The Professor Podcast with Ruth and Claire: Recent Episodes
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Ruth and Claire, university professors, meet to reflect on their teaching practices, research, service and staying sane. They are tenure track faculty members in the sciences working at a primarily undergraduate institution in California. The purpose of the podcast is reflection. Each week they have a particular topic and bring something that is working and something they are working on to discuss.
Today Professor Shahir Rizk and Ph.D. Candidate Maggie Fink join us to discuss their thoughts on effectively communicating science. Our conversation is wide-ranging, and goes through fostering fascination, treating people with dignity, listening (instead of trying to change minds), telling stories, and deciding what you want people to leave the room with.
Shahir and Maggie developed and host a science communication workshop and they are also hard at work on an upcoming popular science book on proteins that they are signed to publish with Harvard press. Their website is foldingmoonlight.com.
You know that thing you want to do, that doesn't quite seem doable? Maybe it’s outside your expertise, or is a departure from what people expect from you. Maybe you’re not sure you can even do it. I bet you can.
Claire recently was co-chief scientist of a two-week research cruise off the coasts of Oregon and California. In this episode, Ruth asks Claire about her experience. Pre-cruise, Claire was really nervous and had many fears of failure, but once there, she really enjoyed the leadership role and being fully immersed in the collaborative research project. She also found, to her surprise, that being a leader on a ship was very similar to leading a class: lo and behold, teaching and research are intertwined.
An empowering lesson from the cruise: with time to focus on them, things that seem impossibly hard are often completely doable.
Are you doing a big project? What tips do you have? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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You know what it is - that type of studying that you wish all your students would do more. How can we put that into our assignments?
Claire is excited about her homework philosophy that 1) has very clear goals laid out for students, and 2) provides explicit scaffolding for how to get there, with 3) loads of practice problems. However, there are aspects of her assignment that don’t encourage the students to make full use of the scaffolding and knowledge of the goal. Here she and Ruth brainstorm solutions to that.
It’s really important to Ruth for the students to practice laying out the problem and have a system for approaching new problems. So she has a smaller number of problems assigned, she grades for methodology, and she supplements that with suggesting other problems from the book for even more practice. However, this isn’t scalable to large classes, so she and Claire brainstorm solutions to that.
They refer to Specifications Grading, which they discuss in detail in Episode 124.
What do you like in homework assignments? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Claire is familiar with participating in research cruises, but this time she is co-chief scientist and is working to make the cruise as a whole successful, and not just her own piece. Ruth is familiar with helping to organize events, but now is in charge of organizing a large event and juggling all the pieces.
Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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“Is this going to be on the test?”
Some classes or programs end with a standardized test. Is teaching to the test good or bad?
Claire reflects on her high school and college classes and thinks that teaching to the test is okay as long as it’s clear upfront. Ruth wonders about designing better assessments so that there’s no downside to “teaching to the test.”
Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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What makes us feel comfortable offering and accepting input in communication? This episode, Ruth and Claire talk about inviting contributions: what helps people contribute to the best of their abilities and feel empowered to contribute?
Claire is reflecting on positive interactions with an especially calm and non-judgemental colleague. Ruth finds when questions come from genuine curiosity she feels safer to contribute.
Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Adjunct, Assistant, Associate: what’s the difference?
Today Claire and Ruth revisit the topic of job applications and discuss the different professor roles. They discuss the difference between tenure line professor positions (assistant, associate, full) and non-tenure line positions (adjunct, visiting), focusing on US definitions. They also discuss different types of institutions and how the role of the tenure line professor - and thus what makes a strong tenure line application package - varies between them.
Also, a special invitation - if you are in the hunt for a tenure line position and would like another set of eyes on your application materials, we would be glad to give our two cents!
We also refer to our previous episode on Getting a Job: Episode 14, available here: https://professorpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/14-getting-a-job
Does your institution have any differences from what we covered? Is there anything we missed?
Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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“The secret to success by achieving more with less.”
The 80/20 principle is that a relatively small amount of your effort (~20% of it) leads to the vast majority of your results (~80% of them). This major imbalance is the case whether we’re talking about effort on writing a paper, embracing happiness, doing labwork, teaching a class, or virtually anything else.
Given that 20% of effort or time is leading to most of the output, we can multiply our progress with significantly less effort or time by identifying and expanding that highly effective 20% iteratively.
A key detail: the 80/20 principle does not mean you should stop when you reach 80% of your results. (Unless you want to!) It’s not even saying that the first 80% of a task is easy and the last 20% is hard. Rather, it’s saying that out of all the things that you do toward a particular goal/project/activity, 20% of them are much more effective. By concentrating on those really effective things, we can unlock huge potential to do more with less.
Ruth and Claire discuss their experience with the 80/20 principle. Ruth is getting more comfortable with identifying times when ‘good enough is good enough’ but is wondering how to know when the extra push is worth it. Claire identifies a few aspects of her job that she really values and a few that she spends a lot of time on but doesn’t value as much. She considers how to shift her effort around accordingly.
This episode is based on The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less, by Richard Koch.
What are your thoughts on effective effort? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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What makes a meeting work? Today Claire and Ruth discuss meeting-craft. Claire likes inviting people who haven’t said anything yet to share their ideas, and she appreciates good time keeping. She is wondering about how to best contribute to meetings when she is not the meeting leader. Ruth is currently observing and appreciating the craft of effective meetings and notices that having a clear goal for each meeting helps make it more effective. She wants to do more preparation for meetings.
What are your favorite techniques (or pet peeves!) with meetings?
Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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The muse of inspiration…
Claire curates her surroundings to be conducive for a good mindset. She also realizes that when she says, “wow, this person is really inspiring,” it is usually when someone is doing what she wants to do but hasn’t quite figured out how to do yet.
Ruth is thinking about the difference between inspiring and impressing students. She is feeling inspired by a colleague to push people to help them fulfill their potential. Ruth also finds that authenticity really speaks to her and she hopes to bring more authenticity to her interactions.
What do you find inspiring? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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How is Ruth settling into her new job?
Ruth tells us about her new role in a programme that supports equity of access to higher education in STEM fields. She is inspired and excited, but a little terrified of the event planning involved.
Have you thought about a career move? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Have you ever had an epiphany… and then promptly forgot it?
Sometimes epiphanies - just like academic content! - need to be relearned a few times before they stick. Today Ruth and Claire talk about techniques for keeping their lessons learned.
Claire keeps and reviews a list of ideas that are helpful, discarding the ones that no longer resonate. Ruth is journaling every night and as part of her practice is rereading a random page every night.
Do you have a topic idea? A thought about relearning things? A question you’d like to hear us discuss? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Claire and Ruth have written many recommendation letters but feel inexperienced with “being a reference.” Claire finds it helpful to prepare some notes on key points she wants to share before any phone calls with the potential employer, a practice that Ruth would like to adopt. Ruth finds it best to maintain clear boundaries with students about notice required for references. They are reflecting on how best to translate positive attributes in an academic recommendation to be relevant for employers.
How do you provide references? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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So much data! How do we keep track of it?
Claire’s data system is organized at the beginning and end (data collection and publication), but is wild and free in the middle (exploring and interpreting).
Ruth would love to implement some of the skills of her research students in recording her system in readme files. She envisions a master filing system with excellent naming that anyone could pick up and follow.
How do you organize your data? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Life lessons from an MRI tube: Ruth's recent success combating her overwhelm. She also talks about overwhelm at her new job - thankfully it won’t be new forever!
To avoid overwhelm, Claire likes having a list of helpful phrases to help remind her of her preferred mindset. When she does get overwhelmed, she thinks it might be helpful to step back in order to gain more context about her problems.
How do you tackle overwhelm? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Memorization - Is it outdated? Or, did we throw the baby out with the bathwater?
In this episode we talk about whether we want to encourage memorization for exams or whether we want to avoid testing for it.
Ruth just gave her first exam with a provided equation sheet, and she’s not sure that she liked it. During exams, Claire usually has her students use notecards on which they have written anything they like including relevant equations. Ruth is coming around to thinking memorization is useful, and Claire is coming around to the concept of providing an equation sheet on exams.
Ultimately Ruth and Claire both teach some information that they want the students to have memorized and some information that they think it’s perfectly fine for the students to look up so long as they can find it and know how to use it.
How does memorization apply in your field? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Claire is at the halfway point of her sabbatical! She takes us through what she has learned from the experience so far.
She completely blows Ruth’s mind with her thoughts about overwhelm: despite how it seems, feelings of overwhelm are actually not dependent to the things on the calendar and the to-do list.
She’s learning to be more flexible about what she spends her time on: to follow what is exciting and promising (rather than stay chained to something that seemed like a good idea at one point).
Sabbatical has also reminded Claire that she loves teaching and working with undergraduates.
What did you learn on a sabbatical? What do you think of overwhelm? What do you think about following what is exciting and promising? Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Ralph picks an old episode to revisit for our holiday review: ‘Environmental Justice in Science Courses: Interview with Professor Joel Destino’. Ralph was excited to hear about connecting environmental justice to the chemistry curriculum.
Here we revisit the first half of the interview. To hear the rest, go to episode 123: https://professorpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/joel?t=22m20s
Share your thoughts with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Ruth and Claire also mention Episode 32: Life Outside Being a Professor, where Ruth almost steals a chicken, and Episode 69: Class Projects, where in addition to discussing class projects, they discuss whether otters do or do not indeed have whiskers. Is that urgent?
Do you have something to say about otters? Share your experiences with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Claire picks an old episode to revisit for our holiday review: ‘the urge to appear busy’. Potential new year’s resolution: put down the clipboard!
Ruth and Claire mention “essentialism” aka, radically saying “no” to most things in order to dedicate your time and energy to the most important things. This concept is from Greg McKeown’s excellent book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, which Ruth and Claire discussed on Episode 7: Essentialism.
Do you feel pressured to appear busy? Share your experience with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Up to now, the largest class Ruth ever taught was seventy students, and this semester she taught a class of three hundred and fifty! Ruth shares the ups and downs of her first experience teaching a large class.
Do you have any large lecture stories? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Who knew professors organize so many events? Claire finds that spreading out event planning tasks based on strengths and interests is more effective than making people take turns. Ruth is reminding herself that events are fun and energizing even though she always resists them at first. She wonders how to juggle departmental preconceptions about how an event should be and how she wants to organize it.
Do you have any fun/educational/relatable department event stories? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Our new Associate Dean - and former guest co-host of several episodes of the podcast - Bori Mazzag talks with us about her new position. She describes the role, what she likes about it, challenges, and what advice she has for faculty interested in pursuing similar administrative roles.
We mention the transition that our university is going through: earlier this year, Humboldt State University became Cal Poly Humboldt, the third polytechnic university in the California State University system, along with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. This transition brings new opportunities for growth and changes to our university, and Bori has been involved with many aspects of this work.
Have you recently started an administrative role? Do you have aspirations to go in that direction? Share your thoughts and experience with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Claire recently gave her first seminar at another university. She learned to think more broadly about who her audience is, and also realized that the main purpose of seminars might actually be the budding collaborations that form from interactions throughout the day, rather than the seminar itself. Ruth finds that presenting to an audience that she doesn’t know can be liberating. Ruth is working on being less stressed about giving seminars to the public - she fears that questions from a general audience are more likely to be outside her expertise.
Claire’s “folkestral rock” band, The Oyster Baes, released their debut album, Pearls. Listen anywhere, including on bandcamp.
Do you have any fun/educational/relatable seminar stories? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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In this episode we chat to David Zeitz, a past student of both Claire and Ruth at Cal Poly Humboldt. David shares his experience of applying for graduate school and how he is settling into his new campus.
Do you have any advice for professors supporting graduate school applications? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Creating a classroom environment that fosters collaboration.
Claire celebrates the collaborative spirit in her laboratory classes and would like to infuse her lectures with that same energy. Ruth finds setting the tone early for interactions is helpful, and she wonders if she should prescribe more structure in groupwork.
Do you have any tips for fostering collaboration? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Empowering students to go from reluctant passengers to active participants in their education.
Claire helps students identify the real issue behind their excuses and remember why they are taking the class to begin with. Ruth finds that when students actually engage with the work they end up feeling accomplished, which enables future confidence.
Do you have any tips for empowering students? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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You have thoughtfully and intentionally crafted your to do list - but which task to do first? And why is it such a tough decision?
Ruth points out that it’s easy to choose what to do when there’s an impending deadline like a lecture you’re giving tomorrow but, without such obvious prioritization, how do we pick the most important thing to do? Do we impose deadlines? Pick a task and stick to it? Claire has an epiphany: when she’s struggling to choose between tasks it’s because she knows which one is most important, but also finds herself resisting doing it. Thus, addressing that resistance becomes the first priority.
Do you have any tips for choosing what to do? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Join us as we share embarrassing stories of student Ruth and student Claire! Some are surprising (Claire’s) and some are less so (Ruth’s).
Claire and Ruth share some of the struggles they faced as students and the steps they now take to support students facing similar challenges.
Do you have any funny stories from when you were a student? Share them with us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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You know those extra annoying emails? Why did they send the email? What do they want us to do? You know the ones. How can we be sure our emails aren’t perceived that way?
Claire really appreciates when an email contains a clear request, so she pauses before writing emails to decide what she actually wants from the recipient. Ruth finds it helpful to include all of the relevant information in an email (links, times, dates, locations, etc), even if it is repetition. She is working on making sure her emails are actionable.
What are your email pet peeves? Let us know at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Does scaffolding help students master material by adding structure? Or is it too much hand holding and too little inquiry based learning?
Claire constructs assignments with scaffolding built in: lots of questions that slowly build in difficulty to help students develop their skills linearly. This works well for quantitative content, but she wonders about how to do this with conceptual material. Ruth starts a semester by demonstrating exact steps for problem solving, which helps the students master problem solving, but she wonders if this approach stifles student creativity.
What do you think about instructional scaffolding? Or about what Claire should call her “activities-formerly-known-as-worksheets”? Let us know at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
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Specifications Based Grading redefines the relationship between grades and learning outcomes. Claire was inspired by Linda Nilson, who has written the seminal book on the topic with the subtitle, “Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students and Saving Faculty Time.” With Specifications Based Grading, students are given clearly defined learning outcomes and transparency about how to earn each letter grade.
There are three parts to specs grading that can be used together or separately: 1) a pass/fail scale for each assignment, 2) virtual ‘tokens’ that students can use for redoing assignments or submitting late work, 3) assignments are organized in bundles and completion of bundles determines final letter grades. Your students won’t freak out. Remember, this is about “Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students and Saving Faculty Time”!
Ruth’s mind was blown and Claire is going to report back in the future about how it goes for her in practice.
Claire mentions: Specifications Grading: Linda B. Nilson
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“So much of polarization is oversimplification of complex information” – Joel Destino
Joel, an Assistant Professor of Analytical Chemistry at Creighton University, tells us how he incorporates environmental and social justice topics into his core science classes. Rather than avoiding such potentially touchy topics, he utilizes his passion and students’ interests in them to more deeply connect students with the subject matter.
ACS Symposium Book Chapter with examples of the modules Joel tells us about.
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It can be tempting to walk around busily, casually telling anyone who will listen how much is on our plate, perhaps while scribbling things down on official looking clipboards. Claire knows that the urge to appear busy is detrimental to her well being, and resists it. She was worried that enjoying validation for her hard work might lead her to try and appear busy. Ruth is sure that she wants to be calm and present with students and colleagues but feels anxious that she is not going to appear to be working hard enough. Both want to resist the temptation to pick up a clipboard!
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Ruth and Claire review some of the administrative tasks that are part of their job. Ruth shares her ongoing struggles with photocopying. Claire, in particular, notes the time taken filling out forms. Both Claire and Ruth feel that setting aside sufficient time for administrative tasks is crucial for stress management and effectiveness!
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Claire’s students were excited to have a bonding adventure with their classmates before graduation. Ruth believes in the power of shared enterprise in building community, and so likes to have activities such as knitting for people to do together. Claire is wondering about creating a communal bonding experience, especially for graduating seniors. Ruth is working on building community for her online students.
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Claire is happy to employ fads that support her fundamental teaching values. For example, active learning supports her belief that engagement with the material is crucial. However, flipping a classroom does not work with her teaching goals. Ruth has identified what feels fundamental to her teaching: organization and emotional safety. She loves fads but feels strongly that any new approach should not cause student anxiety.
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Claire has found it very helpful to have another faculty member’s assignments and course materials to start with and then make her own, even if she ends up overhauling the course entirely. Similarly, Ruth finds having a template for a class is helpful whether you adopt it or not. Claire reminds us (and herself!) that it is normal to find using new materials difficult, whether you’ve designed them or not. Ruth struggles when she doesn’t commit to one approach.
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Claire makes it clear where each topic in class and homework can be found in the textbook. She finds it really helps students when they read the book and wonders about assignments to encourage that. Ruth has developed reading assignments to encourage students to engage with the book. She wonders how effective her reading assignments really are.
Ruth mentioned Just in Time Teaching
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Claire draws on her experience with fiction writing feedback to share with students that step one of feedback processing is to say thank you. Ruth is a fan of the compliment sandwich when giving feedback. Claire is working on providing students with the tools to use constructive criticism. Ruth wants to work on normalizing the feedback process.
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Ruth shares her experience of giving group exams. She uses them as an opportunity for students to slightly improve their grade while working together with their group to revise the mistakes on their tests. It works wonders! Students really engage with the material and much improve their understanding of the material.
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Ruth and Claire discuss helping students get the most out of internships. Ruth and Claire both want to remind students that they aren’t expected to know much about the research or the company before they start. Ruth suggests saying “yes” to all opportunities in order to maximize learning. Claire suggests asking questions. Ruth wonders about when to switch to another research group and when to stick it out. Claire wonders about the best way to help students prepare for internships - would an end-of-semester workshop be helpful?
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Claire just tried out self-grading, and it was phenomenal! Students interacted more with the material, had lively discussions about the content, and appeared more engaged. Several students spontaneously told Claire they liked the format. All that AND the grading only took a fraction of the time?! Claire is sold.
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Ruth and Claire discuss academic resource accommodations. Ruth has learned to go through official resource center channels. Claire finds it helpful to ask resource center staff for clarifications. Ruth is working on saying ‘no’ to unreasonable accommodations. Claire is working on making images of handwritten notes accessible.
Claire mentioned Life on the Tenure Track, by James M. Lang
Ruth and Claire discuss opportunities for students to share their research. Claire finds that the on-campus research poster session is an excellent opportunity for students at all levels of experience. Ruth found it helpful to assign managerial jobs to a student in the preparation of a poster or paper. Claire is working on balancing the benefits of dissemination with the time away from research needed for preparation. Ruth is working on setting expectations early in the process.
Ruth and Claire mentioned NCUR and AJUR
Ruth and Claire discuss talking about grades with students. Ruth has found it helpful to discuss grade changes once students have written a description of the review request. Claire has found redirecting conversations from grades to the content shifts the focus back to the purpose of the exam. Ruth is working on setting expectations about partial credit. Claire is thinking about setting students on a good trajectory when they are in danger of failing.
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Ruth and Claire discuss the return to being physically present in the classroom. Claire and Ruth are delighted to be teaching face to face, the immediate feedback of facial expressions, the informal connection opportunities and, of course, the eavesdropping! Claire is working on reestablishing norms of physically attending labs. Ruth is working on reversing the expectation of total flexibility.
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Claire likes to be physically present when onboarding new students to her research group. She wonders how to make individual projects meaningful. Ruth gives a research talk for students interested in joining the group. She also wants to hold students accountable for reading papers.
Claire mentioned: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.
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Is traditional lecturing really so bad? Ruth and Claire discuss a 2019 article that argues it’s not. They both choose to do a combination of more traditional lecturing (“sage on the stage”) and student-led active learning in their classes. Claire is reassured that there are demonstrated benefits to sage on the stage. Ruth feels that building trust is crucial for any active learning exercises. Ruth is working on finding the balance between lecture styles. Claire has been inspired by Professor Gilbert Strang’s advice about how to work through content at a speed understandable to a new student.
Article discussed: Back from “guide on the side” to “sage on the stage”? Effects of teacher-guided and student-activating teaching methods on student learning in higher education.
Claire mentioned this interview with math Professor Gilbert Strang at MIT on his lecturing style.
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Claire and Ruth discuss supporting students doing oral presentations. Acknowledging the difficulty of presenting, Claire is generous with her grading and uses a rubric for feedback. She wonders how to share her presentation tips without being overwhelming. Ruth finds having frequent low stakes assignments helps students overcome anxiety. She also wants to convince students to practice their presentations.
Ruth mentioned: You are Good podcast
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As some of us return to work on campus, Claire and Ruth discuss spending time with colleagues. Ruth remembers how effective working in a group can be. She wants to find the balance between the efficiency of working from home with the benefits of collegial interactions. Claire has been excited to hear about other teaching approaches from colleagues. She is still finding her feet with resuming face-to-face communication.
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While the STEM classes that Claire and Ruth teach are very math heavy, lab reports and reflection assignments have a written component. Claire finds that a rubric can be a powerful tool for feedback. She is wondering about implementing peer reviews as a stage in the writing process. Ruth sees the benefit of developing student writing skills but lacks confidence in her own writing and ability to teach it.
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Ruth and Claire have different ways of encouraging attendance in their classes. Claire does not assign attendance points and instead attempts to make classes engaging and fun. Ruth has had attendance points for years but recognizes challenges. What does it mean to attend? Is she being paternalistic?
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Bells and whistles are things we can add to our classes that are beyond the bare essentials. But which are worth the added effort and class time? Ruth feels good about some extra assignments she developed to help students feel welcome in her class. Claire developed a set of flashcards that students quizzed each other with during class time. Ruth wonders whether she needs to change the bells and whistles for a different demographic of students next semester. Claire is fine tuning her final project to maximize student engagement.
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In their 100th episode, Ruth and Claire discuss taking projects one step at a time. Claire notes that having undergraduate research broken into weekly tasks adds up to getting good research over the semester. Claire would like to apply one piece at a time to writing papers.
Ruth finds that only looking at the next step soothes her anxiety. Ruth is struggling with switching from planning to action.
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After experimenting with very loose deadlines, Ruth is convinced they don’t work for her. Claire’s late policy includes two late passes, no excuses needed (or accepted). Ruth is excited about developing a clear late policy. Claire is working on advising lagging students on how to catch up, and, if necessary, how to withdraw.
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Ruth was inspired by a colleague to think positively about students making a change of major. Claire uses advising meetings to check in with struggling students to see if they need a different strategy or a change of major. Ruth is wary of crushing dreams by suggesting people change majors. Claire wonders how to help students who really want to continue with their major but are struggling with it.
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Mathematics professor Bori Mazzag joins Claire to talk about capstone projects. Bori’s department has just finished a major curriculum overhaul that included designing a new project-based capstone course. She is excited about the students being able to work on teams to develop their own projects, and she’s wondering how to handle grading when the projects have different levels of difficulty/risk. Claire’s department has a very different format for their capstone course: a seminar where seniors delve into a research paper of interest and present a full 40 minute seminar to the department. Claire likes that this is a big deal for the students: completing it often boosts their confidence in their abilities and is something they can be proud of. She is wondering about how to help a few students for whom the project gets too overwhelming.
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Claire enjoyed advising students about proposals for a specific NSF call. Ruth now makes sure to send opportunities to the entire class rather than relying only on individual conversations. Claire is working on advising students on other career pathways. Ruth wants to make connections with programmes to find out specifics about what they are looking for in students.
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Physics professor C.D. Hoyle joins Claire to talk about sabbaticals. Sabbaticals are dedicated time to focus on a particular project and bring the benefits back to the university. C.D. and Claire chat about their sabbaticals and plans for future ones. C.D. has done two sabbaticals (though the most recent was cut short with the pandemic!), and Claire is excited to take her first sabbatical next year! They talk about planning collaborations, finding housing, and navigating funding.
C.D. mentioned sabbaticalhomes.com.
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Claire checks in to find out what Ruth has been up to on her leave of absence. Ruth is still very sentimental about Ireland! Ruth fills us in on her big move to Ireland, her struggles and successes.
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University of Wisconsin Instrumentation Scientist Blaise Thompson joins Claire to talk about research collaboration. Blaise likes collaborations with people with different areas of expertise. Claire describes the benefits of collaborations between R1 and PUI universities, including the benefits to the students involved with the collaboration. Blaise is working on how to finish projects when everyone has it as a non-priority item on their to do list. Claire is working on collaborations where one member of the team is the only contributor for a significant portion of the project - how to keep the collaboration balanced and benefiting everyone?
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Ralph joins Claire to talk about having a happy and productive workflow. Ralph can focus better on the main thing he wants to work on when he also has scheduled time for doing other things that day. They talk about the difference between getting tasks done and spending time being creative, and they also talk about intentionality and to do lists. Claire has found it helpful to remind herself that she has chosen to do the thing she is doing, and to be confident in the decision to focus on it. She is working on getting back on track quickly when she loses her happy and productive workflow: she has an inspiring book on her desk that she dips into when feeling overwhelmed. Ralph is working on patience: it’s ok that everything wasn’t done yesterday.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Bori joins Claire to talk about being a good department member. Bori has special experience having been chair of her department up until recently. She thinks her department is doing very well with collegiality and respecting each other professionally. She wonders about encouraging social connection and community as well. Would that help the department maintain cohesion across their curriculum? Claire finds that informal interactions within her department add up to folks generally getting along and feeling comfortable speaking up. She is working on promoting a positive tone in the department discourse. While everyone is working on improvements to the department, we must be proud of the things we do well.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Claire mentioned The Lives of Christopher Chant, by Diana Wynne Jones
Blaise joins Claire as a special guest host to talk about deep work. Deep work is when we focus on one thing and get immersed in it. Blaise has been having success blocking out time for deep work, putting that on his calendar, and not being afraid to postpone little tasks in favor of working on larger ones. Claire likes doing things to finish them and being explicit and intentional about what she is working on. Blaise is working on not having a scarcity mindset about the time available to work on projects. Claire is working on being able to settle into deep work within a scheduled day.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Blaise mentioned Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport: https://www.calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
Today chemistry postdoc and Professor Podcast listener Darien Morrow continues to interview Claire about the broad topic of the intersection between teaching and research. In the first half of the interview last week, Darien asked Claire about the transition from a research focused position in graduate school to a teaching focused position as a faculty member, and we hear about what aspects of that transition were striking for Claire. This week, Darien asks Claire about how her teaching and research influence each other, and they talk about conducting research with only undergraduate student researchers. They finish the interview talking about teaching philosophies.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast, https://www.zazzle.com/the_professor_podcast_with_ruth_and_claire_mug-168972842051617931
Today chemistry postdoc and Professor Podcast listener Darien Morrow interviews Claire about the broad topic of the intersection between teaching and research. In the first half of the interview, Darien asks Claire about the transition from a research focused position in graduate school to a teaching focused position as a faculty member, and we hear about what aspects of that transition were striking for Claire. In the second half of the interview (next week’s episode!), Darien asks Claire about how her teaching and research influence each other, and they talk about conducting research with undergraduate student researchers. They finish the interview talking about teaching philosophies.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Will joins Claire as a special guest host to talk about homework. Will has well vetted homework assignments that he uses year after year. Claire likes giving her students a choice in which problems they do for their homework assignment, and grades on attempting problems rather than on accuracy of final answer. Will is figuring out whether to assign questions only after all the content has been given or simultaneously, and also is considering how much collaboration is too much collaboration. Claire is wondering whether to provide worked out solutions to her homework problems after they are due.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Bori joins Claire as a special guest host to talk about hyflex classes: classes that have both virtual and face-to-face students in the same class period. Bori just finished her first week of hyflex classes and got the technology working! Claire’s hyflex laboratory class worked when groups had at least one member that was face-to-face and could show their virtual groupmates the equipment. Bori is working on how to have a more interactive, active learning style class within a hyflex setting. Claire is working on helping the virtual students feel like full participants.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Show producer and Claire’s husband Ralph joins Claire as special guest co-host to talk about spouses of professors. Ralph has been able to arrange his own schedule to fit with the academic calendar, which is great for fully taking advantage of breaks as a couple. Plus, he’s found that semesters are a good length of time for him to focus on a particular project. Claire finds it very helpful to talk through all aspects of her job with Ralph, from teaching and research, to running effective meetings. Ralph and Claire are both working on planning a sabbatical! And Claire is working on being creative and humble enough to take some things that Ralph has found helpful as a musician and apply them to her work as a professor.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Blaise joins Claire as special guest co-host to talk about delegating to undergraduate workers. Blaise has a successful system for casting a wide net while hiring, and Claire is excited when the undergraduates achieve independence in their work. Blaise is working on providing a meaningful experience for his undergraduate employees even when they might not see a project to a successful ending. Claire is working on fostering independence in her workers.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Today Claire talks with Dale Oliver, professor of mathematics and former dean and associate dean. Dale describes the roles of deans and what surprised and motivated him as dean. He also talks about how he got the positions. Spoiler: it involved saying ‘Yes’ to opportunities and leadership rolls. For Dale, the time in administrative roles strengthened his faith in academia. He is inspired by the faculty and staff that comprise the institution and who share his commitment to higher ed.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast, https://www.zazzle.com/the_professor_podcast_with_ruth_and_claire_mug-168972842051617931
Today Claire talks with Professor C.D. Hoyle, professor of physics, about securing funding and successfully conducting research with undergraduate students. They cover many angles, including tips from C.D. to maintain NSF funding, how to select and train research students, and fostering community in the research lab. C.D. would like to encourage his students to log their lab work more, and is also working on emphasizing the importance of finishing a project by writing short, publishable articles.
We have Professor Podcast mugs!!! Drink tea with us :) https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast, https://www.zazzle.com/the_professor_podcast_with_ruth_and_claire_mug-168972842051617931
C.D. mentions some journals where completed pieces of undergraduate research can be published before the whole project is completed: Journal of Undergraduate Reports in Physics, and the Journal of Undergraduate Research.
Ruth is taking a leave of absence from her professor job! And, also importantly, from this podcast. Here we discuss her motivations for taking the leave of absence, how leaves of absence work, and what’s working for her as well as what’s challenging for her about this process. We hope she’ll be able to come back to the podcast soon. In the meantime, Claire and Ralph will continue to produce and release episodes of The Professor Podcast with Ruth and Claire, so stay tuned!
Today Ruth and Claire talk with Ben Van Dusen and Jayson Nissen who run the platform Learning About STEM Student Outcomes (LASSO). LASSO is an online tool for educators to assess their students for either content knowledge or class climate. Perks include not taking up class time, easily visualizing the results, and being able to compare with other classes at similar universities.
More info: stemequity.net, @STEMEquityEd, facebook.com/stemequity, and learningassistantalliance.org. Also see https://www.facebook.com/Circle-Limit-Designs-280829378743695 for Ben’s awesome fractal artwork.
Ruth and Claire reflect on how they start the semester by sharing one thing that is working and one thing they are working on. Claire’s thing that is working is making her syllabus and canvas page early, like really early. Ruth’s thing that is working was an introduction assignment before the first day. Claire is working on her system for scheduling office hours, how to decide? Ruth was fretting about her first day and establishing the tone.
Send us your thoughts on starting the semester, potential future topics and celebrity professors: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire discuss pre-semester communication. Ruth likes to send an email setting expectations about course workload and other details, particularly with virtual classes. Claire sends out an email with info on the textbook so students can get it earlier (and cheaper!), and she sends information about how to enroll in online homework in advance. Claire is thinking about giving a list of which topics from prereqs her course will build on. Ruth is working on the tone of emails: how can she be friendly without using too many exclamation points or sunshine emojis? :-D
Ruth and Claire discuss prereqs and background content. Claire has success capitalizing on student enthusiasm in the first two weeks of class by bringing up content that will be used again and again. Claire is working on making a “homework zero” that covers relevant prereq material. Ruth goes through a math review early in the semester that serves students of varying confidence levels. Ruth wants to bring up specifics from previous class syllabi to remind students that they have, in fact, seen this content before.
Ruth mentioned Summit-P: https://www.summit-p.com/. Claire mentioned: Teach Better, Save Time, and Have More Fun: https://teachbettersavetime.wordpress.com/
This episode Ruth and Claire begin a series on job etymology to clarify the roles of the different players in academia. The first installment is on lecturers. Ruth gained much teaching experience in her previous position as a lecturer. Claire feels it is important to ensure fair compensation when lecturers work on projects. Ruth wants to make professional development more accessible for lecturers. Claire is excited to learn more from the lecturers in her department.
Ruth and Claire discuss making exceptions in class requirements for students. Examples include taking overlapping classes, taking too many units and skipping prereqs. Ruth finds it helps to be flexible and consider each case individually. Claire is very specific about the workload required by the student to make the exception work. Ruth is working on turning down student requests for exceptions. Claire is working on conveying the message that taking more units is not a successful approach.
Ruth and Claire want to focus on one thing at a time. Claire sets intentions to do only one thing at a time during the summer. She wants to hold on to that intention during the semester. Ruth knows that doing one thing at a time works for her, but what should she do when life situations distract her?
Ruth and Claire discuss encouraging students. Ruth recognizes that she often needs extra encouragement and reassurance and this helps her be more empathetic towards her students. Claire reminds students who don’t recognise their successes by recalling evidence of their achievements. Ruth is working on maintaining boundaries necessary in leadership while providing encouragement. Claire is considering implementing a ‘no self deprecation’ policy and inviting students to ‘re-phrase’.
Ruth mentioned: Maintenance Phase and You’re wrong about.
Ruth and Claire just got tenure! Ruth appreciated the level of detail in her review letters. In her application, Claire carefully matched her materials to the tenure review criteria. Ruth wants to help other people going through the tenure process. Claire is excited to have more freedom for experimentation in her teaching and research.
Ruth has changed her mind and now believes that you can connect with students online. Claire finds that synchronous video chat lectures using Gathertown worked well for her. Ruth wants to better facilitate the gathering of students outside of class to work on group projects. Claire is working on student engagement and interaction during lecture time.
Ruth mentioned: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Claire mentioned: Gathertown
Ruth and Claire discuss Assigning Letter Grades. Claire appreciates grade flexibility and assigns as many A’s, B’s, etc. as she wants with no quotas. Ruth does not assign C-minuses. Claire is working on managing grade inflation. Ruth is working on weighting grades for effort versus understanding.
Claire mentioned: Jen Sincero: You are a Badass
Claire has lots of projects in her class and finds they give students opportunities to bloom. She is wondering about how to enhance student collaboration on project work. Ruth knows that projects really have a positive impact on student learning but how can you cover all the material when projects take more time?
Ruth and Claire discuss Clubs. Ruth has had success with creating spaces for students to gather. She is wondering about gaining a critical mass to have clubs be sustainable over time. Claire is excited about their department club which is a very energetic, informative and fosters community. She wants to be conscious about sharing information about opportunities with them.
Claire mentioned her and Ralph's brand new music release: https://open.spotify.com/album/2huB3xk50lvuQGlnzH9b17?si=7HWqXOtpRPSGVky6GNjlNA Here's a review of the first song: alt77.com/ralphclaire-and-fairhazel-release-brand-new-singles
Ruth and Claire discuss Derek Sivers’ Hell Yeah or No. Claire has had recent decision making success by asking herself this question. Ruth finds that she is turning things down from necessity but wants to say no before the point of exhaustion. Claire is wondering what constitutes a “Hell Yes” for her because sometimes she has too many!
Ruth and Claire discuss ending the semester. Claire makes her syllabus for next semester during finals week and loves it. Ruth is not working with research students this summer and is optimistic about having a break. Claire likes to prepare herself for the abrupt schedule change that summer brings. Ruth is trying to protect her break by turning down things even if they are interesting.
Claire mentioned her and Ralph's brand new music release: https://open.spotify.com/album/2huB3xk50lvuQGlnzH9b17?si=7HWqXOtpRPSGVky6GNjlNA Here's a review of the first song: alt77.com/ralphclaire-and-fairhazel-release-brand-new-singles
Ruth and Claire discuss working with Student Assistants. Both Claire and Ruth feel working with Student Assistants is super helpful. Ruth likes being selective about the students she works with. Claire tries to match student interests with tasks. Ruth is working on providing more of an educational experience for her student assistants. Claire is struggling with how to tell student assistants when they do something wrong.
Are there times when students learn more if we help less? That is the question. Ruth has found success building student confidence by scaffolding homework problems and cheerleading students. She wants to let students struggle through practice problems more because she thinks she might be over-helping. On the other hand, Claire feels she can freely advise students without taking away from their learning process, at least in the lab, but she wonders if by helping too much she is discouraging some students from preparing properly.
Ruth and Claire discuss choices of class modality. Ruth had external factors that helped her decide on her class modality which is a combination of synchronous zoom meetings and recorded lectures. Claire meets her class synchronously on zoom for lecture and has some students for a face to face lab. Ruth is wondering what aspects of modality choice will continue when we are back in person. Claire is working on facilitating both virtual and face to face laboratory sections for her class.
Ruth mentioned: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text
Ruth loves Professional Development and has enjoyed saying yes to every professional development opportunity that comes her way. Now she is taking some time off from saying yes to everything. Claire really appreciated that a workshop she attended had continuing check-ins that kept her connected to the community. She is working on finding value in workshops that maybe aren’t a perfect match.
Ruth mentioned Escala, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. Claire mentioned Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo.
Ruth and Claire discuss Utility Value, or sharing relative background and context for subject matter with students. Ruth is enthusiastic about the utility value of the material she teaches and is working on conveying that enthusiasm to her students. Claire likes to state the utility value of each concept directly to the class, and finds that students are generally appreciative. She wants to make some reflection activities to help her students discover how the content connects to things they care about.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Ruth and Clare discuss topics from listener emails. Stephan shares that while reflecting on how to improve is healthy, it can be demoralizing if you treat everything as a problem to solve. Claire reframes this to focus less on the problems but rather on the fact that they are solvable. She also mentions that we can choose which ones to work on. We don’t need to solve all issues at once. Ruth adds that sometimes ‘good enough is good enough’. Darien asks about keeping on top of the literature in your field: is it even possible? Both Ruth and Claire have become comfortable with not reading every paper that comes out in their fields. Ruth finds it more effective to read papers when she is looking for particular information. Claire keeps notifications from researchgate to be aware of what is being published without reading every paper in detail.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Ruth and Claire discuss getting students back on track. Ruth finds it works to give students hope that they can recover. Claire finds it helpful to reach out individually to students who are stuck and offer to work together to get them unstuck. Ruth is struggling to know when she needs to stop enabling delusions in students who can’t get back on track. Claire is working on increasing the proportion of students who make a comeback after falling behind, and is also experimenting with flexibility around deadlines and the impact it has on students getting back on track.
Claire mentioned the Cottrell Scholar Award and the Cottrell Scholar Application Webinar
Ruth mentioned Escala Mini Course: Teaching STEM in HSI
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Today Ruth and Claire meet with Professor Rachel Austin, the Diana T. and P. Roy Vagelos Professor of Chemistry and chair of the chemistry department at Barnard College in NYC. They talk about helping students meet high expectations in the classroom, including how a positive student experience can lead to higher performance. They also talk about Rachel’s thoughts on teaching and learning as a continual process rather than an endpoint to be reached, including applying lessons from the pandemic to being open to continual change.
Claire was a student in Rachel’s undergraduate chemistry classes at Bates College in the late 2000s, and it was Rachel’s class that inspired Claire to major in chemistry. Now Claire emulates Rachel’s teaching style in her own classrooms, and is thrilled to talk with Rachel directly about her teaching philosophy in this episode.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Ruth and Claire discuss both being a mentor and a mentee. Ruth applies lessons learned from being a mentee towards being a mentor. Claire notes that being available and approachable during class time encourages students to connect as mentees outside of class time. Ruth tries to balance being inspirational and authentic in her role as a mentor to students. Claire wants to actively reach out to potential mentees who might not come to her on their own.
https://rctaudio.com/profpodcast
Ruth and Claire discuss Committee Work. Ruth is noting and appreciating what makes committees effective. Claire finds it works well to be very selective about what committees she joins, only saying yes to ones that are really appealing to her (aside from some that are particularly helpful for her department). Ruth struggles with committing to committees and is concerned about signing up for a particular time slot she might not be able to honor. Claire is wondering about how to find out about committees that might be a good match for her.
Ruth and Claire discuss techniques for avoiding Burn Out. Claire notes how helpful it is to remember all the things she likes about her job. Ruth seeks inspiration to counter the feeling of burn out: through music or learning about awesome teaching techniques people are doing. Claire is working on looking ahead on the calendar to avoid tasks piling up: noting when there will be more grading or more committee work, etc, and planning for those things not to happen at the same time. Ruth struggles with getting breaks.
Ruth and Claire discuss Career Guidance: how to best help students along their career paths. Ruth finds it helpful to chat a lot with students; during those conversations, career information comes up naturally. Claire finds it works to forward internship opportunities to her whole class, including a message at the top about why she thought it might be relevant to them. Ruth is struggling with showcasing career paths beyond the academic lens. Similarly, Claire is working on supporting students on non-academic routes.
Ruth and Claire discuss Challenging Student Interactions. When students are stressed about being behind with classwork, Claire finds it helpful to work together with them to develop a plan to get back on track. Ruth finds that asking ‘are you ok?’ can work to defuse confrontational student interactions. Claire is working on managing her own mindset when students are confrontational and not taking it personally: perhaps the student is simply having a bad day. Ruth is working on not being afraid of angry students.
Claire mentioned: Gather Town
Ruth and Claire reflect on a Year of Podcasting. Ruth has been so excited about making connections with people who listen to the podcast, she also appreciates having a time capsule of this strange year. Claire found the episode on Essentialism very impactful and brings us back to stories about stealing chickens. Ruth would like to build our community of listeners. Claire would love to record more interviews and particularly would love listener suggestions for people to interview!
Claire mentioned Derek Sivers and Essentialism
Ruth and Claire discuss Work/Life Balance. Ruth really appreciates having time to reflect during break. Claire likes to have scheduled work and non-work time but reminds us that work/life balance is not always about minimizing work. Ruth is working on maintaining balance while stressed. Claire is working on leaving work at the desk.
Claire mentioned: Jen Sincero
Ruth and Claire discuss Email Etiquette. Claire is leading by example and writing emails to students with the features she values, such as a proper salutation, not expecting emails on weekends or in the evening, and being clear what reply is expected. When introducing students to college, Ruth helps students write politely by sharing tips directly. Claire is working on managing her expectations of how fast students reply. Ruth is working on creating filters and labels to organize her inbox.
Claire mentioned Ten percent happier by Dan Harris
Ruth mentioned Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics
Ruth mentioned Songteller
Ruth and Claire discuss Writing Papers. Claire finds the process of writing a paper can help to crystallize her ideas. Ruth has had success with a student who was motivated to write a paper for the peer reviewed on campus journal. Claire is working on arranging time for the immersive process of writing a paper. Ruth is struggling with knowing when you have enough material for a paper.
Claire mentioned The End of Stress by Don Joseph Goewey: https://g.co/kgs/eUSWzq
Ruth and Claire reflect on their first full semester teaching virtually. Claire found it worked well to have live lectures on Zoom; she enjoyed the opportunity to have new content interspersed with interaction and questions. Ruth found her live tutorial/activity section similarly effective. Claire is working on enhancing student interactions by using a video platform: Gather.town Ruth would like to reduce repetitive email questions by making use of a discussion forum next semester.
Ruth and Claire are excited to answer questions from listeners this week. Stephan asks about setting and engaging with goals; Mossy raises the question of grading group work; Michael asks how we address racism in our disciplines. Send us your questions! contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com
Claire mentioned The End of Stress by Don Joseph Goewey: https://g.co/kgs/eUSWzq
Ruth and Claire discuss Virtual Office Hours. Ruth found it worked well to have a “go to office hours” assignment to motivate attendance. Claire is excited to use the Waiting Room in Zoom to facilitate private conversations, and finds it works even better than closing a physical office door! Ruth is working on making sure everyone is contributing and not just lurking to get answers to the homework. Claire is working on making office hours welcoming for students - and on remembering to go to her office hours.
Ruth mentioned Dolly Parton’s America: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america
Ruth and Claire discuss writing Letters of Recommendation. Claire has an organization system that is working for her, of submitting recommendations quickly as they come in, and of putting all the students’ lists of where they are applying, due dates, and how to submit the letters in an email folder. Ruth has a similar system for organization using a Google spreadsheet. Claire is working on getting the letter started early: shortly after the student requests the letter, rather than shortly before the letter is due. Ruth is working on the content of the letter and making them specific for each student, and is also wondering how to say no to requests for letters.
Claire mentioned the American Journal of Undergraduate Research: http://www.ajuronline.org/
Ruth and Claire discuss Finals. Ruth’s final exam is a combination of a third midterm on the new material with a general question that revisits some problem areas from earlier in the semester. Claire is finding her review days before the finals to be engaging and interactive for the students. Ruth is wondering about the difficulty level of her final - is it ok for it to be easier than the midterms? Claire is trying to direct students towards crucial topics for review by telling them some of the topics that will be tested.
Ruth and Claire discuss Student Workload. Claire finds it helpful to have regular assignments each week and also likes to lighten the assignment load towards the end of the semester. Ruth is being flexible with due dates this semester in particular. Claire is working on the size of her assignments: more smaller ones or fewer larger ones? Ruth is struggling with the balance of assignments as a learning tool and easing the student workload.
Ruth and Claire discuss their approaches to Fall Break. Claire completely leaves Fall Break out of her assignment schedule so has no work expectations for students. Ruth is encouraging students to get work done before the break but is flexible if they need to work over break instead. Claire is thinking of implementing an earlier mini break to combat burnout. Ruth is working on getting momentum back after the break. Ruth mentioned The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49504061-the-once-and-future-witches.
Ruth and Claire discuss Academic Dishonesty. Ruth is battling with an online service that enables cheating, but has found you can request and receive student names from them. Claire finds it is working to set a culture with an expectation for honesty, while still checking suspicious answers. Ruth is struggling with adopting policies that don’t match her teaching values. Claire is working on finding the balance in talking about cheating; too much might give the impression that cheating is rampant.
Ruth and Claire discuss Gumption in their teaching practice. Ruth finds it works well when she feels confident in her teaching approach. Claire finds that her confidence is increasing over time, she feels more comfortable saying she doesn’t know or offering some suggestions related to the question asked. Ruth worries about students not taking her seriously if she is vulnerable and open with them. Claire is working on convincing students that with practice they can solve things as easily as she does.
Ruth and Claire are excited to interview two editors of the Underrepresentation Curriculum, Moses Rifkin and Johan Tabora. The Underrepresentation Curriculum is an excellent resource that supports educators in leading discussions about race and underrepresentation by providing modules they can pick and choose from. Moses and Johan tell us about the value of having conversations in the classroom about underrepresentation, and share how their educational journeys have shaped their contributions to the materials provided by the Underrepresentation Curriculum. This curriculum is available at https://underrep.com/
Ruth and Claire discuss Group Work. Claire likes the balance of having about a quarter to a third of the lectures be fully group work. Ruth is having success with setting expectations about participation. Claire is working on having groups report back to the class about their approach to the problems. Ruth is working on managing group dynamics by possibly adopting rotating roles for students.
Ruth and Claire return to discussing Virtual Teaching. Claire finds it is working to have individual due dates on Canvas for students. Ruth is finding it satisfying to see her online course developing and is finally coming to terms with organization. Cliare is working on connection with students. Ruth is struggling with student engagement with the materials.
Ruth and Claire discuss dealing with ‘Off the Wall Questions’. Claire finds it helpful to make it clear that this is a side point so everyone won’t get derailed. Ruth finds she is getting more comfortable and less easily thrown off course with years of teaching. Claire is working on encouraging those questions to be asked in office hours. Ruth is working on how to shut down the more random questions without discouraging questions overall.
Ruth and Claire discuss getting Tenure. They have just submitted their files! Claire listed the requirements for tenure in her department and listed how she met those, which is helpful both for reviewers and a confidence boost! Ruth found it worked well for her to know that she cannot do stuff at the last minute and plan around that. Claire is working on calming down and recognises that although it is a big task, it is doable. Ruth is working on tackling being self deprecating.
Ruth and Claire discuss Professionalism. Ruth is trying to redefine professionalism to be authentic to her values. Claire prefers to model professionalism for her students by being professional in her interactions with them rather than explicitly telling them how to behave. Ruth is working on really believing that she can define professionalism for herself. Claire is working on balancing being professional with being relatable.
Ruth and Claire discuss Final Projects. Claire finds that giving students ownership of their projects is working great. She finds this online format can allow for even more creativity as they are not limited by practical restraints. Ruth has been inspired by other people’s amazing projects and the need to move beyond exams to incorporate a final project this semester. Claire is working on the balance of support and autonomy. Ruth is working on timing and rubrics.
Ruth and Claire discuss Life Outside Being a Professor. Ruth tries to make her world bigger by connecting with people and remembering that professoring is only a portion of her life. Claire finds it is really important to share information with her students both for connection and also to normalize for students that they can have a life in addition to academics. Ruth is working on her shame about not working all the time. Claire is working on interactions when meeting students in the wild.
Ruth and Claire discuss the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL). Ruth is working on some small projects, one examining the impact of prior physics experience on grades. Claire is working on simple small changes and assessing the impact of those changes. Ruth is working on dealing with the tiny number of students she has in each class and learning more about statistics. Claire is working on the assessment portion when there are so many variables.
Ruth and Claire discuss working with their Sponsored Programs Office. Sponsored Programs is the office on our campus that offers pre and post award support for grants and other sponsored programs. Ruth has decided to embrace the process of working with her amazing pre award specialist. Claire is excited to ask for help and make use of the many awesome services offered by the Sponsored Programs Office. Ruth is working on not being a baby about feedback on proposals. Claire is working on filling in forms early enough to get help when she needs it.
Ruth and Claire return to the topic of Virtual Teaching. Ruth is thinking about creating community in her online class through deliberate assignments. Recognizing that these are extra confusing times, Claire is thinking about enhanced communication with students. Claire is also excited about using Zoom breakout rooms. Ruth is concerned about student workload, she is hoping that being transparent will help. Claire is working on her plan for exams, she is excited about the idea of group tests and wondering about implementation.
Ruth mentioned: Humanizing Online Teaching to Equitize Higher Education: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339365337_Humanizing_Online_Teaching_To_Equitize_Higher_Ed and Escala: http://www.escalaeducation.com/.
Claire mentioned: the online meeting place Gather.Town and the group exam approach discussed in this paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00520
Will you send us questions for a listener mail episode? Maybe you would like to hear more about something we mentioned, or would like to hear our thoughts on something you’re working on yourself. Maybe you have a topic suggestion for us. Email us at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com to let us know!
Ruth and Claire discuss Energy and how we can get it in our less interactive days during the quarantine. Ruth gets energy boosts from achieving things, she is using the highlight method that Claire introduced her to in the Productivity episode to do so. She is also doing Yoga at home. Claire is getting energy from a balance between having a schedule and doing spontaneous things. Ruth is trying to be like a pendulum by finding a frequency to her day. Claire is working on getting back on track when she has deviated from where she wants to be energetically.
Ruth mentioned: AliMcCall yoga: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIRunj2bgJDBg9GW20iDHKQ
Ruth and Claire discuss Virtual Labs: what are some options for virtual laboratory experiments and how can we best go about them? Claire is taking this opportunity to reflect on what her goals for each lab are and using that to design her virtual labs. Ruth shares that she found the app Vernier Video Physics that allows students to analyse motion from a video and will be using it for her labs for mechanics. Claire is working on fostering the peer support that normally happens in person in labs. Ruth is fretting about lab groups and how much to micromanage the group dynamics and work load division in a virtual setting.
Ruth mentioned: Vernier Video Physics: https://www.vernier.com/product/video-analysis/
Ruth and Claire discuss Productivity. Claire shares that choosing a task to be her highlight for that day helps her decide what to focus on. She makes sure things don’t sit on her list of tasks for too long to keep her motivation high. She also shares the effective pomodoro technique. Ruth is using an old fashioned to do list that she can write in calm time for when she is stressed. Claire is working on feeling more positive about tasks she resents. Ruth is working on balancing flexibility and rigidity, when to push through on a task or re-assign to a different time?
Claire mentioned the pomodoro technique: https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique; Ruth mentioned The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile: https://www.caspertk.com/#order
Ruth and Claire discuss Homework. Claire finds it works to have consistency in when homework is due and how long it is. She also feels it is important to have the homework be graded as it signals that you think it is important for the students to spend their time on. Ruth has started to write her own problems to work around students using solution manuals. Claire is working on how to grade homework: grade all the problems briefly, a couple in detail, or online homework. Ruth is struggling with giving out solutions to homework as she doesn’t want to make up new ones each year.
Ruth and Claire discuss Advising: meetings with students about their classes for the following semester and beyond. Claire has some topics she makes sure to cover during her advising meetings with all students. Ruth is excited to find out about advisors on campus who can provide better GE advising. Claire is not feeling comfortable when advising about GE classes and plans to leave more of the decisions up to the students in the future. Ruth is trying to find the balance between being realistic and not discouraging when advising students about classes.
Ruth mentions: Interview with Dr Mary James: https://sparqtools.org/blockinggenderbias-stories/help-students-be-what-they-cannot-see-qa-with-mary-james/
Ruth and Claire discuss Virtual Interactions. Claire is making sure to add a touch of personal connection in her virtual interactions. Ruth is making use of exclamation points a lot in emails!! Claire wants to balance efficiency and connection in meetings, she wants to honor people’s time while also feel like there is still chatting. Ruth is trying to work towards being intentional when emailing instead of checking her phone while making kids lunches.
Claire mentions: The Power of a Positive No, by William Ury https://www.williamury.com/books/the-power-of-a-positive-no/
Ruth and Claire discuss attending Conferences. Claire likes scheduling all of her meetings, lunches and dinners before she goes. Ruth is remembering that conferences are energising and inspiring! Claire is working on wrangling her impostor syndrome at conferences. Ruth is working on courage to present her research at a physics conference.
Ruth mentioned: Normal People by Sally Rooney.
Claire mentioned the Gordon Research Conference: https://www.grc.org/
Ruth mentioned: National Conferences on Undergraduate Research: https://www.cur.org/what/events/students/ncur/
Claire mentioned CUR dialogues: https://www.cur.org/what/events/conferences/dialogues/past/
Ruth mentioned: AAPT summer meeting https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/SM2020/index.cfm
Ruth and Claire discuss Belonging in the classroom, in the major, and in the discipline. Claire is committed to modeling in her class that everyone can be successful in her class, the only reason you shouldn’t do chemistry is if you don’t want to do chemistry! Ruth is trying to address her own belonging uncertainty. She is also mindful to let students know that they won’t necessarily love every single topic in physics and that is ok. Claire is working on improving her awareness of what will help students feel that they belong. Ruth is working on showing students other aspects of herself so they can know there is more to being a physicist than just doing physics.
Share your experiences with Belonging, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth and Claire discuss working with Summer Research Students. Claire is excited about how much students can get done when working full time. Ruth is happy to have taken a break and set a finite working time. Claire is working on how to distribute projects among students. Is it better for students to have ownership of a single project or team up to make progress? Ruth is floundering and desiring a solid plan and goals to work towards. Share your experiences of working with research students in the summer, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth and Claire discuss Headspace, specifically staying in a positive headspace. Ruth notices that being in a negative headspace usually signals that she is depleted in some area. Claire finds that focussing on one thing at a time combats feeling overwhelmed, she has set up phone reminders to bring her attention back to this practice. Ruth is working on using compassion to stop her rolling down the hill into doom. Claire is working on keeping herself in the present and letting go of the list of worries.
Share your views on Headspace, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth and Claire discuss their feelings about and approach to the Summer. Claire shares that she is intentionally scheduling time to do enjoyable things. Ruth wrote down all of the things she has signed up for so she can realistically map out her summer. Claire is committing to the practice of being intentional with her time and Seizing the Summer! Ruth is working on not feeling overwhelmed.
Share your experiences of the Summer, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth mentioned the Elephant in the (Physics) classroom: https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5145520
Claire mentioned the book Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
Ruth and Claire discuss updates on their quest to get tenure. Ruth is happy she has declared her intention to go up for tenure, but is a bit scared of the declaration. Claire muses about timing for requesting letters, and is excited about doing the tenure packet in small pieces. Both are glad to have a tenure buddy. Share your experiences on the tenure track, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth and Claire reflect on virtual teaching. Claire is excited about how breakout rooms have worked in Zoom. She also reworked a big final project from being a lab report to being a proposal which has gone down great with the students. Ruth has enjoyed using the polling feature on Zoom for voting questions. Claire is working on attendance. Ruth is wondering about how to enforce accountability for lecture watching. Share your tips for virtual teaching, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth and Claire talk about the trauma of student evaluations. Claire shares that having in-class time for doing the evaluations really improves the participation numbers. She also talks to students about why the evaluations matter. Ruth has used a service on campus for mid semester evaluations which provides an opportunity for airing grievances that don’t later show up in evaluations. Both Claire and Ruth are working on developing survival techniques when reading them!
Share your tips for coping with student evaluations, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth and Claire talk about getting a job. They reflect on their own experiences of getting a job at a primarily undergraduate institution. Ruth shares some resources and that dedicating time to preparing statements is crucial. Claire discusses the benefit of interviews, don’t decide before the interview, you will learn something about your preferences from the process! Ruth struggled with negotiation. Claire talks about getting all the information possible about your potential job.
Share your tips for successful job hunting, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth mentioned this book: The Professor is in - Karen Kelskey
Ruth and Claire talk about Active Learning. Claire shares that an active learning workshop for analytical chemistry was super helpful. In her classes Ruth has been surprised by the success of using mini whiteboards for in class work. She is not sure why it works but it does! Claire is wondering about how to set up successful groups. Ruth is concerned about other people’s perception about breadth versus depth.
Share your tips for successful active learning, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions!
Ruth mentioned:
https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/newfaculty/
Claire mentioned:
https://community.asdlib.org/activelearningmaterials/
Ruth and Claire talk about leadership. Claire sees her role as a leader is to facilitate people getting tasks done. Ruth is trying to honor the process and commitment of being a leader. Claire is wondering how to foster independence in her students and encourage their autonomy. Ruth struggles with holding people accountable. She is uncomfortable with people being uncomfortable.
Share your tips for successful leadership, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth’s quote is from “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown. https://brenebrown.com/
Ruth and Claire talk about writing grants. Claire has had some recent exciting success with getting the Cottrell Scholar Award and also a previous NSF grant. Claire feels that tailoring to the grant description is crucial. She also felt that getting feedback is essential. Ruth has been applying for as many things as she can and feels good about building up materials for future grants. Claire is working on a good way to organize citations. Ruth is working on her impostor syndrome. Share your tips for writing grants, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire talk about the concept of Buy In in the classroom. They think of ‘Buy In’ as gaining students’ trust in the class. Claire finds transparency and intentionality about the choices she makes in class helps students believe in the activities she does. Ruth found out that something that really matters to students is knowing that you won’t trick them. Claire would love to have a story arc in her lectures, she has done it before and it really impacts student engagement. Ruth wonders how to shut down students who are spreading discontent. Share your tips for getting Buy In, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire talk about adapting to the many changes over the last few weeks. They are grappling with the new world of virtual teaching ahead of them. Ruth was relieved that her first zoom meeting went well, especially breakout rooms. She was also happy to have recorded some lectures in advance. Claire found having a homework due early in the virtual time meant students checked in early. She also shared a feature on canvas where different due dates can be assigned to different students. Claire wondered about whether to have virtual lectures live? Ruth is struggling with being the person in charge.
Virtual teaching trailer by Bates College Professor Kennedy: https://www.bates.edu/news/2020/03/27/coming-attractions-brighten-bates-move-to-distance-learning
Share your adaptation tips, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire talk about grading strategies. Claire shares that it is really helpful to give quite detailed feedback. Ruth strives to get tests back as quick as possible. Claire wants to alleviate her grading dread by making a more straightforward points scale. Ruth wants to try using the online rubric and also wants to hold boundaries.
Send us your grading tips, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Claire introduces us to the concept of Essentialism that she learned about through the excellent book with that name by Greg McKeown. Essentialism is the practice of determining what you actually want to do, and then cutting out other things. It means committing to fewer projects and having more impact in those select things you choose to do. Claire is committed to practicing essentialism.
Send us your experiences with essentialism, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire discuss how to encourage students to come to office hours. Claire shares that a welcoming and asset based approach works! Ruth has had an improvement in office hour traffic because of a nearby student lounge. Claire is working on the issue of getting students to get over the activation barrier. Ruth is also struggling with what to do when students need to have private conversations while students with material questions get frustrated.
Send us your experiences with office hours, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire reflect on teaching labs. Claire shares something that is going wonderfully. In order to get students to engage with reading the lab material prior to attending lab, she asks students to note three potential mistakes and what impact they would have on the outcome. Ruth talks about how a lab to recreate a scene from a superhero movie worked really well. Claire wonders about whether it is more important for a student to fully complete a lab or to have more exposure to different experiments. She is also reflecting on the balance between potentially having a longer project to work on as opposed to getting more material covered. Ruth is thinking about dissemination and wants to try replacing a lab report with a letter to someone the student knows.
Send us your experiences with teaching labs, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Cottrell Scholar Award info: https://rescorp.org/cottrell-scholars/
To sign up for the webinar on March 16th or March 17th with program information and tips for effective proposal preparation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RCSA_CS_Webinar_Registration
Ruth and Claire reflect on working with undergraduate students on research. Claire shares that her research group is going great, she finds one thing that works really well is to recruit students early. Another thing that has been interesting is to have students who approached her with their own project idea who she gives guidance to. Ruth has realised that having expectations and setting the bar high really benefits students. Claire is working on having group meetings this semester instead of individual meetings with each student. Ruth struggles with finding the time to get her own research done.
Send us your experiences with student researchers, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions : contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire reflect on how they give exams. Ruth shares how learning that exams are a tool for learning and not punishment blew her mind. She is being clear with students about exactly what will be on the test and uses group tests as a way for students to review the material and make up points. Claire shares that she has been giving students her past exams as a way for them to practice and get familiar with her exam style. This has been appreciated by students who find it really helpful. This is exactly what Ruth is struggling with, she is finding it hard to come up with a new test every time she teaches a class. Claire is wondering about ways to allow students to earn some extra points and review their tests, which interestingly is exactly what Ruth is doing well.
Send us your exam approaches, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions : contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire reflect on how they are approaching the preparation of their files for tenure. Claire shares that having a digital and paper folder to put things in as they come up is working well for her. She finds it reassuring to have the items stored for future sorting and it is a simple system so she keeps up with it. Ruth is using a spreadsheet this year to record hours spent on service and meetings. One thing that Claire is working on is how to deal with the many rumours flying around about tenure. While we have solid criteria written down, what do you do about the things you hear from other people? Ruth is cringing about the awkwardness of asking people for letters and feeling guilty about calculating where things can go in her file.
Send us your tenure getting tribulations and successes, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions : contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.
Ruth and Claire reflect on how they start the semester by sharing one thing that is working and one thing they are working on. Claire’s thing that is working is making her syllabus and canvas page early, like really early. Ruth’s thing that is working was an introduction assignment before the first day. Claire is working on her system for scheduling office hours, how to decide? Ruth was fretting about her first day and establishing the tone.
Send us your thoughts on starting the semester, potential future topics and celebrity professors at contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com
Welcome to the Professor Podcast with Ruth and Claire. We are starting a reflection practice on our teaching and we hope you’ll join us. We’re thinking about what works in the classroom (and what we could use a little help with). Ruth and Claire are tenure-track science professors at a teaching-focused 4-year university in California. Tune in to hear episodes about teaching, research, service, tenure, maintaining sanity, and more.