Neurodivergent Learners and Earners with Holly Tilbrook

On this week's podcast episode, I'm continuing an occasional series exploring ways to support neurodivergent students with a focus this time on adult students. I talk with Holly Tilbrook, deputy director of the Academic Centres at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Continuing Education. Her unit provides academic support for students enrolled in the institute's programs, which include onsite weekend courses, online certificate programs, hybrid degree programs, and more.

Back in March, Holly presented as part of a panel titled "Neurodivergent Learners (and Earners!) in Postsecondary Education” at the UPCEA annual conference. Many of the students Holly and her team work with aren't just learners, they’re also earners, in the sense that they are active participants in the workforce. And some are pursuing what some call encore education, that is, learning opportunities after retirement.

I wanted to know what Holly has been learning about supporting students with ADHD and other types of neurodivergence, particularly adult students who are navigating many demands on their time. In our conversation, we discuss ways to build trust with neurodivergent students, accommodations that can more authentically meet these students’ needs, and helping neurodivergent students take what they're learning about themselves into the workforce.

UPCEA, by the way, is the online and professional education association and a sponsor of the Intentional Teaching podcast. Thanks to my friends at UPCEA for directing me to Holly!

​You can listen to my conversation with Holly Tilbrook here, or you can search for "Intentional Teaching" in your favorite podcast app.

Podcast Scheduling Update

This week's episode with Holly Tilbrook is the 42nd episode of the Intentional Teaching podcast. As of this writing, I have recorded interviews that will take the podcast through episode 50, which is pretty exciting. You may have noticed that in the episode graphic, I always use three digits for the episode number (e.g. 042). That's because I'm planning to need that third digit down the road, and episode 50 will get me halfway there!

For the next four episodes of the podcast, I'll be airing interviews I conducted earlier this year as part of the slow read of my book Intentional Tech. Extended versions of these interviews have been available to my Patreon supporters since February or March, but now I'll share edited versions of these interviews on the main podcast feed. Here's the release schedule for these interviews:

• July 16 - Teaching Climate Change through Board Games with Kerry Whittaker and Matteo Menapace
• July 23 - AI Image Generators and Multimodal Assignments with Emily Bruff
• July 30 - Agile Teaching in High Structure Courses with Justin Shaffer
• August 6 - Authentic Audiences and Rhetorical Triangles with Paul Hanstedt

Some notes on this schedule:

• My interview with Kerry Whittaker actually isn't on Patreon, so that will be brand new to all listeners when that comes out.
• Yes, I interviewed my wife for my podcast because she's incredibly talented and a very thoughtful educator.
• Also, the podcast is going weekly for a bit while I work through this backlog of interviews!

After episode 46 with Paul Hanstedt, Intentional Teaching will return to its biweekly schedule with episodes on equity-oriented teaching, teaching the survey course, active learning in the humanities, and assessment of teaching. All of these interviews are fantastic, and I'm excited to share them with you!

Finally, I've received lots of very positive feedback about the "Take It or Leave It" panel we had on the podcast recently, so I'll plan on doing another one of those at some point in the fall.

Thanks for listening! And please know that the best way you can support the Intentional Teaching podcast is to share an episode or two with friends or colleagues. That helps spread the word about the podcast, and doing so actually helps out more than ratings and reviews on podcast platforms.