Each semester, students in my Intro to Sociocultural Anthropology course work in groups to create conversational podcast episodes about cultural appropriation. The entire class chooses a cultural element (or set of cultural elements) to research, focusing on the history and meanings of the cultural element and the power dynamics of this example of cultural appropriation. Past topics include: African American English (also known as Black English); warbonnets that originated with Plains Indigenous peoples; and rock n roll.

Here are the guidelines for this project. The rubric I use to evaluate students’ podcasts are linked in the guidelines.

This is a quiz format I developed in accordance with the Universal Design for Learning principle of varying methods for response. Students work in pairs and record themselves talking through their responses to the quiz prompt/question.

You can find an overview of the assignment and a template for the quiz instructions here.

Lillian Nave interviewed me about this assignment for the Think UDL podcast. You can listen to the episode here!

I first created an assignment to teach students to write op-eds in 2021, and it continues to be a favorite for both me and my students.

I wrote a piece about this assignment for the Society for Cultural Anthropology’s Teaching Tools, and I would be happy to share more details about the assignment via email.

In fall 2025, students in my first-year seminar completed a project called Humans of Austin College.

This project was modeled after Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, but my main inspiration came from Neri de Kramer. In 2021, the students in Neri’s Visualizing Humanity course at the University of Delaware created Capturing the AAP. I learned about the project when Neri and I presented on a conference panel together in 2023.

Here’s our Instagram page, featuring Austin College students, faculty, and staff that were interviewed by first-year students.