Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning
Episodes
Bonus Episode: Reimagining Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI. A Conversation with Columbia University Students.
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 I...
AI Is Not Inevitable. A Conversation with Madisson Whitman
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Madisson Whitman, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Director of Curriculum Development at Columbia...
What Learning Looks Like: A Conversation with Lucy Appert
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Lucy Appert, Senior Director of Teaching Excellence & Innovation at NYU Arts & Science, and host of the new ...
Teaching Pluralism in Higher Education. A Discussion with Mike Whitenton.
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk with Mike Whitenton, Director of Academic Initiatives at Interfaith America (IA). Mike works at the intersection of rhetoric,...
From Shame to Strength: Supporting ADHD Students. A Discussion with Karen Costa
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 11! In our opening episode, we sit down with Karen Costa, a faculty development facilitator specializing in online pedagogy, trauma ...
Are Students Knowledge Consumers or Co-Producers? A discussion on academic co-creation with Robert Gray
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 fund...
“Constitutively Irresponsible”: Why Students Can't Be GenAI's Quality Control. A conversation with Gene Flenady and Robert Sparrow.
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Redefining Academic Integrity in the Age of AI with Phill Dawson
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
880 Eyeballs: Mastering Active Learning in Large Classes with Justin Shaffer
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Can you truly engage students in active learning when facing hundreds of faces in a lecture hall? We explore this challenge with Justin Shaffer, Found...
The Secret to a Connected Classroom? Names Matter. A Discussion with Michelle Miller
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 10! In our opening episode, we sit down with Dr. Michelle Miller—Professor of Psychological Sciences and President’s Distinguish...
The Present Professor with Liz Norell
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the introduction of Liz Norell’s new book, The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching (2024), she opens with two statement...
How to Rebuild a Broken Connection With Students with Kristi Rudenga
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kristi Rudenga, author of The Chronicle of Higher Education article, “How to Rebuild a Broken Connection With Students” (2024), writes that while ...
Trust Moves in the Classroom with Peter Felten, Rachel Forsyth, and Kath Sutherland
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can instructors build trust, community, and a sense of belonging with their students to ultimately improve student learning? In today’s episode,...
A Pedagogy of Kindness with Cate Denial
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 exp...
Passing the Baton: A New Chapter for Dead Ideas
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, we say a bittersweet goodbye to our wonderful podcast host, Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Executive Director C...
How to Help Adjuncts Not Want to Give Up with Kerry O’Grady
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode we examine the systemic issues and dead ideas that underlie the hiring and supporting of contingent faculty. We speak with Kerry ...
Notes from the Field: Dead Ideas from Columbia CTL Educational Developers
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of 4 mini-interviews, we ask Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) staff John Foo, Jamie Kim, Rebecca Petitti, and Corey Pta...
Why is There No Training on How to Teach Graduate Students? with Leonard Cassuto
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we continue this season’s examination of graduate education, now looking into how institutions often overlook the need for preparin...
Teaching Development in Doctoral Education: Let’s Ask the Grad Students!
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we continue the conversation from our last episode on the topic of teaching development in doctoral education—this time from the st...
Teaching Development in Doctoral Education: Where, When, and How?
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning! In our first episode of Season 8, we speak with Drs. Benjamin Rifkin, Rebecca Natow, Nicholas Sal...
Let’s Stop Relying on Biased Teaching Evaluations with Joanna Wolfe
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While there is extensive research on the use of student surveys in the evaluation of teaching, the recommended practices are often not utilized. How d...
Ready to Find Out What Research Tells Us about Grading and Grade Inflation? Buckle Up! with Josh Eyler
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Josh Eyler, author and Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, recently posted a rebuttal on ...
What's Needed for Institution-Wide Improvements in Undergraduate Science Teaching? with Marielena DeSanctis and Cassandra Volpe Horii
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How can we improve teaching AND support all the instructors who teach science courses for undergraduates? Today we discuss this question with Marielen...
From Devaluing to Valuing Teaching: Changes Institutions Can Make with Michelle Miller
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, a question was posed by journalist Beth McMurtrie as to whether or not institutions of higher education truly va...
AI as a Mass Extinction Event for Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning? with Cynthia Alby
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past few months, Cynthia Alby, Professor of Teacher Education at Georgia College, has been focused on developing practical solutions in teach...
Dead Ideas about the Role of Centers for Teaching and Learning and Institutional Change with Mary Wright
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) actually created change in higher education teaching? Have they been able to demonstrate this change? Ho...
The Students Have the Final (and Best!) Word on the Science of Learning
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our final episode of Season 6, we speak with two undergraduate Columbia University students, Emily Glover and Kyle Gordon, who serve as Teaching an...
The Science of Learning in Action with Samantha Garbers and Adam Brown
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How can instructors use research on teaching and learning to create change and tackle challenges in their courses? What can learning analytics tell us...
Dead Ideas in Intercultural Development with Tara Harvey
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tara Harvey, Founder of True North Intercultural, defines Intercultural Competence as “the capacity to communicate and act appropriately, effectivel...
Teaching Students About the Science of Learning with Todd Zakrajsek
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How should we educate students on the science of learning? Does this require systemic change? And do faculty have a moral obligation to teach students...
A Neuroscientist’s Perspective on Student Engagement with Alfredo Spagna
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does engagement require of your students behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively? Why is it essential to get to know your students, and how ca...
How the Science of Learning Can Be Leveraged for Change with Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy, award winning instructors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and authors of the book, Inclusive Teaching: ...
Why Are Dead Ideas So Persistent? A Conversation with John Mahoney
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the large body of research on effective teaching and learning practices, such research is often ignored or unknown by instructors and students...
Rigor and Assessment from the Student Point of View
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How can assessment motivate students to focus on learning as opposed to grades? Can it still be rigorous if it’s not high stakes exams? Today we spe...
Rigor as Skill Building with Larry Jackson
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rigor as Skill Building with Larry JacksonHow can academic rigor be defined and enacted in humanities courses to promote learning and skill building? ...
Rigor as Equity with Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford and Hetty Cunningham
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What does rigor look like in a healthcare setting? How can instructors achieve both excellence and equity in teaching in such a high-stakes area as he...
Rigor as Liberation with Elwin Wu and Kelsey Reeder
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, we approach the topic of rigor from the lens of social work instruction with Elwin Wu, Professor at Columbia University’s Scho...
Rigor as Engagement with David Helfand
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What does rigor mean in a science course? How can it encourage learning and engagement? And how can we support students while maintaining standards of...
Rigor as Inclusive Practice with Jamiella Brooks and Julie McGurk
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is rigor necessary to teach more inclusively? What is a deficit ideology and how does it affect students? In this episode, Jamiella Brooks, director o...
You Can’t Ignore That a Pandemic Happened with John Warner
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
John Warner, educator and author of the Inside Higher Ed blog, “Just Visiting”, wrote in a May 2022 post titled “You Can’t Ignore That a Pande...
Two Years Later: Learning through a Pandemic with Two Columbia Undergraduate Students
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past two years, Columbia students have made multiple transitions between online, hybrid, and in-person learning during the pandemic. In today...
Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning with Susan Hrach
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak with Susan Hrach, author of the book Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning (2021), which “shift...
The Impact of Student Perceptions of Instructor Authority on Resistance to Inclusive Teaching with Chavella Pittman and Thomas Tobin
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak with Drs. Chavella Pittman and Thomas Tobin, authors of the article “Academe Has a Lot to Learn about How Inclusive Teaching Affects ...
Dead Ideas About Anti-Racist Pedagogy with Frank Tuitt
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is anti-racist pedagogy and how is it different than inclusive teaching? Is it a new pedagogy? How can instructors enact anti-racist practices in...
Teaching Development at Its Best: A Graduate Student Reflects
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Columbia University graduate student, Aleksandra Jakubczak, shares her reflections on her journey to become a more informed and confident teacher, and...
The Damaging Myth of the Natural Teacher: The Story Behind The Story with Beth McMurtrie
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In October 2021, Beth McMurtrie, senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, wrote an article titled “The Damaging Myth of the Natural Teac...
Speaking from the Heart: An Instructor and Her Student Reflect
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Speaking from the Heart: An Instructor and Her Student Reflect with Dr. Karen Phillips and Yarin Reindorp Today we speak with Yarin Reindorp, a juni...
The Power of Blended Classrooms with Denise Cruz
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, Denise Cruz, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, worked with the CTL through a Provost’s Innovative Course Design ...
Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Education with Joshua Kim and Edward Maloney
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak with Joshua Kim, Director of Online Programs and Strategy at Dartmouth College, and Edward Maloney, Executive Director of The Center fo...
Convergent Teaching with Aaron Pallas and Anna Neumann
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While much public discourse argues over the value and the future of higher education—whether it really “pays off” or how we can leverage technol...
Dead Ideas in Faculty Evaluation with Kevin Gannon
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, Kevin Gannon, a Professor of History and Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Grand View University...
Why Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice, and Liberation Is the Future of Higher Education: A Conversation with Laura I. Rendón
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak with renowned teaching and learning theorist and thought leader Laura I. Rendón, a Professor Emerita at the University of Texas-San An...
Why Dead Ideas? A Conversation with Host Catherine Ross and Ian Althouse
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 3 of Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning! We begin this season by turning the conversation around: our guest today is Catherine Ross...
One Year Later: Learning in a Pandemic with Two Columbia Undergraduate Students
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In May 2020, two months after Columbia transitioned to fully remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we interviewed four Columbia undergrads abo...
Community in Teaching: A Conversation with Columbia Graduate Students
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In his 1993 article, “Teaching as Community Property: Putting an End to Pedagogical Solitude”, renowned educational psychologist Lee Shulman argue...
What Inclusive Instructors Do with Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell, and Mallory SoRelle
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are small steps instructors can take to teach inclusively? Where, when, and how should they be implemented? In today’s episode, we chat with th...
Online Teaching and Learning with Roxanne Russell
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are the benefits of online education? What misconceptions or “dead ideas” do both instructors and students harbor about teaching and learning...
The Syllabus with William Germano and Kit Nicholls
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Transcript What does the syllabus do? Who is it for? Why is it chronically unread? And how can it be written to foster an environment of trust and co...
Ungrading with Jesse Stommel
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jesse Stommel, co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy and co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical D...
Assessment For and As Learning
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beginning In 2007, Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons (VP&S) began to radically rethink their curriculum and ass...
Bonus Episode with Jenny Davidson: How Much Reading Is Enough?
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode, we continue our conversation with Jenny Davidson, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, to tackle the qu...
Dead Ideas in Grading with Jenny Davidson
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On March 20, 2020, days after Columbia University transitioned to fully remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jenny Davidson, Professor of Eng...
Columbia Undergraduates on Dead Ideas in Learning
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Spring 2020, Columbia students Mae Butler, Haya Ghandour, Jennifer Lee and Kalisa Ndamage served as undergraduate teaching and learning consultants...
Dead Ideas in Science Teaching with Carl Wieman
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Carl Wieman, Nobel laureate and Professor of Physics and Education at Stanford University, has dedicated much of his career to addressing the problems...
Neuromyths in Teaching and Learning with Michelle Miller
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Do we really only use 10% of our brains? Will using technology in my course improve my students’ learning and motivation? Are students nowadays “d...
The Tyranny of Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning with Diane Pike
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In our first episode, Diane Pike, Professor of Sociology at Augsburg University, discusses her motivation to write the article “The Tyranny of Dead ...
Introducing: Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning, a new podcast hosted by CTL executive director, Catherine Ross. Our mission is to encourage instructor...