PEP Talks

Dr. Ashley Jordan

While Dr. Ashley Jordan has always had a clear vision of herself as an educator, her journey reinforces how opportunities can come from a wide variety of places. Learn about tools, strategies, and creative assessments that she employs in her online classes that can be transferred to in-person classroom communities. Dr. Amy Graham and Dr. Ashley Jordan also admit that they have been wrong and discuss how they handle it when that happens. 
Some resources discussed: 
Play Pause It 
Adobe Specialist 
Prezi
Building rubrics in D2L 
Ashley C. Jordan is an Associate Professor of Practice and Director of Online Programs for the Psychology department at University of Arizona.  Her primary research interests revolve around the scholarship of teaching and learning in online contexts in Higher Education. Specifically, she is interested in how pedagogical practices and technologies can be used and incorporated in an online environment to enhance student engagement with the instructor, with peers, and with course material. Her ultimate goal is to increase student success:  meaning better learning (evidenced through improved grades) and better retention (evidenced through graduation rates and time to degree). When she's not teaching undergraduate courses, she enjoys exploring new hiking trails and spending time with her nine-year-old twin daughters.

Dr. Keerthana Kesavan

Keerthana Kesavan, an experienced graduate TA, shares strategies for creating a comfortable learning environment and a connected classroom culture while navigating the American university structure as an international student. 
Keerthana completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Arizona in 2022. During graduate school, she was a teaching assistant for 5+ years and has taught general and organic chemistry labs and assisted with some lectures. Keerthana has won awards for her teaching including receiving the promotion to Distinguished TA, the highest honor awarded by the Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry (CBC). In 2021, she was selected to join CBC's TA Evaluation Committee, which discusses and evaluates the performance of graduate students every semester. She currently works as a scientist in Illumina's protein engineering group in San Diego.
Resources discussed in the episode: 
CAPS: Counseling and Psych Services
Ballroom Dance Club
Clubs on campus 
Small Teaching 
 

Dr. Tori Hidalgo

Dr. Amy Graham talks with Dr. Tori Hidalgo, an associate professor of practice in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department at the University of Arizona (see her full bio on the show site). She shares her journey to becoming an educator and how she overcame her own struggles to become the educator that she needed in school. She also discusses advice for giving feedback, creating an inclusive classroom, tools for active learning, and more. 
Tori was awarded Distinguished Early-Career in 2017. In 2021 she was awarded both The Innovation in Teaching award, and The University of Arizona Foundation Leicester and Kathryn Sherrill Creative Teaching Award for her work in the large classroom and has continued to elevate the learning experience for her students despite the large class size and through the transition to zoom during the 2020-2021 academic year.
 
Resources and materials discussed in the episode: 
Make it Stick Book 
(Faculty Learning Communities) FLC 
Sandwich Method for giving feedback 
Walkie Talkie App 
Discord App 

Marco Filangieri

Marco is a graduate TA pursuing a masters in TESL at the University of Arizona. He shares his journey as an international student and what he enjoys most about teaching. Join Dr. Amy Graham as she discusses the notion of experts, making mistakes, and the power of language with Marco. 
 
Marco Filangieri was born and raised in Naples, Italy. He is a current Instructor of Record in the Writing Program and will soon graduate with an MA TESOL. He has 5+ years of international teaching experience with a wide range of levels and educational contexts. His teaching values place him as a facilitator of knowledge and practice, with emphasis on engaging, collaborative activities that are tailored to the students' interests and different learning aptitudes.
 

UCATT: University Center for Assessment, Teaching & Technology

Dr. Melody Buckner and Dr. Lisa Elfring discuss some of the amazing resources offered at the University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology at the University of Arizona. 
UCATT site
Melody Buckner, PhD, is the Associate Vice Provost of Digital Learning Initiatives and Online Education. She joined the University of Arizona six years ago as an Instructional Designer to help faculty create online courses that reach out and engage students in an online UA experience. Before coming to the University of Arizona, she served as an Instructional Designer in Professional Development and as an adjunct faculty for Pima Community College.
Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Architecture from Arizona State University and a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University. Melody earned her PhD in Learning and Sociocultural Studies from the University of Arizona in 2015. Her informal education consists of living in over 40 different places, including several countries in Europe.
Lisa Elfring is a Specialist in the Molecular and Cellular Biology department, where she focuses her efforts on improving teaching and learning of biology and other science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. Since 2016, she has served administratively as the Associate Vice Provost for Instruction and Assessment, leading the Office of Instruction and Assessment (and now, co-leading the University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology. She has been at the University of Arizona since 1998 and has taught nearly ten thousand biology majors, biology graduate students, secondary biology teachers-in-training, and working biology teachers, as well as, occasionally, medical students. Away from work, she is a parent of three daughters and three rescue dogs. Between the job, the family, and the dogs, her hobbies are mostly restricted to reading and cooking.
 

Introduction: Meet Your Host

Meet your host Dr. Amy Graham and hear why she has decided to engage in conversations about productive educational practices with members of the University of Arizona community.