TEACHING

I believe that the purpose of education should be creating individuals who can manage their own affairs, think independently, assume responsibilities, confront life’s challenges, make decisions, and rely on themselves when circumstances are difficult. This purpose cannot be achieved in a classroom where the instructor is the primary decision maker. Rather, preparing independent responsible learners can be achieved by creating an environment in which students practice these skills. It is my desire as an educator to help students practice taking responsibility for their own learning, so they take this stand during their formal education and throughout their personal life. There are two main elements that I believe are conductive to establish such an environment: (1) sharing power between the instructor and students, and (2) the instructor acts as a guide and facilitator.

I believe that sharing power with students is central to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. When students share power with the instructor to make important decisions about their learning, they will feel responsibility for their decisions. Manor, Bloch-Schulman, Flannery and Felten (2010) argue that there is a strong relationship between power and responsibility: “Greater power means a greater ability to act and thus a greater sense of responsibility to do so” (p. 10). In my courses, I give students a space to decide what they want to learn and what questions they seek to answer through the course based on their needs and their previous experiences. Throughout the semester, I help students achieve their own goal(s) and answer their own question(s). I believe that allowing students to have some input in what they want to learn in the course will motivate them to work hard in the course. When students have intentions, responsibilities, and purposes, they are more connected to what you do and focus more intelligence on their experience.

As part of sharing power with students, I allow students to take an active role in running the class with some facilitation from me, thus much of the responsibility and power will be shifted. I ask students to choose self-selected topics, under the main domain of the course, and teach their classmates and me about their topics. Students are responsible for reading about their topics prior to class, taking complete responsibility for the class discussion, and teaching their classmates about their topics, with me acting only as a facilitator, when necessary. When asking students to read a specific chapter or article, I do not give lectures on topics that are explained in the text, but I let students decide what content will get worked on during a class period. I listen to students’ speaking speech as much as possible. During the class discussion, I offer questions, comments, structures, and academic knowledge while patiently listening to students’ thoughts and ideas.

To encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, my role as an instructor is a guide and facilitator to students' learning while they work to master the materials. I my courses, I provide access to information rather than acting as the primary source of information. I provide direction and leadership students need in order to take what they know to the next level. I create a safe environment for students to build knowledge for themselves while I show them how things can work and how work can be done. By allowing students to make decisions about their learning and be responsible for these decisions, I want to persuade students that their role is do more and my role is to do less if the goal is learning.

Classes Taught

EDUC 518: Technology and Pedagogy (Syllabus)

EDLT 520: Multimedia and Authoring (CoTaught with Dr. Julia Parra) (Syllabus)

EDLT 368: Integrating Technology with Teaching (Lab Section).(Syllabus)