of it, and then sharing it.

Become a Curator

The most extreme example of being an expert curator is Dave Pell. He makes his whole living reading the news and then synthesizing it for those of us who don't have time to read 75 news sites a day. While I suspect you won't have time to go to that kind of extreme, as you consider your primary distinctive, hopefully you're regularly consuming news, resources, and other information in that area.

Here's a less-extreme examples of curation around a personal brand. Mike Taylor is an expert in the training and development field who I've been following for years now. Mike's LinkedIn profile is reflective of someone who has done the work to articulate and refine the way others come to know him. In his own words, he is:

Exploring the intersection of learning, technology & social media”

As 2016 ended, Mike created a series of curated posts, all around the theme of 12×12. 12 posts that each contained 12 items. Here were a few that caught my eye:

• My favorite learning quotes
• Day 3 – books
• 12 super useful job aids and cheatsheets

Next Steps

None of what I've described above is easy. This journey is best taken in small steps and with the realization that you'll never be done. I wish you the best as you start down the path and hope others will share their advice with you, as well.