PSYC 180: Social Media, Technology, and Adolescent Brain Development (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Intro-level course on how social media and technology use interacts with adolescent development
PSYC 250: Child Development (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Survey course on child development from prenatal development through adolescence
PSYC 433: Behavioral Decision Theory (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Upper-level psychology seminar about human decision-making
DECSCI 101: Fundamentals of Decision Science (Duke University)
Duke Undergraduate Certificate Program in Decision Sciences gateway course
DECSCI 401: Research in Decision Science (Duke University)
Duke Undergraduate Certificate Program in Decision Sciences capstone course
Preparing Future Faculty Fellow
Selected fellow in program to prepare graduate students for careers as academic faculty
Mentor: Mark O'Dekirk, Meredith College
Duke Certificate in College Teaching
Duke Graduate School coursework and training in college pedagogy
My teaching philosophy has evolved from when I first started teaching small sections as a graduate student in 2014 to my present role predominantly teaching large classes at UNC-Chapel Hill. I have maintained my emphasis on treating students as whole individuals, each bringing their own backgrounds and experiences to the classroom, while also adding increased course structure to better serve a diversity of students. My goal as a teacher is to guide student learning by promoting course engagement through student-centered activities, implementing thoughtfully designed course structure to meet all students’ needs, and continuously striving to improve upon my teaching through feedback and professional development.
Promoting course engagement
In my courses at UNC, students do more than just read or listen to me lecture about psychological concepts: They directly engage with them in the classroom through student-centered activities. In one example activity from my Child Development course, students learn about birthing practices and their effects on children by seeking out examples from different cultures, reflecting on how different birthing practices could alter infant health outcomes, and presenting their findings to each other [activity instructions]. Students find this exercise engaging because they can spend class time exploring and finding their own sources while also learning about other cultures. It also pushes students to extrapolate concepts from the examples presented in their textbook and apply them to their own discoveries.
In my teaching, I frequently ask students to apply course concepts to their everyday lives. For example, in my Social Media and the Adolescent Brain course, students are assigned to read a paper describing a theoretical framework for analyzing the differences between online and in-person interactions. In class, they then work in groups to apply that framework to a social media platform of their choice [activity instructions] and then share between groups to compare and contrast different platforms. I cap our unit on technology use and mental health by having students work together to design a healthy social media platform for teens [activity instructions]. These activities allow students to apply their understanding of course concepts while thinking critically and creatively about their own social media use.
I also try to promote student autonomy whenever possible by offering options for how to demonstrate understanding. For the final project of my Child Development course, students are tasked with creating an entertaining product for children and writing an accompanying paper that references course content to justify the age-appropriateness of their design decisions [activity instructions]. Most students create picture books, which are frequently charming and sometimes even rhyming or interactive. Others have showcased their creativity in other ways: I have had students create a filmed puppet show illustrating how children categorize living things, a stop-motion music video for an original children’s song about emotion recognition and regulation, and an entirely crocheted infant toy that accounts for developmental changes in sensation and perception.
I strive to create student-centered experiences that allow students to apply and deepen their knowledge of course concepts in a fun and motivating way. This allows them to better understand and remember course material, augmenting what they learn through lectures and readings.
Thoughtfully designed course structure
Though I primarily interact with my students in the classroom, they are people with full and busy lives beyond my course. I believe that adding structure to the design and implementation of my courses is vital for keeping all students on track – and especially beneficial for those who may face extra challenges.
My courses incorporate frequent low-stakes assessments and applied practice. This motivates students to maintain consistent progress while also quickly flagging those who may be falling behind. In my Child Development course, the first part of each week is for lecture, questions, and discussions, while the end of each week is set aside for low-stakes quizzes and group active learning activities. Students have a predictable schedule that pushes them to complete their work on time, as well as regularly-spaced opportunities to receive feedback on their learning progress and for me to monitor their understanding.
My class on Social Media and the Adolescent Brain is a 100-level course with no pre-requisites and is open to all majors. It draws a mix of students with different levels of experience in psychological and scientific principles. Furthermore, the course covers a relatively new field for which a textbook does not yet exist. Instead, my course readings are primarily scholarly review articles that were not written with an undergraduate audience in mind. To ensure that the course is accessible for all students, I have added several layers of structure. All students must complete low-stakes guided reading questions to incentivize them to read before class and to help them identify which concepts and terms are important to focus on. With the help of my undergraduate learning assistants, I have also created optional reading guides [example reading guide] for students who want further help structuring their note-taking on the course readings. Students have reported that these additional tools have helped them build confidence and skill in reading journal articles.
Finally, I add structure to my courses through explicitly communicated built-in flexibility. My syllabi clearly lay out policies regarding dropped grades, extensions, and extra credit. This increases fairness by allowing all students the same mulligans, and it especially benefits less advantaged students, such as first-generation students, who may be less likely to ask for help and grace when they need it.
Continuous development
As an instructor, I constantly learn from students about how to improve as a teacher. In addition to the standard end-of-semester course evaluations, I collect my own midterm surveys to check my effectiveness in the classroom and find areas for improvement. For example, after receiving student comments that they wanted more opportunities to practice exam questions, I added more low-stakes assessments, incorporated more practice questions into my classroom lectures, and worked with my undergraduate learning assistants to create and share further practice questions to the course discussion boards.
Finally, I am continuously improving my teaching skills by learning from experts and mentors. I have completed UNC’s Summer Institute on College Teaching, Learning Assessment and AI Institute, and Digital and Lifelong Learning’s Best Practices in Online Course Design course. I have participated in (and plan to continue participating in) UNC’s Center for Faculty Excellence workshops and Pedagogy Reading Groups. By continuing my own education, I can keep learning how to better serve the educational needs of all of my students.