Episode 26: Building Trust in Higher Education with Tony Laden

Collaborative Episode with Ethics & Education, featuring Carrie Welsh and Anthony Simon Laden, with Aftershow guest Professor Harry Brighouse

We partner with the Center for Ethics & Education for an episode about trust in higher education. Carrie Welsh interviews Anthony Laden, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of a new book Networks of Trust: The Social Costs of College and What We Can Do About Them. Along with UW students, Carrie and Tony explore how higher education asks students to change their trust networks and what responsibilities educators have to build positive relationships with students. UW Professor of Philosophy Harry Brighouse joins for the Aftershow to offer practical tips for building trust in the classroom.

See the transcript for this episode.

The L&S Exchange Podcast is brought to you by L&S Teaching & Learning Administration and produced by the Instructional Design Collaborative. This podcast is recorded on ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial.

Join the Conversation

How did this episode make you think? What’s on your mind about inclusive teaching? Respond to a poll using the Spotify app on your mobile device, reply with a comment at the bottom of this post, or send us an email. We may ask to feature your contribution in this or a future episode.

Conversation Starters

  1. Tony argues that vulnerability is necessary for learning because it enables you to be open to being changed. In what ways does your course ask students to be vulnerable and change? How might you create a space where students are more comfortable with this vulnerability?
  2. Using a metaphor, Tony suggests thinking about bridging the island of higher education to the islands of other communities rather than viewing higher education as a mainland that rescues students from their island communities. How do you view the relationship between higher education and the other communities to which students belong? What steps could you take to bridge these islands?
  3. Think back to your experience entering college as a student or transitioning from being a student to an instructor. Were your existing trust networks affected or challenged? Did you build new trust networks? Why or why not?
  4. Harry shares that when he is teaching about controversial questions, he does not disclose his own views on those questions. How do you approach controversial topics? What value might there be in disclosure or non-disclosure for student learning and belonging?
  5. What is one action you could take in your classroom to demonstrate that you value students’ existing trust networks? What is one action you could take to begin building positive new trust networks with students?

Further Reading & Resources

In this episode we mentioned, were inspired by, or wondered about the following resources and topics.

  • Anthony Laden’s book Networks of Trust: The Social Costs of College and What We Can Do About Them is available online through UW-Madison Libraries.
  • Check out more podcast episodes from our partners at Ethics & Education on topics such as mentorship in higher education, faculty using social media, and the ethics of college admissions.
  • Building connections with students and between students can create a stronger and more trusting community. Consider this L&S Design for Learning article on Supporting Student Connection for strategies and examples, or talk about supporting student connection with colleagues using a Mini Discussion.
  • The Wisconsin Experience, a framework for the total undergraduate experience at UW-Madison, can guide instructors as they think about how their individual course fits within the larger context of the college experience.
  • UW offers opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to learn more about the state of Wisconsin and to consider how the university connects with communities beyond its walls. Students can participate in the Wisconsin Experience Bus Trip and faculty & staff can participate in the Wisconsin Idea Seminar.

Shout Outs

The L&S Exchange is grateful to many people outside of the IDC who helped make this collaborative episode possible. Thank you to:

  • Carrie Welsh and the Center for Ethics and Education at UW-Madison for producing this episode. We appreciate your creativity, curiosity, and collaboration from initial brainstorming to polished episode.
  • Anthony Simon Laden for your insightful and important book, Networks of Trust: The Social Costs of College and What We Can Do About Them.
  • UW students Avrie and James for lending your honest reflections to this episode.
  • Harry Brighouse for your insight and perspectives as we crafted this episode and for sharing your voice with our listeners in the Aftershow.
  • MERIT Library for providing space and equipment to record the Aftershow for this episode.

Production Credits

Guest Producer Carrie Welsh
Producer: David Macasaet
Associate Producer: Molly Harris
Audio Engineer: David Macasaet
Audio Editor: David Macasaet
WiscWeb Administrator: Molly Harris
Development Producer: Jonathan Klein
Planning Group: Jonathan Klein, David Macasaet, Molly Harris, Laura Schmidli, Antonella Caloro, Maria Widmer
Communications & Outreach: Maria Widmer
Executive Sponsorship: Shirin Malekpour

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