In this special edition of Podagogies, Chelsea and Curtis sit down with faculty, contract lecturers, and staff attending Toronto Metropolitan University’s 2025 Learning and Teaching Conference. The conference has been a tradition every May at TMU for over thirty years. From considering the impacts of GenAI, to imagining more collaborative, caring, and inclusive learning spaces, members of TMU’s teaching community share their thoughts and insights from this year’s event. Many thanks to James Lone...
Jun 09, 2025•35 min
In this episode of Podagogies, we speak with Dr. Rachel MacHenry, Assistant Professor of Fashion at TMU, about her innovative course that brings first-year students to the rooftop urban farm to grow, harvest, and dye with natural plants. Blending sustainability, decolonization, and hands-on learning, the course invites students to reimagine fashion as a practice rooted in land-based knowledge and ecological reciprocity. From indigo to madder root, and now flax for linen, McHenry shares how the r...
May 22, 2025•16 min
In this inaugural episode of DocTalks, we introduce a brand-new branch of Podagogies dedicated to exploring the world of medical education. Co-hosts Curtis Maloley and Chelsea Jones welcome the new DocTalks co-host, Dr. Heather McNeil, Interim Assistant Dean of Faculty Development at the TMU School of Medicine. To kick things off, we’re joined by Dr. Teresa Chan, an educational leader, researcher, and the founding Dean of the School of Medicine. Together, we dive into the evolving role of medica...
Mar 14, 2025•34 min
In this special episode of Podagogies, Chelsea Jones shares insights from her experience leading a massive first-year course with 1,100 students, discussing the challenges of AI, academic integrity, and student engagement. Joined by educational developer Dr. M Dougherty, Chelsea explores critical questions: How are students actually using AI? How do we foster trust in the classroom? And what does it mean to teach critical thinking in an era of large language models? From revising rubrics to reth...
Feb 26, 2025•31 min
In this episode of Podagogies, Chelsea Jones and Curtis Maloley continue their deep dive into the realities of teaching a large first-year course with 1,100 students. This time, the focus is on accessibility. Chelsea shares insights from an accessibility audit conducted by Dr. Ann Gagné, Senior Educational Developer for Accessibility and Inclusion at Brock University’s Centre for Pedagogical Innovation. From small but impactful changes—like adjusting classroom lighting—to big structural challeng...
Feb 25, 2025•35 min
Join us for an insightful episode with Dr. Jennifer Poole, an Associate Professor of Social Work at Toronto Metropolitan University and a Teaching Fellow at the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Dr. Poole shares her groundbreaking research on grief in educational settings, drawing from her extensive experience and personal journey. We explore her use of circle methodology to create spaces for storytelling and healing, and discuss practical strategies for educators to acknowledge an...
Jul 23, 2024•31 min
In this episode, we explore the integration of Indigenous perspectives into psychology education with guests, Dr. Becky Choma, a social and political psychology professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, and graduate students Anik Obomsawin and Jaiden Herkimer. They discuss the purposeful process they undertook to begin developing a new course on Indigenous Peoples and Psychology, which is being designed to address the impacts of colonialism on psychological research, teaching, and practice. ...
Jun 18, 2024•28 min
Join hosts Chelsea Jones and Curtis Maloley as they dive into the world of open education and digital technology with Dr. Bonnie Stewart, a keynote speaker at the 2024 TMU Learning and Teaching Conference and associate professor at the University of Windsor. In this episode, Dr. Stewart shares her insights on generative AI, reflecting on her initial skepticism and her current views shaped by decades of experience in educational technology. They discuss the Gartner Hype Cycle, the ethical implica...
Jun 06, 2024•38 min
The climate crisis affects students and educators alike, and requires complex solutions that draw upon expertise that transcends disciplinary boundaries. In this episode, Dr. Matthew Hoffmann and Dr. Christine Bolus-Reichert discuss a course they co-teach at the University of Toronto on Climate Futures, which brings together students from the disciplines of Political Science and English to engage in an imaginative process that offers new ways to connect with politics and to respond to climate ch...
Jan 15, 2024•35 min
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Maureen Connolly about the value of dissonance in post-secondary learning and teaching. A 3M National Teaching Fellow, Dr. Connolly discusses how her pedagogy focuses on cycles of change: changing knowledge, changing methods of learning and teaching, and a learning environment that is designed to move students out of habitual behaviors and habits of thought. The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence is also a moment of dissonance for both educators an...
Sep 26, 2023•29 min
Ready or not, Artificial Intelligence is part of our classrooms, and we can only begin to predict its impact on learning and teaching in higher education. In this episode, we chat pedagogy, academic integrity, and AI anxiety with Dr. Lai-Tze Fan, Dr. Jan Frijters, and Allyson Miller. Guest Speaker Bios: Lai-Tze Fan's general research and teaching interests include interactive and digital storytelling, research-creation and critical making projects, systemic biases in technological design, media ...
Jun 05, 2023•47 min
In this episode, Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani discusses the role of Open Pedagogy in digital justice and digital education futures. From creating and assessing Open Educational Resources to navigating digital redlining, we critically cover a range of pedagogical practices meant to offer students more agency. Guest Speaker Bio: Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is the Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, where he directs the Inclusive Education Research Lab and is an affiliated me...
Feb 22, 2023•39 min
In this episode, we speak to a teaching team behind "Connecting for Climate Change Action," a course that blends science with storytelling and student reflection to help students take action. Dr. Katrina Moser, Dr. Beth Hundey, Sara Mai Chitty and Serena Mendizabal relay student stories and tell us how they learned to do more than teach the science of climate change as they work together to expand the course's reach beyond Western University. Read the Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/mrav3h4s
Nov 29, 2022•44 min
In recognition of Wellbeing Week at TMU, two professors discuss their research on how educators can be purposeful about fostering student wellbeing in the classroom. Dr. Krystal Nunes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology who is studying how students can develop the skill of resilience and learn to appreciate the importance of failure in the sciences. Dr. Dave Colangelo is an Assistant Professor of Digital Creation and Communication in the School of Professional Co...
Sep 30, 2022•30 min
In this episode, Brock University Acting Vice-Provost of Indigenous Engagement Dr. Robin Bourgeois explains what it means to bring “heart-centered” pedagogy to the classroom and beyond. From the position of a classroom “auntie” who invites students to make mistakes, Dr. Bourgeois reveals the magic of her heartful teaching and its wide, growing reach across universities and communities. Read the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/ezb5dt9j
Sep 13, 2022•34 min
Dr. Terri Peters is an Assistant Professor of Architectural Science at X University. Her research focuses on building design, sustainability, health and wellbeing. In this episode, we imagine the future of classroom learning spaces, the benefits of biophilic design, and what it means to invite students back to in-person learning after two years of remote teaching during a global pandemic. Read the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yckzybuh
Mar 16, 2022•19 min
Dr. Eric Da Silva is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Chair of the Designated Decision Maker Council at Ryerson University (renaming in process), a group of faculty members who are trained to adjudicate suspicions of academic misconduct. In this episode, we discuss the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and remote teaching on the prevalence of academic misconduct, and discuss ways that educators can create more meaningful assessments and structure pedagogy in ways that encourage academic inte...
Oct 22, 2021•27 min
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Yukari Seko and Asmaa Malik about what they call a “solution-focused” approach to graduate supervision. Together with seven other graduate supervisors they have been exploring new supervisory strategies that meet the needs and academic development of today's graduate students. Read the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/sdn83zhk
Oct 04, 2021•26 min
In this episode, we explore the concept of ungrading: What is it? How do we get started? What might it mean for students in higher education? After attending the Digital Pedagogy Lab in 2019, Dr. Ebru Ustundag began exploring ungrading in her classes. Over the past year and half she has used ungrading as a teaching strategy to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to deepen student learning and agency. Join us for a discussion of why disrupting traditional grading practices in higher education m...
Aug 17, 2021•31 min
In this episode we discuss the theme of distress in our pedagogy and how we handle and address distress with our students in an era of social crisis. Joining us is Dr. Tobin LeBlanc Haley, a Mad critical political economist and critical disability studies scholar who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at X University, and Dr. Fady Shanouda who is an Assistant Professor at The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's and Gender Studies at Carleton University. A full transcript is...
Jul 12, 2021•31 min
As a non-Indigenous educator, and someone who's committed to developing an anti-colonial curriculum, Dr. Shiri Pasternak received a teaching grant to explore possibilities for centering Indigenous analysis, experience, history and epistemology in her classroom, and to do so in ways that take responsibility and build relationships with Indigenous peoples. This past year, she also surveyed her students about their learning experiences, and in this episode we delve into some of what she has learned...
Apr 16, 2021•37 min
Jesse Stommel teaches courses in pedagogy, film and new media, and is the Executive Director of Hybrid Pedagogy at the Journal of Critical Digital Pedagogy. Sean Michael Morris is a Senior Instructor of Learning Design and Technology in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado and Director, and Director of the Digital Pedagogy Lab, an experiential development place for global digital pedagogy communities. Together they co-founded the Digital Pedagogy Lab and co...
Feb 10, 2021•54 min
Dr. Louis-Etienne Dubois is an Assistant Professor of Creative Industries, and Director of the Future of Entertainment Lab at Ryerson University. In transitioning his courses to an emergency remote environment, Louis decided to take a Slow Teaching approach that he describes as being "low tech and high human," and that focuses on time well spent. You can also read a transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cou5uA7g6LT_d8sRuH5NrwECy2dMpHOJtsSlaZtBlDk/edit?usp=sharing
Jan 11, 2021•33 min
Dr. Damien Lee is an Assistant Professor and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biskaabiiyang and Indigenous Political Resurgence in the Department of Sociology at Ryerson University. In this episode we discuss Dr. Lee's unique approach to asynchronous discussions in remote teaching. A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/3mycfCj
Dec 18, 2020•29 min
Podcasts can be an effective tool for delivering course content and assessing student learning as post-secondary educators prepare to transition to fully remote teaching in the fall. Our guests share their own personal strategies for integrating podcasts in a range of disciplines from Communications to Nursing, and we discuss the impact of podcasts on student learning and engagement. Lots of great advice in this episode, including at least one crucial tip that Chelsea and Curtis still need to pr...
Jun 24, 2020•42 min
In this episode, we discuss the process of writing a teaching philosophy with Dr. Annette Bailey who is Associate Director of the Collaborative Degree Program in Nursing at Ryerson University. A recipient of numerous teaching awards and honours, Dr. Bailey shares her own teaching philosophy, and discusses how she builds intellectual partnerships with both graduate and undergraduate students to co-create knowledge. We also discuss how she empowers students to take control of their own learning an...
Mar 28, 2019•28 min
What does a relevant 21st century graduate education look like? As the purpose, meaning and scope of graduate education evolves to meet the challenges of an ever-changing social and technological landscape, we speak with two leaders in the Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University: Dr. Jennifer Mactavish, Vice Provost and Dean, and Dr. Samantha Wehbi, Associate Dean, Student Affairs. From Graduate courses, comprehensive exams, and dissertations to transdisciplinary research and the...
Feb 27, 2019•34 min
Dr. David Cramb is Dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University, and a passionate advocate for reimagining science education at the post-secondary level. In this episode, we discuss how to shift the culture of science pedagogy in a direction that encourages students to embrace failure, to own the process of learning, and to learn science by doing science. From competency-based assessments to problem-based learning and getting undergraduates more involved in research experiences, to overc...
Feb 05, 2019•32 min
This year’s OCUFA teaching award winner Frankie Stewart is known for her advocacy, mentorship, and her leading role in teaching students how to find their own voice and get buy-in for their ideas. She teaches hundreds mechanical engineering students each year—many in a movie theatre in downtown Toronto. Her tricks for reaching individual students in large classes? Structure, group work, and a steady supply of light switches, picture frames, and other knick knacks to take apart. A transcript of t...
Oct 05, 2018•20 min
In this episode, Dr. Anita Jack-Davies discusses culture clashes in the classroom and what it means to open difficult conversations about race, relationships, and (safely) bringing your identity into the classroom. From “other mothering” to filling in policy gaps, Dr. Jack-Davies discusses ways to support underrepresented students in our classrooms. A transcript of this episode is available here: shorturl.at/nMT13
Oct 05, 2018•24 min
