Limed – Season 3, Episode 2

Pierce Johnson, a graduate student at the University of Albany, finds himself knowing he wants to be teaching-centered as a professor in the future, but his graduate program, as many do, emphasizes research. Host Matt Wittstein talks to Pierce and a panel that included Marcela Borge from Penn State University, Leo Lambert, president emeritus of Elon University, and Sophie Miller, a first-year graduate student at Purdue University. Together, we talk about building a resume that aligns with your goals, considering how research and mentoring experiences develop teaching-related skills, and even touch a bit on imposter syndrome. 

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About Our Guest

Headshot of Pierce Johnson

Pierce Johnson is a Ph.D. student in Cognitive Psychology and graduate assistant in the Psychology department at the University at Albany, SUNY. Pierce has been a TA for introductory and personality psychology courses, and mentors undergraduate researchers in the LINCD Lab at UAlbany. His research focuses on music cognition and uses memory for music to understand how people learn, recall, and make predictions about their experiences. Pierce, an Elon alum of ’22, first became passionate about effective pedagogical practices and the scholarship of teaching and learning as a student Teaching Learning Assistant in several philosophy classes, where he experienced firsthand the effect thoughtful teaching has on students. Learn more about Pierce on his LinkedIn profile, or the research he and the rest of the LINCD lab are conducting here. 

Meet Our Panel

Headshot of Dr. Marcela Borge

Dr. Marcela Borge is an associate professor of Learning, Design, and Technology, affiliate professor of Information Sciences and Technology, and a fellow of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the Pennsylvania State University. Her program of research focuses on understanding the ways that technology can help or hinder collective sense-making, socioemotional development, and empowerment. She argues that the development of collaborative expertise (i.e., the ability to understand, manage, and improve collaborative socio-emotional interactions and sense-making processes) in technologically enhanced contexts is essential to academic, professional, and life-long success. However, this type of development does not come easily. For these reasons, she uses technology to help learners think about their own collaborative processes as objects of thought while learning about the power and potential of design. In this way she works to empower learners to see themselves as problem solvers and designers of their own experiences. As part of this work, she has conducted in-depth analyses of how people across the life span learn to regulate their own collaborative processes and develop collaborative expertise in real world, design and computing contexts. She has developed instructional frameworks for empowering learners and facilitate the learning of difficult concepts and skills. In doing so, she has developed assessment frameworks through the quantification of language to identify changes in the quality of collaborative sense-making, problems learners face, and ways they engage in collective regulation. She has used these frameworks to inform the design software tools and technology-enhanced interventions that help students learn about and improve upon design ways of thinking and their own collaborative processes. She has also developed pedagogical models for developing young learners’ ability to learn about and regulate socioemotional processes in play-based, human-centered design contexts. Currently, she is working to devise new frameworks to help instructors use generative AI to support students’ development of collaborative competencies associated with complex sense-making activity. 

Headshot of Leo M. Lambert

Leo M. Lambert is a professor of education and president emeritus of Elon University, where he served as president from 1999-2018. During his tenure as president, Lambert led two, ten-year strategic plans for the campus that propelled Elon to a place of national distinction. Today Elon is recognized widely throughout the U.S. for excellence in undergraduate teaching and experiential learning, including its programs in study abroad, undergraduate research, civic engagement and community service, and interfaith cooperation. More than 100 buildings were added to Elon’s campus during Lambert’s presidency. Lambert is the coauthor of The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most (Jossey-Bass), Relationship Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (Johns Hopkins University Press), and Connections Are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education (Johns Hopkins University Press). He also founded the Future Professoriate Program at Syracuse University, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. A recognized leader in higher education, Lambert has served on the boards of the American Council on Education, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Campus Compact, the Association of Governing Boards, The Washington Center, and the John N. Gardner Institute. In 2009, he received the inaugural William M. Burke Presidential Award for Excellence in Experiential Education from the National Society for Experiential Education. 

Headshot of Sophie Miller

Sophie Miller recently graduated from Elon University earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology. She is now at Purdue University pursuing a PhD in Human Development and Family Sciences, conducting research in the Center for Early Learning lab.  While at Elon, she was a CEL Student Scholar with the Center for Engaged Learning, providing a student perspective on a three-year research seminar on Re-Examining Conditions for Meaningful Learning Experiences. Additionally, as a Lumen Scholar she conducted research examining How Children and Teachers Co-Facilitate Inquiry and Reflection Outdoors.


Episode Credits

This episode was hosted by Matt Wittstein, edited by Matt Wittstein and Olivia Taylor, and produced by Olivia Taylor in collaboration with Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. 

Explore Resources Related to this Episode

Borge, M. (2023). Beyond diversity, equity, and inclusion: Designing spaces that empower youth. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, Volume 35, 100550, DOI:10.1016/j.ijcci.2022.100550 

Borge, M., Shiou Ong, Y., & Rosé, C. (2018). Learning to monitor and regulate collective thinking processes. International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning 13(1), 61-92. DOI:10.1007/s11412-018-9270-5 

Borge, M., Toprani, D., Yan, S., & Xia, Y. (2020). Embedded design: engaging students as active participants in the learning of human-centered design practices. Computer Science Education 40(1), 47-71. DOI:10.1080/08993408.2019.1688592 

Borge, M. & Xia, Y. (2023) Beyond the individual: The regulation and negotiation of socioemotional practices across a learning ecosystem, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 32:3, 325-375, DOI: 10.1080/10508406.2022.2157725 

“Future Professoriate Program.” Graduate. Accessed October 10, 2024. https://graduateschool.syr.edu/current-students/future-professoriate-program/.  

Sawyer, K. (2015). A call to action: The challenges of creative teaching and learning. Teachers College Record, 117(10), 1-34. Available at: https://keithsawyer.com/PDFs/Sawyer%202015%20TCR.pdf 

Winter, K., Kent, J., & Bradshaw, R. (2018). Preparing Future Faculty: A Framework for Design and Evaluation at the University Level. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. Available at: https://www.teaglefoundation.org/Resources/Insights-from-Grantees/Graduate-Student-Teaching-in-the-Arts-and-Sciences/Preparing-Future-Faculty-A-Framework-for-Program