TOPcast: The Teaching Online Podcast

TOPcast: The Teaching Online Podcast

Hosted by Thomas Cavanagh and Kelvin Thompson, the Teaching Online Podcast (TOPcast) takes a fun and informative look at the various trends, best practices and technologies in the realm of online education.

Episodes

Episode 194: Becoming Ambassadors of “Acceptance”

September 15, 2025
OLC’s Dr. Jennifer Mathes joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to discuss the roles we all can play in ensuring that higher ed online learning continues to be effective and strategic in meeting our society’s needs.
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Episode 193: Pillar Panel #1: Leadership Vision in Online Ed

September 2, 2025 • 61 mins
Guests Ray Schroeder and Dr. Melissa Vito unpack decades of practical wisdom on leadership vision in conversation with hosts Tom and Kelvin. This episode is the first in a mini-series of “pillar panels” offering distilled insights from esteemed community members on key, “structural support” topics essential in the future of strategic online/digital education.
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Episode 192: Futures Thinking and Digital Higher Ed

August 18, 2025 • 30 mins
Higher ed futurist Dr. Bryan Alexander guests alongside hosts Kelvin and Tom to reflect on the recent past and near-term possible futures of digital higher education.
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Episode 191: Student Retention Through Online Learning

August 4, 2025 • 29 mins
Hosts Tom and Kelvin consider the role well-designed online learning can play in institutional efforts to increase student retention. 
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Episode 190: “When Will Online Learning Stop Growing?” (Plus More Market Insights!)

July 21, 2025 • 40 mins
Guest market analyst Dr. Glenda Morgan joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to share a concentrated distillation of wise insights on online enrollment growth, student success online, and much more. 
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Episode 189: “We Have a Problem” with Many of Our Incoming Students

July 7, 2025 • 32 mins
Hosts Kelvin and Tom examine recent trend data on the academic readiness and unique challenges of current K12 students who will be college students soon. Digital learning professionals can bring our strengths to the table to partner with other colleagues in better supporting these learners.
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Episode 188: How Do You Do It? Leading Strategy and Practice in Online Education

June 16, 2025 • 33 mins
Return guest Dr. Jocelyn Widmer joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to discuss a brand new book focused on leading the strategy and practice of online higher education and clarifying the role of the Chief Online Learning Officer (COLO).
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Episode 187: The TOPcast “Core Audience” and Strategic Online Education

June 2, 2025 • 30 mins
Hosts Kelvin and Tom speak about (and to) the “core audience” of online faculty, instructional designers, and administrative leaders, alongside many other roles, to unpack the podcast’s conceptualization of online education as centered on optimizing course design and teaching.
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Episode 186: Expert Tips for Online Program Marketing and Enrollment

May 19, 2025 • 30 mins
Return guest Dr. Sasha Thackaberry-Voinovich joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to share hard won expert tips on improving online program marketing and enrollment.
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Episode 185: What Do the Top 10 TOPcast Episodes Tell Us?

May 5, 2025 • 33 mins
With ten years in the rear view mirror, hosts Tom and Kelvin talk through insights gained about the field of online education and the podcast itself after they reviewed the “Top10” episodes of TOPcast. [Spoiler: Tune in for a big announcement!]
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Episode 184: The Digital Learning Value of 1EdTech “Decomplexified”

April 21, 2025 • 31 mins
1EdTech Consortium CEO Curtiss Barnes guests on the show alongside hosts Kelvin and Tom to “decomplexify” the value 1EdTech brings to the digital learning community through open standards and more.
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Episode 183: No Lemmings! Avoid the Enrollment Cliff with a Values-Driven Strategy

April 7, 2025 • 28 mins
Hosts Tom and Kelvin discuss how institutions can avoid the enrollment cliff by embracing a values-driven strategy in online higher education. Learn key insights to navigate demographic shifts, economic pressures, and the evolving digital learning landscape.
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Episode 182: When is “Good Teaching” Just “Good Teaching?”

March 17, 2025 • 31 mins
Guest Dr. Thomas J. (Tom) Tobin joins hosts Tom and Kelvin for a slightly spicy conversation about the extent to which general teaching behaviors can be meaningfully separated from other factors such as course modality, student characteristics, institutional resources, and more.
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Episode 181: Help in Grasping “Good Online Course”

March 3, 2025 • 32 mins
Hosts Kelvin and Tom discuss the challenge, still present after 30 years, of helping others (e.g., policymakers, potential students, etc.)  understand what a  “good online course” is without experiencing one themselves. They discuss why this still matters and what approaches might help.
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Episode 180: Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Report (2024)

February 17, 2025 • 33 mins
Returning guest Dr. Nicole Johnson joins hosts Tom and Kelvin to discuss findings from the seventh annual report of the state of digital learning in Canada produced by the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association (CDLRA). Similarities with global themes and distinctives unique to the Canadian context are discussed.
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Episode 179: Temporary Remote Work and Remote Instruction… Again!

February 3, 2025 • 32 mins
As US higher ed institutions experienced shifts to remote work and instruction in early 2025, it's an ideal time for us as digital learning professionals to reflect on key lessons learned in ensuring continuity of operations as we seek to support successful future transitions.
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Episode 178: Transferable Skills of Digital Learning Professionals

January 20, 2025
Guest Dr. Vickie Cook joins hosts Kelvin and Tom to discuss unexpected career trajectories for digital learning professionals, especially COLOs, related to sought-after, transferable skill sets.
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Episode 177: Creating the Digital Learning Future Our Students Deserve

January 6, 2025 • 34 mins
In celebration of 30 years of OLC conferences and with input and reactions from our community of online/digital learning professionals, including a live audience(!), hosts Tom and Kelvin discuss the issues inherent in predicting and shaping a desirable future for online/digital education over the next 30 years.
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Episode 176: Credit for Prior Learning

December 16, 2024 • 33 mins
Guest Dr. Matt Bergman joins Tom and Kelvin to discuss the current role credit for prior learning plays in American higher education and how we can all do a bit more to use this approach effectively in our digital learning work.
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Episode 175: “Let’s Stay Focused On What We Can Control” in Online Ed

December 2, 2024 • 29 mins
In this “call-in show” episode, hosts Tom and Kelvin are joined by some of the past year’s guests in sharing observations about 2024 as it ends and predictions and hopes about 2025 as it begins. Some of the themes emerging include balancing humanness and technology-assistance and staying focused on the aspirational goals of our collective work.
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