I became a college professor because I love to learn. I am blessed to be able to share this love of learning with my students. I create an interactive, cooperative environment that fosters curiosity and growth. I view teaching as an opportunity to combine my passion for research with my passion for communication and mentorship. I am an experienced teacher; I have been a full-time instructor since Fall 2011 (with a maternity leave Spring 2019-Fall 2019). I have taught over a thousand students, and developed over a dozen courses. Some of these courses have been directly related to my own research (e.g., a ‘mini’ graduate level course on learnability in phonology), and others have been less directly linked (e.g., Human Neuropsychology). No matter what the subject matter, I approach teaching in a similar way that I approach my research: with enthusiasm, curiosity, and care. I have taught courses in a range content, size and formats; I have taught PSYC 101 to groups of 90, and groups of 10, online and in person. I have taught both first year and senior seminars, and have navigated courses for majors, and courses where the majority of students are non-majors. I have taught students from a range of backgrounds: traditional and returning, ex-military and military spouses, student athletes and student debaters, wealthy students and Pell grant recipients, international and DACA students, nonbinary and transgender students, new mothers and new fathers, students with physical and learning disabilities, students with 4.0 GPAs and students barely passing. My goal as a teacher is to provide a transformative and challenging experience for all students, regardless of background and life circumstances. Using the combination of compassion and the cognitive science of learning as a guide, I build courses that are meaningful, engaging, and transformative.
Every student brings experience and talent into the classroom, and it is up to the instructor to tailor the course to best fit the diverse needs and talents of the students. I set clear and firm expectations, but provide flexibility where it is needed. Having clear learning objectives helps frame the flow of the course. When students have a clear understanding of what they are meant to be learning and how they will be assessed (e.g., well designed assignments and rubrics), they have more self-efficacy in their own learning and growth. I also am conscious about seeking feedback in order to improve my teaching. I use mid-semester evaluations so that I can make adjustments during the semester, while I still have time to improve the students’ experience. “I appreciate more than anything how Prof. Finley goes out of her way to improve her teaching just to be sure we get the education we deserve”. I believe it is important for students to know that they have a voice in how their class is conducted, and to understand why I run the class the way I do. “Dr. Finley was very open to feedback and adjusting to what was best for the class”. Listening to students is important, but treating students with respect and empathy is crucial for developing trust and rapport. “She was very understanding to my tough situation with the class and helped when needed”.
Learning is most likely to occur when we are faced with a challenge. I provide opportunities for students to be challenged, but also feel successful in their pursuits. “She helped make intimidating material feel less intimidating”. I place a strong emphasis on critical thinking skills, including developing and defending an argument, creating and testing hypotheses, and reading sources with a critical eye. These skills are developed through reading assignments and problem sets that include a critical write-up, as well as small group discussions. I prepare students to tackle challenging materials using frequent, low-stakes assessments to help scaffold material, and to help students stay on track. “Quizzes every day made me really try to remember everything we talked about in the previous class period and apply it to the next reading topic.”
My approach to teaching is guided by the science of learning. For example, interleaving course content allows students to revisit the same concepts multiple times throughout the term, reinforcing core concepts. I also invite and encourage students to ask questions to explore material in a deeper way. “Prof. Finley was open to answering all questions, and did not treat any question as silly or unnecessary. She encouraged open discussion of any question”. When students ask questions that I either do not know the answer to, or the research has not yet solved, I invite students to either look up the answer and share with the class at a later date, or use the question to facilitate class discussion, asking what kind of study would be needed to answer the question, or what, based on what we’ve learned so far, might we predict? I use questions to help students to see connections, “The instructor challenged me to learn by encouraging me to ask questions about the information that I read on my own and the one I learned in class”. I get especially excited when a student asks a really challenging or interesting question, because it shows that they are really understanding the material. I use positive reinforcement to encourage these kinds of questions. I encourage students to work with each other to go deeper in the material by presenting the material and teaching each other. “Having to ‘teach’ about a paper helped with understanding and critical thinking”. In addition to frequent testing, I encourage spaced practice with weekly assessments and assignments that build onto each other. I also make sure to explain to students that my approaches are backed by empirical evidence. Many students, especially in PSYC 101, rely on ineffective learning strategies. I make use of the course content to teach them more efficient and productive study strategies that they can use in any class.
It is important for me to give timely and consistent feedback. Students are more likely to respect deadlines when they know that they will receive feedback quickly. Learning science shows that the closer feedback is to a behavior, the more likely one is to learn from the feedback. “Professor Finley was a fair instructor and was organized. Graded things fast and was well prepared”. I also challenge students through hands-on activities that allow students to explore and fail with grace. For example, in my Learning class, when we cover error-correction in theories of learning (such as the Rescorla-Wagner model), students throw balls at an unknown target while blindfolded, receiving only the magnitude and the direction of the error. The students learn, hands-on, that the learner is often ‘blind’ to what is actually being learned, and that error correction is proportional to the size of the error (larger errors yield larger corrections). In my Introduction to Cognitive Science course, students worked in groups to create their own language (ConLang) in order to apply principles of linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax, and variation). In-class activities can help students explore material in new ways. While creating hands-on activities for classes is one of my favorite parts of class preparation, I am mindful that the goal is less about the fun, and more about what the students learn from the activity, and it is important to find activities appropriate for the course (e.g., a small seminar vs. a large lecture). “The course activities that challenged me to learn the most were the class activities that made me think of the information in a different way. These class activities required me to think creatively about problems. They challenged me to learn because they required a deeper understanding of the material in order to successfully complete them.”
I see teaching as an opportunity to stay connected with current research, integrating new findings into the course regularly. However, despite trendy new studies and methodologies, there is a core set of knowledge that students must learn in order to understand language, and how it is studied. I also use upper division courses and capstone mentorship as a way to help students engaged with current research on their own terms. In addition to traditional courses, I have spent much of my time at PLU mentoring undergraduates in research. This includes mentoring students in my laboratory, but also mentoring senior capstone projects. At PLU, all students are required to take a capstone course, which involves original research on a topic of their choice. Most students who work with me engage in experimental projects (some projects include: brain responses to attentional control, accent prejudice, implicit vs. explicit learning), while others engage in literature reviews on a range of topics.
At PLU, I primarily teach Introduction to Psychology (in person and online), Human Neuropsychology, and Learning: Research and Theory, as well as Teaching and Research Practicums, Research Seminar: Language Learning, and Minds, Brains and Computers: An Introduction to Cognitive Science.