Teaching style and philosophy

My view on the role of the instructor is that I’m here to be your guide or coach through the learning process. I think that there are several things that I can do to assist you in developing the skills and content knowledge that you need. A lot of the ways I can best help you are to push you to be active with the content which is why I use a lot of active learning approaches such as group work in my courses. I think that as the expert I am here to help break down complex ideas and topics and scaffold learning so that you can develop independence and proficiency over time. I also believe, however, that I’m only half of the equation – it is you who has to do a lot of the integration of knowledge and put in the time and effort to grow.

As an example, consider if I was your basketball coach helping you with your three-point shooting. I can give you feedback and tips as I watch you shoot and I can design drills for you to do, but when it comes to getting better, you have to invest time outside of our coaching sessions to practice shooting.

I believe that the role of a student in the learning process is to do the integration of knowledge and sensemaking.  This requires effort. Learning is an effortful process – just like learning a sport or hobby. Attending lecture is important, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. To truly understand the material, it’s essential to engage with it outside of class. Learning requires that you put in time supplementing the lecture by reading the textbook and testing yourself with homework and book problems. The role of the student is also to ask questions and be curious about the things that we are learning. I also believe that you are responsible for their own learning in the sense that it is up to you to put in the effort, organize your time, use your resources, identify your gaps in learning, and determine how best to fill your gaps.

Learning in my classes is active. I design my courses so that students have opportunities to construct knowledge for themselves and have opportunities to assess their own learning. I use a lot of active learning techniques such as clicker questions, group work, inquiry-based activities. I also provide formative assessment opportunities through clicker questions, daily homework, and weekly quizzes. I also embed opportunities to develop transferrable skills and science practices such as problem-solving, constructing arguments, and metacognition.