2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

When engagement is the goal, format matters – press play on a set of lessons learned from a playlist-style initiative designed to reach faculty where they are. Across institutions, we all encounter the hard-to-reach faculty – those whose schedules prevent them from attending workshops, or whose professional incentives prioritize research over teaching. As a graduate research assistant in a center for teaching and learning at a large research-intensive institution, I launched the Playlist Series in Fall 2023 to meet these faculty where they are. Now, in my role as a Teaching Consultant in the same center, I continue to evolve and sustain the series.

Each month during the academic year, I curate a themed collection of short, idea-generating media – podcast episodes, TED-style talks and other publicly available content – hosted on free platforms like Spotify and YouTube. These bite-sized resources create flexible, low-barrier opportunities for faculty to reflect and spark new ideas.

From leading this series, I’ve learned three key lessons:
(1) Even asynchronous offerings are subject to the rhythms of the academic calendar.
(2) The relevance of a topic – especially when aligned with campus or national conversations – significantly affects engagement.
(3) Sustaining this work requires a supportive team and shared vision.

Despite challenges, the Playlist Series model is adaptable. In this talk, I will share the design and evolution of the series, including advertising strategies, how engagement analytics inform future directions, and recent adaptations to include our new in-house Sparkshop series. Participants will explore how this model can be customized for their own contexts, while also reflecting on what asynchronous engagement might look like for their faculty. My goal is to exchange lessons learned and spark new ideas for extending faculty engagement through asynchronous approaches.

To share these lessons learned and explore the model’s potential adaptations, I propose a talk format, allowing us to engage interactively with the playlists, reflect on implementation strategies, and consider how this approach might resonate in diverse institutional contexts.