Teaching in Higher Ed

The potential impact of stereotype threat

with Robin Paige

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On today’s episode, I speak with Dr. Robin Paige about the potential impact of stereotype threat inside and outside of our classrooms.

Stereotype Threat

Quote

When dealing with stereotypes, one of the things we can do on our campuses or in our classrooms is create a space of accountability but without saying “You’re a bad person for thinking that.”
—Robin Paige

Resources

Academic Paper by Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson: Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans

Recommendations

Bonni:
Podcast: This American Life episode 573: Status Update
Book: Between the World and Me* by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Course: 5 days to your best year ever course with Michael Hyatt*

Robin:
Book: Whistling Vivaldi* by Claude Steele
Blog: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/
Tip: Use food to create a stereotype-safe environment because it becomes a thing people have in common.

The power of checklists

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Atul Gawande

Today on episode #078 of Teaching in Higher Ed: The power of checklists

Book: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Good checklists, on the other hand are precise. They are efficient, to the point, and easy to use even in the most difficult situations. They do not try to spell out everything–a checklist cannot fly a plane. Instead, they provide reminders of only the most critical and important steps–the ones that even the highly skilled professional using them could miss. Good checklists are, above all, practical.
―Atul Gawande

We don’t like checklists. They can be painstaking. They’re not much fun. But I don’t think the issue here is mere laziness. There’s something deeper, more visceral going on when people walk away not only from saving lives but from making money. It somehow feels beneath us to use a checklist, an embarrassment. It runs counter to deeply held beliefs about how the truly great among us—those we aspire to be—handle situations of high stakes and complexity. The truly great are daring. They improvise. They do not have protocols and checklists. Maybe our idea of heroism needs updating.
―Atul Gawande

Definitions

A to-do list is what to do, a checklist is how to do it:
Article on lessdoing.com

A checklist is a documented process for something you’ll do daily; a to-do list is something you assembled yourself that you need to do at a certain point of your day:
Article on alphaefficiency.com

Philip Crawford, software entrepreneur on Quora, gives his definition:
Question on Quora

Natalie Houston on checklists

A checklist ensures communication and confirmation among members of a team and catches errors.
—Natalie Houston

There are Two kinds of checklists:

  • Read-do: read each step and perform the step, checking off as you go (like following a recipe)
  • Do-confirm: perform steps of the task from memory until you reach a defined pause point when you confirm that things have happened.

Advice for making checklists:

  • Keep it simple
  • Make it usable – need to be able to check things off
  • Try it out and edit as necessary

Read her article about checklists HERE

Checklist on Checklists

Atul Gawande lists things to consider when making a checklist:

  • You you have clear, concise objectives
  • Have you considered adding items that will improve communication among team members
  • When crafting the list, is the font sans serif?
  • Have you trialled the list with frontline users? And have you modified the checklist in response to repeated trials?

Class Checklist

Recommendations:

Teaching What You Don’t Know

with Therese Huston

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teaching what you don't know

Today I welcome to the show Dr. Terese Huston to talk about teaching what you don’t know.

Guest: Therese Huston

Faculty Development Consultant, Seattle University
Author: Teaching What You Don’t Know

Seattle University faculty page: here
Personal page:  www.theresehustonauthor.com
Twitter:  @ThereseHuston

Therese Huston received her B.A. from Carleton College and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. She was also awarded a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship with the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Therese was the Founding Director of CETL (now the Center for Faculty Development) and served as Director from 2004 to 2010. Drawing upon her background in cognitive science, she has spent the past decade helping smart faculty make better decisions about their teaching. Her first book, Teaching What You Don't Know, was published by Harvard University Press (2009).

Quotes

If I could go back to my 28-year-old self and give her one piece of advice, it would be to talk to a content expert.
-Therese Huston

I wish I had offered to take an expert to coffee once a week to brainstorm what I should be teaching.
-Therese Huston

Teaching is more than just knowing every single detail there is to know; teaching is much more about stimulating learning.
-Therese Huston

You have to be thinking, “I’ve got to do something that I know well, but if I’m going to be the best teacher I can be to my students I’ve also got to teach them some things that are perhaps outside of my comfort zone.”
-Therese Huston

No one can be an expert on this material, and what I’m going to be doing is to always look for the most recent, most important topic that I can be teaching you.
-Therese Huston

If I’m doing a good job up here, I’m going to be pushing the boundaries of what I know.
-Therese Huston

Notes

Teaching what you don’t know looks at it from two perspectives:

  1. A subject you don’t know
  2. A group of students you don’t understand

Things unique to people who experience minimal anxiety when teaching outside of their expertise:

  • They had a choice about whether or not to teach the subject
  • They addressed the “imposter issue” with their students
  • They embraced a teaching philosophy that emphasizes the idea: “I don’t need to master the material”

You have just been assigned to teach a course outside of our expertise. What are the most important steps to take in preparing to teach it?

  1. Tell someone (deal with the imposter issue)
  2. Find five syllabi for similar courses online
  3. Get a timer and start practicing preparing for your class in set chunks of time.

Recommendations

Bonni recommends:
Therese’s book: Teaching What you Don’t Know*
Sonos speakers : See on Amazon*

Therese recommends:
Licorice tea: See on Amazon*
Book: Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and the Art of Receiving Feedback*
Book: Difficult Conversations*
Podcast about Book: Coaching for Leaders: Episode 143

Making online courses work

with Doug McKee

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Doug Mckee talks about online courses

In today’s episode, Doug McKee joins me to share about online courses. His Introduction to Econometrics class is taught about as close to an in-person as you can get, but without being bound by geographic barriers.

Guest: Doug McKee

Associate Chair and Senior Lecturer of Economics at Yale
http://economics.yale.edu/people/douglas-mckee

Website: http://dougmckee.net/
Teach Better blog and podcast: http://teachbetter.co/
Personal Blog: www.highvariance.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeachBetterCo

Quotes regarding online courses:

We weren’t lowering the price, but we were lowering the geographic barriers.
–Doug McKee
You don’t need a big film crew, and snazzy digital effects; you just need to be clear, and communicate it well.
–Doug McKee
Students show up, and they don’t have any questions. What I do is come with questions.
–Doug McKee

Links:

Udacity: https://www.udacity.com/
Zoom: http://zoom.us/
Examity: http://examity.com/
Explain Everything iPad app: App Store Link*

Recommendations:

Bonni recommends:
Sherlock: IMDB
Doug recommends:
Poster sessions with students: Read blog post here
CS50 course: Syllabus
TeachBetter podcast: episode with David Malan

Celebrating 75 Episodes

with Dave Stachowiak

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Peter Newbury

On today’s episode, ten prior guests, as well as Dave and I, come together to celebrate 75 episodes of Teaching in Higher Ed. We look back at episodes that have had a big impact on us, take a listener question, and make recommendations.

Guests:

1) Sandie Morgan
The Eight Second Rule – Wait eight seconds to give students a change to respond
https://teachinginhighered.com/6

2) Michelle Miller
Rebecca Campbell’s – Don’t refer to students as children
https://teachinginhighered.com/62

3) Scott Self theproductivenerd.org 
Rebecca Campbell – Normalize help seeking behavior by being transparent with our students
https://teachinginhighered.com/62
Mail App add-on: Act-On

4) Josh Eyler (two coming up both mentioning Cameron Hunt McNabb)
Cameron Hunt McNabb – How to bring more creative assignments to students
https://teachinginhighered.com/24

5) Janine Utell
Cameron Hunt McNabb – Creative and critical thinking and “backwards design”
https://teachinginhighered.com/24

6) Jim Lang
Amy Collier – Not-yet-ness
https://teachinginhighered.com/70
Article in the Chronicle mentioning more of Jim’s recommendations

7) Doug McKee
Zero inbox
https://teachinginhighered.com/56
The weekly review
https://teachinginhighered.com/64
Recommendation: Pinboard for read-it-later service
Pinboard
Pinner App*
Paperback Web App

8) Jeff Hittenberger
Appreciates Bonni’s vulnerability about her own teaching, that she's willing to admit her own mistakes.

Questions from a Listener:

Question: When seeking a professorship, how do you stand out from the crowd? Or, how do you find opportunities to the things you love in other career paths?
Peter Newbury from UCSD, who appeared on Episode 53, answers the question.

Recommendations:

Dave recommends:

Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts:
Guest: Anissa Ramirez
https://teachinginhighered.com/66
Guest: Meg Urey
https://teachinginhighered.com/69

Beth Buelow’s podcast:
The Introvert Entrepreneur Podcast
Episode 93: Kevin Kruse and The 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management

Bonni recommends:

Podcast:
http://verybadwizards.com/episodes/75

Books:
What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain

Cheating Lessons by James M. Lang