Summer Listens: Upgrade Your Teaching Craft with Pedagogy Podcasts!

For many of us, the summer brings a slowing down of scheduled professional duties. This means we might finally find a moment to reflect on our teaching practice or even pick up a pedagogy book or two. Or, if you’re looking to take a break from reading, another good source of pedagogical insight can be the pedagogy podcast: a relatively new but flourishing genre where educational experts exchange ideas, theories, and recommendations. What better way to affirm our commitment to lifelong learning than to spend some time refreshing our teaching repertoire? Here are some great pedagogy podcasts to check out this summer:

Short Listens: Faculty Focus Live

Featured in TLC’s lunchtime podcast workshops, Faculty Focus Live episodes clock in at around 15-30 minutes and feature curated excerpts (think “greatest hits”) from longer educational webinars and lectures. The series is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Conference and is an extension of the popular Faculty Focus website.

Many recent Faculty Focus Live episodes focus on AI (e.g. episode 82: Streamline Your Teaching and Workload with Artificial Intelligence, or episode 57: Friend or Foe? Using Artificial Intelligence to Empower Your Teaching) but the series covers a wide range of pedagogical topics. Host Tierney King opens each episode by reaffirming her goal to “bring inspiration, energy, and creative strategies for everyday teaching.”

Deep Dives: Teaching in Higher Ed

Hosted by educational leader Bonni Stachowiak, the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast features hour-long, in-depth interviews with experts in post-secondary teaching. The podcast’s 500+ episode archive offers comprehensive coverage of topics from active learning to online teaching to fostering diverse learning environments. Focal themes include educator wellbeing, effective teaching strategies, and teaching technologies. Episodes typically end with a brief introduction to new digital tools designed for enhancing teaching or productivity (or both).

As in the case of Faculty Focus Live, many recent Teaching in Higher Ed episodes focus on generative AI (e.g. episode 510: Expanding Our Collective Understanding of Generative AI, or episode 517: Thinking With and About AI). But listeners tired of the AI trend will find a wealth of other subject matter as well: from hands-on teaching strategies (e.g. episode 513 on using QR codes, or episode 512 on creating engaging micro-lectures) to tips for professional well-being (e.g. episode 519 on fostering self-compassion, or episode 505 or the importance of clarity and boundaries). In the words of host Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed is “the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning” and “share ways to increase our personal productivity, so we can have more peace in our lives and be even more present for our students.”

Podcast Gems: Intentional Teaching and Tea for Teaching

The Intentional Teaching podcast is hosted by Derek Bruff, author of Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments (2009) and Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching (2019). Bruff and his guests cover a range of topics related to teaching pedagogy in higher education, inviting listeners to “become more intentional in how you teach and how you develop as an educator over time”.

Each episode of the Tea for Teaching opens with the hosts (economist John Kane and graphic designer Rebecca Mushtare) and guests sharing what tea they will be drinking during the conversation. This warm opening sets the tone for the ensuing “informal discussion of innovative and effective practices in teaching and learning,” featuring a range of topics and educational experts.

Whether you’re folding laundry, taking a road trip, or just chilling on the stoop, consider adding pedagogy podcasts to your summer!