In this episode of Social Learning Amplified, host Eric Mazur is joined by Marc Watkins—educator, academic innovator, and director of the AI Institute for Teachers of Writing at the University of Mississippi. Together, they discuss how generative AI is reshaping reading, writing, and student-teacher relationships. From introducing “friction” into the reading process to encouraging ethical, reflective use of AI tools, Marc offers a grounded, human-centered perspective on navigating this rapidly evolving landscape. Tune in for a conversation about the future of learning, critical thinking, and the role of relationships in education.
Marc Watkins is a Perusall Exchange® 2025 presenter! Join the conversation at www.perusallexchange.com May 18th - 23rd.
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How should educators respond to generative AI? In this episode of Social Learning Amplified, host Eric Mazur speaks with David Joyner, executive director of online education at Georgia Tech and author of A Teacher’s Guide to Conversational AI. They explore how AI is reshaping assessment, instruction, and student engagement—offering both challenges and new opportunities. From AI-powered tutoring to dynamic assessments, Joyner shares practical strategies for integrating AI in ways that enhance, rather than undermine, learning.
Want to explore these ideas further? Join David in a Perusall Engage event starting April 7, 2025, for an interactive reading experience with fellow educators. Learn more at perusall.com/engage.
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In this episode of the Social Learning Amplified podcast, host Eric Mazur engages with guests Tricia Bertram Gallant, UC San Diego, and David Rettinger, University of Tulsa, to explore the concept of cheating in education, its implications, and the evolving landscape of academic integrity in the age of generative AI. They discuss the importance of redefining cheating as a lack of learning, the reasons behind student cheating, and the role of assessment in fostering or deterring academic misconduct. The conversation also highlights practical strategies for educators to promote integrity and adapt to the challenges posed by AI technologies.
Participate in their author-led, interactive reading event -- only on Perusall: perusall.com/engage.
Learn more about their upcoming book at University of Oklahoma Press. Available on March 2025!
In this episode, Eric Mazur sits down with Ron Ritchhart, a celebrated educator and researcher, to discuss the transformative idea of cultures of thinking in education—environments where thinking is prioritized, visible, and actively encouraged. Together, they talk about the challenges educators encounter in building these cultures, the influence of AI on teaching, and effective strategies for making student thinking more visible. Ritchhart highlights the role of collective learning, the essential mindsets for fostering a thinking culture, and practical steps educators can take to elevate their teaching practices.
Join Ron Ritchhart's interactive asynchronous reading event on February 10th -- where you and other participants can read and engage with Ritchhart's book, Cultures of Thinking in Action, with Ron Ritchhart himself! Click here to register.
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In this episode, host Eric Mazur and guest Josh Eyler, University of Mississippi, discuss the detrimental effects of grades on student learning and motivation. They explore the historical context of grading systems, the subjectivity of assessments, and the rise of grade inflation. Eyler shares insights from his book, Failing Our Future, emphasizing the need for alternative grading models that prioritize intrinsic motivation and learning over traditional metrics.
Join his Engage book event, where you can engage with him and fellow participants on his book, starting January 13th and running through February 9th, 2025. Register here.
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In this special live episode of Social Learning Amplified, host Eric Mazur dives into key themes from the book Teaching with AI, by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson. The discussion explores actionable insights and strategies for integrating artificial intelligence into education while preserving the essential human connection in learning. With a focus on the social dimensions of teaching, this episode provides a candid and inspiring look at how educators can adapt to and embrace the AI revolution in their classrooms.
This live episode was recorded at Perusall Exchange 2024: Education in the Age of Generative AI in June 2024. See more presentations here.
Host Eric Mazur chats with Tristan Cui and Jeff Wang from Monash University about their recent published article, Empowering active learning: A social annotation tool for improving student engagement. They discuss how they implemented Perusall in their courses to enhance student engagement and learning. They dive into student feedback, practical implications, and overcoming challenges in the classroom and within Perusall. They also offer insights into integrating Perusall into assessments.
Read their article: British Journal of Educational Technology
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This episode is part of the Social Learning Amplified's Active Learning Series. Host Eric Mazur chats with guests Dr. Sharon Lauricella and Dr. T. Keith Edmunds about their book, Ludic Pedagogy: A Seriously Fun Way to Teach and Learn. The book advocates for incorporating fun and positive experiences into the college classroom, challenging the notion that learning and fun are mutually exclusive.
Ludic Pedagogy: A Seriously Fun Way to Teach and Learn is available in the Perusall Catalog! You can also purchase it at: https://rowman.com/.
In this episode of the Social Learning Amplified podcast, host Eric Mazur interviews Dr. Michelle D. Miller (Northern Arizona University) about her book, Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology. They discuss the relationship between memory and knowledge, the impact of technology on memory, and the importance of finding a balance between teaching content knowledge and skills.
Exciting news! Michelle Miller is hosting a Perusall Engage Book Event starting February 26th, 2024. Join the author and like-minded educators in an asynchronous communal reading group of her book on Perusall. Join now: perusall.com/engage.
Read the transcript.
In this episode of the Social Learning Amplified podcast, host Eric Mazur interviews Dr. Jenae Cohn about her new book, Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning. Dr. Cohn discusses the importance of user experience principles in designing online courses and how they can be applied to both online and onsite learning environments.
Join Jenae Cohn's Perusall Engage Community Book Event starting January 15th, 2024 on Perusall! Learn more: perusall.com/engage.
In this episode of the Social Learning Amplified podcast, Eric Mazur and guests David Clark (Grand Valley State University) and Robert Talbert (Grand Valley State University) discuss their new book, Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practice That Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education.
The guests discuss the interplay between grading and assessment, the need for rethinking traditional grading practices, and the four pillars of alternative grading. They also emphasize the importance of intrinsic motivation in learning and share their experiences with student reactions to alternative grading.
Read and engage with them from January 15th, 2024 to February 9th, 2024 at their Perusall Engage Community Book Event. Learn more: perusall.com/engage.
Read the transcript.
Join Eric Mazur as he chats with Dr. Virginia Clinton-Lisell (University of North Dakota) on her recent published research study on social annotation and Perusall. In her article, Social annotation: what are students’ perceptions and how does social annotation relate to grades?, Dr. Clinton-Lisell discovers that social annotation promotes active reading, which encourages better understanding of course content. Read her article: here.
In this special LIVE episode, Eric Mazur chats with authors, Robert Eaton (Brigham Young University - Idaho) and Bonnie Moon (Brigham Young University - Idaho) to discuss their groundbreaking book, Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom. This episode was live at Perusall Exchange® 2023, Perusall's annual community conference on trending topics in education. Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom by Robert Eaton, Bonnie Moon, and Steven V. Hunsaker is available at West Virginia Press.
Read the transcript.
In this special LIVE episode, Eric Mazur sits down with authors, Flower Darby (University of Missouri), Isis Artze-Vega (Valencia College), and Mays Imad (Connecticut College) to discuss their new book, The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching. Episode 12 was live at Perusall Exchange® 2023, Perusall's annual community conference on trending topics in education. The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching by Isis Artze-Vega, Flower Darby, Bryan Dewsbury, and Mays Imad is available now. Read the transcript.
In episode 11 of the Social Learning Amplified podcast, Eric Mazur invites Dr. Lauren Barbeau and Dr. Claudia Cornejo Happel to talk about their new book, Critical Teaching Behaviors: Defining, Documenting, and Discussing Good Teaching. They discuss what good teaching looks like and how Perusall advances social learning for instructors.
Join Perusall's reading community for Critical Teaching Behaviors: Defining, Documenting, and Discussing Good Teaching starting May 1st. Register here: perusall.com/events.
Read the transcript.
In episode 10 of Social Learning Amplified, host Eric Mazur talks with Dr. Sharon Lauricella (Ontario Tech University, Canada) about Perusall, non-disposable assignments, and how to make learning fun for their students. Read the transcript.
In episode 9 of Social Learning Amplified, Eric Mazur chats with Julie Jungalwala. Jungalwala is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for the Future of Learning, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping transform the ‘one size does not fit all’ model of education. They discuss what needs to change in K-12 education and what works when leading that change. Read the transcript.
In episode 8 of Social Learning Amplified, Eric Mazur invites Cassandra Volpe Horii and Martin Springborg to talk about their newest book, What Teaching Looks Like: Higher Education through Photographs. Eric, Cassandra, and Martin discuss what photographs of different learning environments can teach us. Read the transcript.
Episode 7 of the Social Learning Amplified podcast brings you a conversation on how Perusall is more than a discussion board. Eric Mazur sits down with Dr. Staci Saner and Dr. Laura Weingartner from the University of Louisville to chat about how they use Perusall in their healthcare education courses.
Read the transcript.
In episode 6 of Social Learning Amplified, Eric Mazur invites Professor Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis, PhD from The City University of New York (CUNY) to talk about their new book, The New College Classroom. They discuss active learning, changing their classrooms, and creating an environment that is truly conducive to learning.
Read the transcript.
In episode 5 of Social Learning Amplified, Eric Mazur talks with T. Adam Baldry and Brad Butler from Pima Community College about the innovative teaching tools they use at a community college level. They dive into their use of Perusall in their courses and the benefits students and instructors have with the platform.
Read the transcript.
In this episode of Social Learning Amplified, Eric Mazur catches up with Jon Bergmann, one of the pioneers of the flipped classroom movement. Jon uses Perusall in his classes to facilitate student discussion. During the discussion, Jon introduces the concept of Mastery Learning, which is covered in his new book, The Mastery Learning Handbook.
This episode of Social Learning Amplified focuses on the growing "ungraded" movement in higher education. Dr. Matthew Winslow and Dr. Travis Martin, both from Eastern Kentucky University, speak with host Eric Mazur on what the Ungrading movement is, why it is effective for teaching, and how Perusall assists in making it possible. Read the transcript.
In part 2 of "A Look at Ungrading" on the Social Learning Amplified podcast, Matthew and Travis continue the conversation with Eric to explore how Perusall aids in their ungraded approach, additional best practices they find useful within Perusall, and other rich ideas on changing the way they teach.
Read the transcript.
Our debut episode brings you a conversation on Peer Instruction with Eric Mazur and Julie Schell, Assistant Vice Provost of Academic Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. Schell explains what Peer Instruction is, what makes this method work, and why she continues to use it with her students.
