iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

PSA: Effective immediately I will no longer be active on this account. The account will stay open, but I will not be logging in, posting, or responding to replies or DMs at this website. You will still be able to interact with me on Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

If AI tools had been put into development five years earlier, so that in 2020 they would have been at 2025 levels in terms of power and features, how would education during the pandemic have played out differently?

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

The authors of this paper are either ed-tech bros, or are being paid by them, or just woke up one morning and said "YOLO" then decided to come right out of the gates with debatable assumptions.

Educational technology exists because of the urge to solve learning problems.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Just read a paper from 2020, pre-pandemic, that talked a lot about "21st century skills". Pretty startling to think how that concept has changed in five years. The 21st century didn't follow our blueprint it turns out.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Journals that make authors include key artifacts from their research studies in an "online supplement", but then do not post a link to the supplement in the article or on the journal website, can also go frak themselves

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

My POV chasing down papers to read for the literature review for my flipped learning book, about half the time

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

It's always cool to find yourself cited in a research paper. Less cool when your name is misspelled. Between this and having "G. Valley" listed as a co-author I'm starting to feel like I get no respect 😂

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

New at Grading For Growth: Jane Wageman shares strategies for tracking growth through the revision process in a university writing class.

gradingforgrowth.com

Feedback, revisions, and the writing process

Tracking growth across drafts in an undergraduate research course

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Went to a home football game last night and had to meet up with my wife outside out of the classroom buildings on campus. She gave me the name and I simply could not recall where it was. I think that means my sabbatical is going well.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

I like this observation about flipped learning (made by Russian scholar Irina Gnutova) very much. Flipped learning doesn't take sides in the "lecture v. active learning" wars. Instead it tries to get both approaches to coexist harmoniously and play to the strengths of each.

The close relationship between constructivism and the pedagogical concept of flipped learning is expressed primarily in the fact that the latter creates an optimal structure for the effective application of active learning methods, making learning based on constructivist principles possible. However, flipped learning does not exclude traditional ways of acquiring knowledge. In terms of its structure, a flipped lesson consists of two components, the first of which is individual and involves independent learning with the help of computer technology, which includes a lecture component. As a result, the two opposing approaches to cognition within the framework of flipped learning are not mutually exclusive but complement each other, allowing for a comprehensive, multifaceted approach to the cognition of complex objects and phenomena in educational reality.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Oh, the irony that every single one of the research papers I'd found that deal with flipped learning and student equity and access, are behind paywalls.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

A friend asked me last night, as a trivia question, what is the smallest number whose spelling has the letters in alphabetical order. My answer: e.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

This quote from a research paper I am reading right now hits hard. #practice

According to dancer Martha Graham (1998), practice involves “times of complete frustration ... daily small deaths”

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Proposed definition for active learning: Activities done by students in an organized group setting that instantiate deliberate practice.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Didn't expect this to come up in my JSTOR search for papers about flipped instruction. Sadly, it didn't make it through my exclusion criteria. #badminton

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Reminder that there is no such thing as "college algebra".

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Reading through papers on flipped learning, I found this citation to one of my early publications -- with my esteemed co-author "G. Valley". 😂

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Today at Intentional Academia: I realized that the Clarify process for email was missing a big piece, and I think I know how to fix it -- giving us a Grand Unified Theory of Academic Email. intentionalacademia.substack.com/p/a-grand-un...

intentionalacademia.substack.com

A Grand Unified Theory of academic email

Filling in the missing links in the Clarify process

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Journals that charge you to access articles that are 10+ years old can go frak themselves

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Reviewing flipped learning research from 10 years ago, one of the main criticisms was that students didn't have a way to ask questions about pre-class assignments while outside of class. AI has definitely changed that up a little, hasn't it?

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

This morning I completed an initial read-through of the case study interviews submitted for the second edition of _Flipped Learning: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty_. I'm absolutely stoked by what I've received. Some fun facts: (1/4)

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

New at Intentional Academia: Who says you have the right to have purpose, productivity, and meaning in higher education? Today I present and argue for a principle that goes to the heart of it, that I call the Law of the Whole Person.

intentionalacademia.substack.com

The Law of the Whole Person

An underlying axiom for intentionality

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Slightly diminish a band: Just-OK Funk Railroad

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

I'll be speaking this Thursday at Dunwoody College in Minneapolis, about a subject very close to me: Habits of productivity that promote purpose and meaning for higher ed people. Here is the resource page I'll be using, with links and other goodies: docs.google.com/docu...

docs.google.com

Taking Charge resource page

Taking Charge Resource page Curated by Robert Talbert, Ph.D. Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash Contact information Email: rt@rtalbert.org Website: http://rtalbert.org Social: Twitter | LinkedIn | BlueSky For information on speaking and workshops: https://www.rtalbert.org/speaking Mater...

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Working on a talk next week on faculty productivity and I happen to really like this slide that I just put together.

The Law of the Whole Person

Each individual is made up of uncountable essential components that cannot be separated into discrete parts.

Not “work life balance”
Presumption of separability is dehumanizing
Each person has a right to preserve coherence
Each person has the responsibility to do so

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

New at Grading For Growth: A look at the connection between deliberate practice and alternative grading. The connection is closer than you think, and there's a lot to unpack. gradingforgrowth.com/p/alternativ...

gradingforgrowth.com

Alternative grading and deliberate practice

A framework for feedback, and thoughts on using it

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

New at Intentional Academia: I'm concluding "tool month" by focusing in on @todoist.com, my personal operating system for intentionality. intentionalacademia.substack.com/p/how-and-wh...

intentionalacademia.substack.com

How and why I use ToDoist

A personal operating system for being intentional

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

I'm happy to announce today something I've been working on for some time: A redesigned version of my professional website, rtalbert.org. The new site has updated info on my speaking and workshops, a much-improved layout, built-in contact forms, and a searchable archive of blog posts back to 2015.

rtalbert.org

Robert Talbert, PhD.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Hypothesis: If every college student were required to learn a sport or a musical instrument that they didn't already know as part of their graduation requirements, pushback about alternative grading would disappear.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

The problem with "work life balance" is it assumes there are two discrete parts to a person: The work part, and the life part, and these must be kept in "balance". But the things that make a person human are uncountable and cannot be separated. There are no "parts".

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

New at Grading for Growth: First of a two-part series on creating an alternative grading setup that fits what students need, by combining the best aspects of different approaches. gradingforgrowth.com/p/mixing-and...

gradingforgrowth.com

Mixing and matching SBG and Specifications (part 1)

How I use multiple grading approaches in an intro-to-proofs class

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

I am in dire need of case studies from higher ed instructors using flipped learning in the humanities, fine arts, social sciences, or business for the 2nd edition of my book. If this is you, or you know someone or can reach someone like this, @ me and I'll send details. 🙏

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

New at Intentional Academia: First in a month-long focus on the digital tools I use, starting with Obsidian -- a great tool that many academics will find familiar and useful. intentionalacademia.substack.com/p/how-and-wh...

intentionalacademia.substack.com

How and why I use Obsidian

Tools aren't the main thing, but they're an important thing

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

New at Grading For Growth: I give a postmortem on the use of specifications grading in my 6-week asynchronous online discrete math course. ("Fast and Furious" would have been a good title.) gradingforgrowth.com/p/alternativ...

gradingforgrowth.com

Alternatively graded discrete math in hyperdrive: A reflection

A postmortem on specifications grading in a fast and wild asynchronous online course

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Doing final wrap-up of my 6-week, asynchronous online, specs-graded class right now. Many thoughts on this experience incoming at the Grading For Growth blog. Mostly, I'm convinced that this modality is a very bad idea for most intro-level college students.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

New at Grading For Growth: Sometimes "teaching as you were taught" is a good thing. (This is one of my favorite posts from David.) gradingforgrowth.com/p/drawing-on...

gradingforgrowth.com

Drawing on past experiences

What does “teaching how we’re taught” mean for alternative grading?

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Nothing quite says "waste of time" than getting into a political argument on LinkedIn. (Ask me how I know)

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

I remain as skeptical as ever about the concept of ungrading (aka collaborative grading). However as my summer course comes to a close, I'm starting to think that ungrading might the best, maybe the only way to run an asynchronous online course that provides valid data re: student learning. 🧵 1/4

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Sorry I can't make it to #TheGradingConference today as I am slammed with closing out my 6-week summer course, two weekend gigs to prep music for, and a rehearsal on Saturday for which I was given 20 songs to learn three days ago. Blah blah blah. Y'all enjoy.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

New at Intentional Academia: The Waiting For list is an underrated tool in the #GTD toolbox - a means for being on top of things that you can't be on top of. Here's what it involves and how to use it. intentionalacademia.substack.com/p/how-and-wh...

intentionalacademia.substack.com

How and why to use a Waiting For list

Being intentional about things that are not in your control.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

PSA: I am currently doing a major renovation of my website rtalbert.org and moving it to a new host. This will take several days and access could be disrupted. If you're trying to contact me about speaking and consulting, just message me here for now.

rtalbert.org

Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

Education | Technology | Math | Productivity

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

New at Grading For Growth today: A report from a Master of Social Work program that was designed from the ground up with alternative grading implemented across the board. gradingforgrowth.com/p/rethinking...

gradingforgrowth.com

Rethinking Grades: Preparing Social Workers for Practice, Not Just Papers

Catch the vision of how a whole program can adopt alternative grading

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Working on a complete gut-and-remodel of my professional website rtalbert.org. Will be way easier to learn about my speaking and writing, will have a complete searchable blog archive, and will just look 100x better and more navigable. Coming soon!

rtalbert.org

Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

Education | Technology | Math | Productivity

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Today at Grading For Growth: Timed in-class testing is making a comeback. Alternative grading approaches can work in that environment, but there are issues to navigate. open.substack.com/pub/gradingf...

open.substack.com

Alternative grading in a test-forward environment

Timed in-class testing is making a comeback. Can it coexist with alternative grading?

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

I propose we (higher ed folks) stop calling them "class meetings" and start calling them "rehearsals".

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

New post at Intentional Academia today! Summer break is upon us, and it will be gone before we know it. So how do you make sure to use the time to its fullest? Here are 20 ideas, inexpensive and mostly not time consuming, for pulling that off. intentionalacademia.substack.com/p/20-small-s...

intentionalacademia.substack.com

20 small steps to an intentional summer

You can do a lot this summer with small things done consistently.

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

I had a great time with Steve and Tim at the Undercooled podcast recently, which is out today. Grades, deliberate practice, our goals in higher education, and more. Apple Podcast link is below but you can also find them on YouTube. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

podcasts.apple.com

Robert Talbert and Grading for Growth

Podcast Episode · Undercooled: A Materials Education Podcast · 05/11/2025 · 1h 19m

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Robert Talbert @roberttalbert.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Finishing week 1 of my asynchronous discrete math course. One of the assignments: Randomly generate a 5-digit integer and convert it to binary by hand. I can tell students aren't cheating with this because they are using integers like 99782.

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