Philosophy in 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 to be prepared by knowing the material, having visuals prepared, and ordering the class in a logical and consistent manner.
Know My Subject
A corollary to preparation is the need to know the subject matter. To present course content adequately, it is critical to know what I am talking about. This does not imply, of course, that I create a false façade to my students by pretending that I know everything about the topic. This is impossible in most cases. Rather, it is critical that I know the material well enough to help students see how the material relates to society, organizations, and/or themselves.
Know My Students
A second corollary to preparation is to know my students. When I say that I need to know my students, I not only mean that I need to learn their names so as to personalize my relationship with them. In addition, I believe that to be an effective educator I must know pertinent information about my students. I should be knowledgeable about things like their skills, their reasons for taking the class, and their expectations about the class. This comes from something that I learned in a business writing class that I completed as an MBA student. To write well, you must know your audience so that you can write to your reader. This adage is appropriate for educators as well. To share knowledge that is pertinent to students, I must know their needs, expectations, and career goals.
Individual Instruction is Important
I think that an educator should treat each student as an individual. This comes from my recognition that the original role for educators was as a mentor. The mass lecture that is so common in the university setting today was a later adaptation so that a greater number of students could be educated. Although the lecture setting is a necessity, students can still benefit from one-on-one interactions with the instructor. Therefore, I attempt to learn each of my students' names and address them as individuals in and outside of the classroom (e.g., to facilitate this I take each student's picture during the early part of the semester). This not only helps me to have a better rapport with students, but I am sure that it improves many students' self esteem and positive feelings about the course and the material presented.
Students Should be Encouraged to Participate
A corollary to individualized instruction is encouraging and expecting participation by each student. The classroom should not be a venue for one-way communication. An important part of the learning process is expressing individual opinions and receiving feedback about these opinions. Therefore I use a number of approaches to encourage individual students to participate. For example, I generally require that students in my courses earn participation credit via activities both inside and outside of the class. Further, in all of the classes that I teach I frequently call on individual students to answer questions or respond to my inquiries. Finally, in project-based courses involving difficult concepts I generally ask students to work on in-class cases and exercises. I have found that practical examples help students to better understand complex concepts because each student will need to actively focus his or her thinking on the concept rather than passively listening to a lecture.
Quality Must be a Top Priority
I strive to deliver a quality product to students. Quality is a critical part of effective teaching. To maintain high quality standards, an educator must define realistic objectives, reexamine course content to make sure the objectives are being met, and implement positive changes that will maintain and improve quality service to students, colleagues, and the university. One of the tools that I have used to incorporate quality improvement into my courses is a supplementary evaluation form. This supplementary form includes both open-ended and scaled questions that deal with both general and specific issues that are pertinent to each course. By monitoring and tracking these evaluations, I have been better able to monitor each course more precisely and tune each course as needed.
Make the Material Relevant
I think that to properly educate students at the university level, an educator must make the material he or she is teaching pertinent to students. Often this means that material should be taught in such a way that each student is able to relate to the material and apply it to his or her life and career. This can frequently be accomplished by providing real world examples and cases that demonstrate the concepts that are being taught. For example, I frequently utilize current events to illustrate important concepts and ideas. By discussing information that is in the news and relating such information to the course, students often maintain high levels of interest and are better able to see how the concepts operate in a real setting. One very useful tool to accomplish this goal is the Internet because it can be used to show students web sites that illustrate in more concrete ways the concepts being discussed in class.
The Use of Information Technology Demonstrates Its Usefulness
A corollary to the previous point is to make the topic of information technology (IT) relevant by using it extensively in teaching and managing the courses that I teach. It is somewhat ironic that professors frequently do not practice what they preach to students. I think that it is critical that when I teach topics related to IT that I demonstrate its value by using it inside as well as outside the classroom. Towards this end, I utilize technology in presentations, in contacting and tracking students, and in disseminating information and course materials. For example, I often utilize PowerPoint, the Internet, and software packages that are being discussed in the classroom in order to make presentations or convey ideas to students. In addition, I extensively use tools like e-mail to keep in contact with students and, in effect, create a virtual classroom environment. In fact, my use of e-mail in the classroom dates back to the early 1990's. On a related note, I make extensive use of the web to disseminate to students course materials like assignments and the syllabi. As with e-mail, I began using a course web page in 1995 and have continually used this technology since that time.[1]
Students Learn Best by Taking Action
Another corollary to the tenet of making course content relevant is the issue of activity-based teaching. I believe that the best way for a student to develop a good understanding of a topic is to create opportunities for him or her to act rather than to merely read a book or listen to a lecture. To do this, I incorporate numerous hands-on activities in the classes that I teach. For example, as early as the fall of 1996, I have required that students in most of my classes build either individual or project web sites. This is a very practical exercise that most students find to be very useful and which provides them with experience that helps them understand the difficulties involved in developing web sites. This type of exercise is very practical and helps students to understand important concepts related to the course.
Change is Good
To provide a quality teaching environment, an educator should be willing to change the way that he or she teaches. I am open to change and constantly try to reevaluate the courses that I teach with the goal of improving the teaching environment. In addition to changing the broader components of the course, I also try to vary the way I present material to students on a day-to-day basis. It is somewhat counterproductive to use the same lecture style day after day. Therefore I often vary the mode of presentation by using, for example, the whiteboard on one day, PowerPoint the next day, and hands-on lab instruction on the third day.
Create a Fair but Demanding Learning Environment
I think that it is critical that students be expected to act responsibly, to learn to be professional, and to meet high standards in the classroom. At the same time, it is also important to be fair and evenhanded with all students. To achieve these goals I require that students adhere to deadlines, that they produce quality work, and that they act professionally in their interactions with one another and with me. To make sure that all students have the same opportunity to achieve these goals I always attempt to make my expectations about required performance clear both in written as well as verbal instructions. In addition, however, I also attempt to be fair to all of my students by being impartial in grading and interacting with students and by treating individuals with respect.
Research is Relevant
I think that the research that an educator is involved in is very relevant to teaching. In my experience, every manuscript that I have published has been relevant to my classes in one manner or another. In addition, the excitement that I feel in discovery cannot help but spill over into the classes that I teach. Thus, scholarship and teaching are closely intertwined and are critical to successful teaching.
It's Fun to Learn
I think that one of the most fulfilling facets of teaching is the joy I feel when I see a student get it. In general, students seem to express a similar sense of joy or happiness when the light beams on in their minds about something that we are covering. In general, learning is something that is supposed to be fun for all concerned. Yet, too often it seems that students and professors don't experience the fun part of teaching. I think that the best way to learn is to make the topic enjoyable and to create an environment in which students can have a good time while they learn. I therefore try to inject not only humor into lectures and discussions but also make projects fun and enjoyable. In addition, I try to express to my students the fact that I think that the topics that I teach are not only interesting and important, but also that they are usually fun to learn. One of the best ways to do this is to maintain a high level of excitement about the topic and express that excitement to students. In this way I hope to spark the flame of excitement from learning in their minds as well.