About the HigherEd Heroes podcast series

In the ‘HigherEd Heroes’ podcast series, we interview some of the best teachers at UQ to discuss ‘what works’ in their classrooms in a jargon-free, non-technical manner.

See podcast episodes

Our objective is to communicate practical advice from the bottom-up to a broad range of teachers about new ideas they may want to integrate into their classrooms and to stimulate open conversations about their everyday practice.

We hope you engage in these conversations and (like us) find something in them which inspires you to make small changes that may reward you and your students in big ways.

Our approach

This podcast series originated from a Teaching and Learning project funded by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

We have been inspired by informal teaching and learning conversations we have had over the years. These conversations usually take place outside of formal teaching forums (such as School Teaching Committees or Faculty Boards) and they are conducted in an everyday style – free from technical jargon, fashions of different teaching paradigms, and the view that teaching is workload.

Instead, we have asked each other simple questions and sought simple answers. What excites students to learn in your classroom? What keeps them coming back for lectures? What makes teaching fun for you and learning fun for your students? Our answers to these questions have led us to make small changes to our teaching practice that have made a big difference to our students’ learning experience and our own enjoyment of the classroom.

The podcast series seeks to replicate these conversations to offer you that little bit extra which might turn your good tertiary teaching into great teaching (or your great teaching into extraordinary teaching!).

Benefits

All good discussions require good questions, effective listening and some exchange of ideas. Each podcast episode offers an opportunity to:

Listen to excellent teachers as we discuss the small things we do in our classrooms that make a big difference to students' learning. Our only rule is that we try (and it’s hard!) to do this without using teaching jargon or policy buzzwords.
Ask for help. If you are considering developing a teaching idea, or if you wonder how to do things differently in the classroom, we invite you to contact us and to participate in our podcast. We offer practical help that can translate a desire for innovation or a teaching idea into actual classroom practice.
Discuss and exchange views on the podcast episodes via this webpage.