Teaching

My Philosophy of Teaching

As I begin these reflections about teaching, I am reminded of one of Mark Twain's dictums, "Don't let schooling get in the way of education." I think that the goal of educating university-level students can only be achieved by presenting them with more than lectures, rote memorization tasks, and straightforward projects (i.e., traditional schooling). In other words, an educator must move beyond the traditional model of schooling to a point at which students can learn effectively.

When students come into university courses they are but a few steps away from their professional careers. Although somewhat of a cliché, what is true for a business is also true for its employees, to succeed an individual must learn to be faster, smarter, more creative, and be able to learn from mistakes. How can we prepare students to succeed in this competitive environment? The answer is, at least in part, to move them out of their comfort zone by presenting them with realistic problems that have undefined boundaries and solutions and that require cooperation as well as competition. The goal of this is to help students to learn to be critical thinkers and effective problem solvers so that they can be effective competitors in their careers.

My Teaching Strategy

To achieve the goal of helping students learn, an educator must have a teaching strategy that guides the delivery of the course content and specific tactics that can be used to achieve success. Several of the principles that I use to guide my teaching activities are presented below.

Preparation is Key

I believe that one of the most important ways for me to provide high quality teaching is to be prepared for each and every class period. As a student I observed many lectures where the instructor was ill prepared. I vividly remember the frustration that I felt in those situations and determined that I would not exhibit such behavior in the classes that I teach. Therefore, I always strive...