Among other things, I launched a new Teaching in Higher Ed website this past week. This is representative of a bunch of work over the summer and an intense collaboration with my dear friend, colleague, and web developer, Naomi Kasa.
Please take a few minutes to explore and reply to let us know one thing you discovered or something you like about the new approach. That would help us celebrate in ways other than confetti or cupcakes.
A few of you wrote to let me know that the most recent episodes didn't come through on your podcast catcher. They should each be there now and more info regarding this past week's with Anuj Gupta and Brian Gogan is below. I also spent a week writing in a castle in Ireland this month, which you can read about in the Tried section (and see some of the photos from my adventures).
Listened
Episode 636
Writing and Rhetoric Studies in the Loop with Anuj Gupta and Brian Gogan
It was a pleasure to get to talk with these two editors of a book about how we might think about GenAI prompts as a writing genre. Brian Gogan stressed how important humans are in the writing process, as he shared:
When I think about keeping the human in the loop, I want to make sure that we are not handing those production processes off solely to machines, and the human needs a role in those production processes.
This one is for those geeking out a bit, while being wise about your use
The debates over AI use tend toward dualistic thinking. Use it, or don't. Stephen Millard suggests that we look more toward having AI be a builder (helping us put together a solution to a problem) vs asking it to be our butler. He offers four considerations when we are attempting to create processes using AI, with some more nuanced approaches toward the end. The whole way reading Millard's piece, I kept thinking of Mike Caulfield's suggestion of a different way to use AI to make interesting and useful apps.
Had a wonderful writing-filled experience at Notre Dame Kylemore
When I had seen the LinkedIn post from Jim Lang that he was going to be leading a Write Like You Teach Workshop in Ireland, it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I met some incredible people, came away with an emerging book proposal, and have many more stories to tell that won't fit in this particular Field Journal. I'll be doing some writing about the experience in the coming weeks, but for now, a few glimpses of the experience.
Jim Lang facilitated dynamic, engaging, challenging writing workshops throughout our time together at Notre Dame Kylemore in Ireland.
This is the experience my parents would have most appreciated. Getting to see how they herd sheep and train the dogs.
I met some dear friends and deepened existing relationships. What a joy to write in community like this and urge each other to show up for the work that's emerging.
There were so many places to explore at Kylemore and I was surrounded by people who love to walk as much as I do.
Wondered
About Places
Where you do your best thinking
After the experience in Ireland, I'm fairly certain that's now where I do my best thinking. 💔 I miss it so much, but am excited to adopt some writing rituals to support my writing practice here at home.
Here's what some of you shared about where you do your best thinking:
Matt Mahavongtrakul
I do my best thinking in third spaces and transition spaces. When I can zone out, let my mind wander, and let my default mode network do its thing, I just get more clarity and typically a path forward reveals itself and connections between different thoughts start to form.
Viji Sathy
Mine is the shower. From as far back as I can remember, that’s where my mind wanders best. One year, my partner surprised me with a waterproof notepad and pencil to keep track of my ideas. Judging by the number of reviews, I’m not alone!
I have two answers here--I do my best work either in a coffee shop or at night after everyone else has gone to bed. With the changes that come at midlife for women, I've found my ADHD has really made focused work difficult, at times impossible, when I don't have exactly the right noise landscape. A coffee shop has always worked well for me because there's just enough ambient background noise to ensure every single background sound doesn't pull me out of my concentration. Yet, when I'm working at a coffee shop, people don't generally approach me for a conversation, so I'm not alert to the happenings around me. I can spend hours at a coffee shop plowing through a stack of work that it would take me two or three times as long to do elsewhere. The same rationale applies to working in a quiet house, when everyone else is in bed. My partner is fantastic about checking in with me when we're both in the house during the day, but knowing he's likely to wander by every hour or two to say hello makes it very difficult to let my brain dive deeply into something. He's a morning person and I'm a night owl, though, so I can often do terrific work after he goes to bed. That's honestly my favorite time to think and work.
Peter Felten
When I’m walking — often when walking and talking with someone, but sometimes walking on my own. When I’m doing a lot of writing, you’ll see me going for short walks regularly not so much clear my head as to fill it.
Kerry Mandulak
Two places ...
1. The shower. Always the shower! Whenever I am really noodling on something or feel like I've hit a dead end in my line of thinking, I always manage to find the exact solution in my brain ... in the shower. I don't know if it's the alone time, or the white noise, or what - but I'm always thankful when the answer comes to me and I'm like OF COURSE! Then I write it on the bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker that I keep in my bathroom so I don't forget!
2. Anywhere I get to verbally process with someone. Verbally processing is my best thinking! I recently had a really great idea pop into my brain as I was talking about something and I had never thought of it before ... until I was verbally processing with someone.
Lew Ludwig
I've always done my best thinking on foot. A walk, or lately a bike ride, shakes something loose that's sitting at my desk staring never does. Especially when I’m stuck on a thorny problem. Getting up and moving helps. The trouble was always remembering. I would get back from a walk knowing I'd figured out something brilliant, but couldn't remember what it was.
So now I talk. I dictate to AI as I go, not to have it think for me, but to have something to think against. It catches the idea before I lose it, then pushes back, asks what I meant, makes me say it more clearly.
Now the walk ends with an outline waiting when I get home. The thinking still happens on the road, but the AI just makes sure I don't lose it on the way back. There and back again, more or less.
AI disclosure: Dictated via voice-to-text on a walk, then edited with Claude.
What's something you're not good at that you keep doing anyway?
Hit reply to let me know. I'll choose a few to include in the next Field Journal. Let me know in your reply if you prefer to remain anonymous, as otherwise, I'll assume it is ok to include your name.
Noted
The importance of Starting
Even if that seems scary
Loved seeing this quote from Seth Godin get resurfaced this week, as I was adding new images to old blog posts:
If you set your bar at 'amazing,' it's awfully difficult to start... The only path to amazing runs directly through not-yet-amazing. But not-yet-amazing is a great place to start, because that's where you are. For now. There's a big difference between not settling and not starting.
Naomi and I are both huge fans of pursuing excellence. And that is unlikely to stop anytime soon. However, we also both realize that getting started is an important part of the process.
THIS WEEK ON TEACHING IN HIGHER ED
Dave Stachowiak joins me and we chat about my votes for the 2026 Top Tools for Learning on the upcoming episode.
Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast
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Trouble viewing? Read this issue in your browser. This week, I'm adjusting back to the time zone where I live, after traveling abroad for what might have been about a week, or three months. It depends on when you ask me. If there are errors in this Field Journal, let's blame it on that, ok? I revisit my conversation with Gina Ann Garcia and one of my favorite all-time quotes from Teaching in Higher Ed past interviews. Liz Norell helps us think about our language and we discover what people...
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