Teaching, Technology, and Tea (or Maybe Coffee)

A few months ago, I posted a roundup of podcasts that focus on teaching and learning in higher education. This week, I had the great honor to appear as a guest on one of these podcasts! Tea for Teaching is produced by John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare, who run the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the State University of New York at Oswego. Each week, they interview educators and education researchers from around higher ed, discussing innovative and effective practices in teaching and learning. A few weeks ago, they saw the announcement about my new book, Intentional Tech, and they asked me to come on the podcast and talk about teaching with technology. You can listen to the episode here:

Having hosted a podcast for three years now, it was an interesting experience to be on the other side of the microphone! John and Rebecca were wonderful hosts and interviewers, and I really enjoyed our conversation. We touched on all seven teaching principles I explore in the book, and we talked about a few other projects I have cooking, like the Leading Lines and VandyVox podcasts I host. I was also impressed at their podcasting production process, which includes some intense audio editing, transcripts released with the episode (or soon thereafter), and extensive show notes. I’ve been listening to Tea for Teaching for a while, and I knew the result of this process sounded great. It was fun to see behind the curtain, and I’m kind of amazed they do this on a weekly basis!

On my end, I did a fair amount of prep for this interview, the first one I’ve conducted for the new book. I went through the entire finished text and outlined all the teaching principles, stories, and examples I share in the book, all on two pages of paper. Then I highlighted a few key principles and stories I really wanted to share during the interview, ones I thought were particularly engaging and would give a sense of what I’m trying to do with the book. Since the interview was conducted via Zoom, I could keep these notes handy while I talked with John and Rebecca. They ended up asking me about a lot more than I highlighted, so I was glad to have my notes at the ready! It’s surprising how one can write and edit a book, and still go blank when someone asks you about it. I was glad for my cheat sheet.

If you’d like to hear more interviews from Tea for Teaching, you can listen on their website, search for “Tea for Teaching” in your favorite podcast app, or subscribe via RSS. Among their recent episodes, I can recommend #73: The Injustice League with Margaret Schmuhl, #71 Small Teaching Online with Flower Darby, and #65 Retrieval Practice with Michelle Miller.

Thanks again, John and Rebecca, for having me on the podcast, even though I don’t drink tea!