The Hopenmic: Recent Episodes
The Hopenclass
The Hopenmic is a podcast by The Hopenclass. Established as a hotline during the pandemic, our nonprofit has supported the Class of 2020 and academics in over 15 countries. The Hopenclass is now a creative think tank and digital academic hub home to an eclectic community of hybrid and traditional thinkers, learners, and educators with the objective to unlearn and overstand culture. Connect with us @thehopenclass.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
In conversation with international movers and shakers in the academic space - for 8 weeks, Trust Issues explored how trust plays out in remote and university classrooms. With key takeaways, this episode marks the end of our first Hopenmic podcast season "Trust Issues" produced and hosted by Kayla Evans. Thank you for listening!
Special thanks to guests:
Dr. Jasmine Johnson
Dr. Juliana Rodrigues
Dr. Gaidi Faraj
Dr. Vanessa Marcie
Professor Stephanie Thomas
Professor Ann Frymier
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
Kayla speaks to Dr. Ann Frymier, Director of the School of Communication Studies at the Ohio University, about out-of-class contact - the teaching moments that happen outside of the classroom — and why it’s important for building trust in teacher-student relationships. They think out loud about how out-of-class contact might take a new shape due to the pandemic. Finally, they talk about how more opportunities for miscommunication happen in heterogeneous classrooms, but how moments of misunderstanding are important for building trust - and creating a trusting atmosphere for students is important for effectively addressing these moments.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
In this episode, Stephanie Thomas shares a counterintuitive approach to building trust. Instead of asking that they trust her, she actually begins courses by advising students to distrust her. Stephanie also explains the strategies she uses to prompt students to trust each other by having them engage in debates where they argue opposing views. Finally, she shares how her individualized, human-centered approach to fashion styling is not too different from her approach to teaching students.
Stephanie Thomas is an award-winning American disability fashion stylist, creative director, public speaker, voice actor, author, and professor. The many hats that she wears all contribute to making the world more accessible to others. As the CEO of Cur8able and creator of the Disability Fashion Styling System™, her leadership has been lauded by the Business of Fashion as one of the "People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry" (BOF 500).
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
In this episode, Kayla sits down with Dr. Vanessa Marcie to discuss how a university lecture is not too different from a stand-up comedy set. They explore how trust with an ‘audience’ of students is built from day one and how identity might affect the ways a teacher can use humor to connect with his or her students. Finally, they discuss why it’s crucial to ‘know one’s audience’, but how the pandemic has made this a challenge in academic spaces.
Dr. Vanessa Marcie is a humor and leadership expert and educator. She is the founder of Leading with Humour and has given over 100 talks to audiences in more than 30 countries around the world uncovering the ways social and relational transformation can be sparked by moments of laughter.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
In this episode, Dr. Faraj shares how Africa’s changing demographics shape the goals of ALU and its students, and what it means to develop a curriculum that students trust: one that is relevant to their academic and professional needs, but also one that’s revolutionary in that it challenges norms of the past and reshapes the future of the students and the contexts within which they are learning.
Dr. Gaidi Faraj is the Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs at the African Leadership University’s, Kigali, Rwanda Campus. He brings to his role a blend of academic and private sector business expertise, with a PhD in African Diaspora Studies from the University of California Berkeley and over 10 years of business experience across the United States, Tanzania, and East Africa. ALU was named by Fast Company as the most innovative business in Africa due to its unique learning structure which includes encouraging students to enter with a social mission, rather than a major.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
In this episode, Juliana Rodrigues shares that while trust definitely runs a thread through her approaches to teaching, she hadn't really thought about it explicitly until now. She tells us about what it means for instructors to understand and address the individual worlds that each student brings to the classroom. Also, how infrastructure in Brazil means that connecting - in both a technological and relational sense - with students requires some creativity and effort on the part of instructors and students.
Juliana Rodrigues is an instructor, researcher, and consultant in Sao Paulo’s Social Innovation space. Juliana is currently teaching courses for MBAs at the University of Sao Paulo and other institutions in Brazil. She also collaborates with the ICE (Institution Corporate Citizenship) Academic Program, an academic network of over 100 Brazilian professors across 50 institutions who are working on topics related to social impact, innovation, and sustainability. She’s also worked with American undergraduates (including host Kayla Evans!) as a traveling faculty member through the International Honors Program.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
In this episode, Kayla speaks with Dr. Johnson about showing transparency and ‘visible vulnerability’, consciously crafting a curriculum, and centering trust and safety in classroom discussions about race. They also think about the challenges and opportunities that come with cultivating virtual spaces of vulnerability as classes move online.
Dr. Jasmine E. Johnson is a performer, an award-winning scholar, and an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the Annenberg School. Her work explores the politics of Black movement, including dance, diasporic travel, and gentrification - and on these topics, she has written her first book, Rhythm Nation: West African Dance and the Politics of Diaspora.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.
Welcome to Trust Issues, a Hopenmic Podcast series hosted by Kayla Evans and powered by The Hopenclass. Trust Issues explores how trust plays out in university classrooms.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Hopenclass.