POD Perspectives Papers

Educational developers work best when we are well-supported by our administrators and other campus partners—and we can help them understand the scope and value of what we do, why it matters, and how best to support our work. The POD Perspectives series of occasional papers serve as resources for POD members to share with administrators to advance teaching, educational development, and organizational development excellence on their campuses.

These short, accessible, evidence-based papers are written for a wide audience of higher education professionals. Give them to your provosts, deans, or other colleagues to advocate for educational development.

The POD Perspectives series was formerly called POD Speaks; based on substantial work conducted by its editorial board to interrogate the identity of this publication, this name change was enacted in 2024 with the goal to better represent the rich diversity and plurality of the POD Network and the field of educational development, as well as more clearly capture the purpose and audience of this series. Consult past POD Speaks papers here.

We invite POD members to submit proposals on a rolling basis for POD Perspectives papers, or sign up to become a peer reviewer.

What do you wish your provost knew about the scope and value of your work, and about how they can support educational development on your campus? The answer to that question could become a POD Perspectives paper.

These are evidence-based white papers, no more than 1500 words long, directed to a general higher education audience: administrators, faculty, and other stakeholders. (The primary audience is not fellow educational developers). The papers should advocate on behalf of educational development to campus stakeholders and should be grounded in recent research in the topic area. The papers are peer reviewed, and topics should align with and promote the POD Network’s mission and values.

We invite POD Network members to submit proposals on a rolling basis for POD Perspectives papers. POD Perspectives values engagement across and through difference as a key source of strength, including differences in institutional contexts and roles, race, ethnicity, nationality, region, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and socio-economic status. We are especially interested in receiving proposals from POD members who identify as members of groups that are minoritized in higher education, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, LGBTQIA+ colleagues and colleagues with disabilities. Authors are encouraged to propose papers on topics of their choosing. We also offer general topics below to spur ideas for proposal development.

Papers might address the role educational developers, centers, and the field at large play in:

• Institutional and/or departmental policies affecting teaching and learning
• Institutional and/or departmental curriculum and assessment efforts
• Initiatives supporting equity, inclusion, and justice in teaching and learning and/or in faculty work
• Advancing varied forms of scholarship (e.g., scholarship of teaching and learning)
• Using data to support teaching and learning
• Collaborations across different campus units (e.g., student support centers, libraries)

All proposals should contain the following information:

• Primary author’s name, institution, and current position
• Secondary authors’ names, institutions, and current positions (if applicable)
• Title of proposed POD Perspectives paper
• Summary of the proposed paper, including a thesis statement. Please omit any information that may identify the author(s) from the proposal summary. Max: 350 words
• Rationale for a) why the topic is important for a general higher education audience  b) how the topic highlights the scope and value of educational development, and c) how the topic aligns with the POD Network mission, values, and goals. Max: 300 words
• Brief explanation of authors’ expertise in this topic
• Keywords for your proposed paper
• Citations (APA format) of 2–5 resources that inform the proposed paper

Proposals will be evaluated by the POD Perspectives editorial board, and authors whose proposals fit the criteria of the series will be invited to submit full manuscripts. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed.

You can use this form to submit proposals for POD Perspectives papers. Please feel free to contact us for any questions: [email protected].

POD Perspectives Evaluation Criteria

• Does the paper promote the POD Network mission, goals, and values?
• Is the paper directed toward a general higher education audience (i.e., not primarily educational developers)? Will the topic be meaningful to this broader audience?
• Is the paper grounded in current research?
• Does the proposal highlight the work of educational developers, underscoring the value of expertise of the POD Network?

AI disclosure information

Authors should clearly disclose any use of artificial intelligence (AI), including large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and others, in POD Perspectives proposals or manuscripts:

• For proposals, please do so in response to the relevant question in the proposal submission form;
• For papers, please follow these POD Perspectives AI Disclosure guidelines.

The disclosure should specify the type of AI used and its purpose.

No AI may be a listed author, nor should they be cited as references (attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, and AI tools cannot take such responsibility).

POD Perspectives is also recruiting reviewers to provide feedback to authors. Please use this form to sign up to be a reviewer. The form will ask you to indicate areas of interest and expertise so that we can assign you appropriate manuscripts. Reviewers will most likely not be asked to review more than 1–2 manuscripts per year.