It pleases me when an individual begins to understand and grasp concepts, and I dedicate myself to producing such attainment in my teaching. Similarly, I desire that attentive and hardworking students complete my courses with well-founded confidence in their course-related abilities as they apply them to the real world. Below I describe dimensions of my philosophy of teaching that undergird my attempts to bring about the above results.
Substance not hype
I once had a conversation with a faculty member in my department in which we were discussing a corporation, and I stated “they are all hype, and I don’t like it.” The faculty member replied “well, it is a good thing you do not teach marketing classes, then”, using sarcasm to humorously imply that marketing is mostly hype. Initially befuddled by his comment, I replied “But I do not teach marketing from that perspective – I want students to learn to sell and market their products with substance and honesty, not hype.” Since coming to ACU to teach marketing this has been one of my touchstone principles: marketing can be based on substance and is not merely an academic synonym for hype. So, I have striven to teach students that they should not rely on hype as their preferred tool of persuasion.
Cognitive game theory: Well-prepared student > Well-liked professor
At some point I recognized that while professors are tasked with preparing students for their future, we are often tempted to take the shortcut method of merely attempting to be well-liked. Giving in to temptation may result in higher course evaluations, but it abandons the charge and, in fact, the purpose of education. I recognize that this can be a tricky perspective because it certainly can be used to excuse poor teaching. Nonetheless, a second hallmark of my teaching philosophy has been to focus on diligently preparing students for the future.
Part of this perspective derives from the fact that most students who enroll in marketing at ACU are not interested in data analysis, yet I teach either analytical courses (marketing research, data mining) or traditional courses with an analytical emphasis (consumer behavior). At ACU, entering students who want to study business and enjoy working with numbers tend to choose accounting or finance as majors. Although emphases are different among students at places like Stanford University, the ongoing data revolution has not yet fully permeated our culture. Yet, whether or not they like it or are ready for it, people training for marketing roles today will tomorrow be forced to work with and interpret data. Hence, the more tools and experience they have with it, the better off they will be.
An extension of this dimension was inspired by a conversation with Dennis Marquardt during Spring 2016. We had spoken of the correlation between grades and course evaluations and he mentioned that at UTA (where he got his PhD), you were ineligible to win a teaching award if the overall gpa that you gave out exceeded 3.0. I loved this idea so ever since that semester I have only given out an annual gpa of less than 3.0 gpa (average gpa I have given out through time). From then on I wanted any high course evaluations or teaching accolades that I received to reflect my teaching, not my grading.
Make way for unstructured problems
An out-growth of the previous dimension is allowing space for students to solve unstructured problems. This was partly inspired by a SACS request for information on courses which deal with unstructured problems. I describe such problems to my students as follows:
“Imagine that you could get equal course credit for either (a) calculating the area of a square or (b) calculating the area of a very misshapen object such as a lake. Which would you prefer to solve?”
Although nearly every student prefers being graded on option (a), there is great value to students and their employers in being able to solve option (b). Nonetheless, many teachers — including myself — seek to provide students with option (a) simply because it relatively minimizes complaints. So, recently I have striven to give students opportunities to solve such unstructured problems.
Emphasize connections with what they already know
Learning can be intimidating. When a student encounters a challenging course, led by a teacher with high expectations, it can even feel overwhelming. Another component of my teaching is to first remind students what they already know in order to induce connections with the new things they are learning, consistent with the associative network model of memory (Wickelgren, 1981). According to this theory, our memories are stored using a distributed network of neurons and when one element is activated (e.g., McDonald’s), closely connected nodes are activated as well (Big Mac, Hamburglar, fries, kids, fast food, etc.). I try to first connect into their existing associative network and then build onto it the new information and ways of thinking which I am trying to convey. An example of such efforts is included for both my marketing research and data mining courses.
Allow research experience to enhance my teaching
Lastly, I have striven to allow my research experience to improve my teaching. I think that conducting research is a true asset to teaching because it provides real experiences in interpreting and critiquing information that are hard to obtain if one has never been out on the research frontier. For example, I try to convey a healthy skepticism of data and research findings in every class I teach. I often encourage students to contemplate the potential flaws in the studies we examine. I try to rarely teach things as fact, but, rather that these are research findings or this is a theory about human behavior. I think I am benefited in that I teach research classes, yet even the field of education (i.e., teaching) strives to train teachers to use research-based strategies, indicating a shared recognition of the value that research lends to teaching.
Summary
These dimensions of my teaching philosophy have served me well. Nonetheless, if all faculty used the same style or had the same emphases then I think that the overall experience for students would be diminished. The multiplicities of teaching styles differentially appeal to students, lending strength through diversity.