Educational Philosophy

Secondly, I have a brother who is somewhat emotionally and mentally handicapped due to an encounter with scarlet fever when he was 18 months old. He grew more slowly in all areas: emotionally, physically, and mentally, than normal kids his age. He struggled mentally throughout his traditional classroom schooling, coming to hate school and dread learning, and he grew fearful of trying new things. I have always thought, “how sad,” to be in such a position, to fear learning and growing. He is almost an exact opposite of me. But, because of my love for him as a brother, I have sought and still seek ways and means to help him find the joy in learning. To be able to help someone experience the joy and excitement in learning or the feeling of success and achievement that comes with learning new skills and abilities, is truly living.

My belief is that learning should be enjoyable and when possible make a difference in the life of the student. As an instructional designer and teacher, I seek to find the means and ways, whether it’s new ideas, interactive learning exercises, new and/or innovative technology learning tools, or any combination of these to encourage growth and an enjoyable learning experience for the students. I desire to provide them with strategies to make learning more enjoyable for themselves through learning how they learn and learning what they can do to facilitate their own learning process. I also seek to help them achieve their educational goals and learn problem-solving strategies that will make a difference in their daily lives and their future.

Although most of my experience has not been in a traditional classroom, I have taught teachers and students through one-on-one interactions and workshops, how to use a blog, how to access email, how to create or navigate a Blackboard course, how to develop a syllabus and schedule for an online course, how to incorporate best practices within their online course, and how to use new tools, such as chat rooms, Skype, or Wikis. Additionally, I have sought to give them strategies they can use to apply the same learning techniques in the future, such as searching for resources, whether Internet-based or non-Internet, identifying good or reliable resources from not so good resources, and identifying and taking steps to solve problems, whether hypothetical or real.

All of this I do because of my desire and ability to help others experience the joy and fulfillment I experience from exploring and learning.