Higher Ed Heroes

About Higher Ed Heroes

In ‘HigherEd Heroes’, we talk to some of the best teachers about ‘what works’ in their university classrooms in a down-to-earth, jargon-free, and non-technical manner. Our objective is to communicate practical advice from the bottom-up to a broad range of teachers about new ideas they may want to integrate into their classrooms and to stimulate open conversations about their everyday practice. Each episode explores what excites students to learn, what keeps them coming back for lectures, and what makes teaching fun for both teachers and students. We hope that you engage in these conversations and (like us) find something in them which inspires you to make small changes that may reward you and your students in big ways.‘ Higher Ed Heroes’ is convened by The University of Queensland's Dr Seb Kaempf and Dr Al Stark and produced by Anthony Frangi. If you want to listen to the podcast, get more information, or get in touch, please visit: https://itali.uq.edu.au/about/projects/highered-heroes-podcast

Publisher

Seb Kaempf and Al Stark

Category

education · education · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Jan 2020

Latest episode

27 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

59 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Apr 2026

   Interactive oral examinations

   Together with our guests, Dr Clara Sitbon and Dr Benjamin Miller (both from the University of Sydney), we talk about assessing students through interactive oral examinations. Teaching class sizes from 20 to 900 students, Clara and Benjamin share how they are using oral examinations as a means to understand, see, and assess the learning that sits behind the students’ work.

2. 

   20 Mar 2026

   Mindfulness and how we can use it for student learning

   Mindfulness enjoys a lot of popularity these days. In this episode, we talk to Professor Karen Brounéus (Uppsala University) about how we can integrate mindfulness exercises into our classrooms and how mindfulness can assist student learning. Not only has Karen been using mindfulness in her own peace and conflict studies courses, but she also offers mindfulness training to Swedish members of parliament. Karen shows how a lay person can make of these techniques and even offers an example of ho...

3. 

   19 Feb 2026

   Encouraging students to take risks and experiment

   This episode is all about taking risks, not just as teachers, but also as something we can encourage in our students. To take risks and experiment can be liberating and extremely beneficial for learning. Our guest, Associate Professor Helen Marshall (School of Communication and Arts, The University of Queensland), shares with us how she fosters risk taking and a spirit of experimentation in her creative writing courses.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

21,276,733

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 69 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

50

Social presence

90

YouTube

93

Engagement

81

Contact Higher Ed Heroes

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.