I take a practical approach to teaching, one that is student-centered while using learning management systems (particularly Blackboard, CANVAS) to provide resources and communication technologies (particularly Zoom and eMail) to keep my students updated as to what is expected from them in a given course/assignment.
I am a believer that faculty should be actively involved in the learning process, and make an effort to engage students with real-world examples whenever possible. I make an effort to find ways to challenge my students to think critically, and will only “spoon feed” them the right answers when time does not permit any other method. I will also rely on another colloquialism here: better to teach them how to fish, as opposed to just giving them the fish.
I am a communication generalist by definition, but make every effort to be the “expert opinion provider” within my classes taught. This includes reading the textbook and updated editions regularly myself, because I create my own tests; the majority of the content comes straight out of the textbooks. Whenever it doesn’t, I let the students know by telling them the lecture information is coming from Dr. Hedrick, it will be on their exam, and it is not in their textbook. While students might be able to pass my class without taking notes regularly within class time, if their objective is a good grade, many discover that is not the best approach.
That is the ‘sweet and simple’ philosophy; what follows is a more detailed teaching philosophy with evaluations.