Teaching Philosophy

I believe that the goal of any education, especially at the collegiate level, should first be learning to learn, second learning to think critically, and then learning by doing. Young people today are expected to average between seven and ten different careers in their future. If all I did was teach them a single skill set in my classes, then I will have failed to equip them for the lifelong process of development necessary to achieve in the dynamic environment they face.

In my classes, I try to help them understand the importance of wanting to learn. Many students come to a class expecting to be told a lot about expectations, and a lot about specific knowledge they will acquire. Instead I try to help them understand that they need to be able to find answers far beyond what is printed in a textbook or what is asked on a test. I promote the need for each student to decide what he or she wants from an education. Many students may come to college with the basic goal of taking classes necessary to get a degree. While a college degree is certainly an achievement, it should be a tool that helps learners enter the working world with the ability to improve the organizations they join. I see my role as a facilitator and coach, helping students to improve their ability to learn.

To achieve the second goal, I focus my classroom around projects and writing assignments that help them to apply the knowledge from the course in a way that goes beyond the basics. In teaching entrepreneurship, this type of learning involves researching business ideas for their potential to become new ventures. In business and society, this learning involves looking at current events or personal experiences to consider how information from the course relates to what is going on in their world.

When knowledge is applied, it is more likely that knowledge is retained. This application also helps achieve the third goal of learning by doing. When students engage the material by considering how it applies to their own experiences, they understand it on a much deeper level than when I simply lecture. As I continue to develop my skills as a teacher, I incorporate more active learning techniques to improve the retention. My own experiences supports what research by other scholars has shown, that much more learning goes on when the student is actively engaged in the material and in the process.

Teaching Experience

I have taught three different courses: Entrepreneurship, Business and Society, and Strategic Management (Capstone Course). Over seven semesters, my rating in overall effectiveness as an instructor was 4.66 out of 5 with a high of 4.93.