Department
of Philosophy and Religion
Teaching
Philosophy
My
teaching philosophy centers on the concept of active learning, which is a
pedagogical method that does not restrict instruction to the professor. Active
learning requires the student to become a participant in the learning process.
This, however, does not mean that I permit students to control the classroom
environment. Rather, I recognize that students need a structured and
comfortable learning atmosphere to acquire and test their newly acquired skills
of critical thinking and reasoning. I believe that the professor must maintain
control of the learning environment by providing students with the tools
necessary for learning. I consider active learning to be a flexible model that
must change and adapt to the needs of my students. As students grow in their
intellectual development, I attempt to structure my courses to meet their needs
as well as to respond to their questions and challenges. This requires that I
keep the lines of communication between myself and my students open at all
times so that I may respond to their questions and continually gauge their
progress. To accomplish this, I maintain an open door policy for the benefit of
my students as a way to demonstrate that I am serious about their learning. I
also do not use assistants of any kind. I read and grade all assignments in
order to make certain that I am keeping abreast of the needs and concerns of my
students.
Scholarship
provides the foundation of the active learning process in all of my courses.
Publication, research, and academic writing are difficult enterprises that take
considerable time. For a scholar to publish, he or she must be willing to think
critically, develop a single idea, communicate it effectively, and provide
sufficient documentation. Publication is perhaps the most vulnerable part of
the active learning process since a professor must be willing to place their
ideas in the arena of scholarship for critical evaluation. Those who fear
criticism of their work do not publish and, therefore, refuse to engage in
intellectual life and learn. This, however, is nothing less than what a
university asks of its students, namely to think, read, and write critically.
All my classes, therefore, emphasize the teaching of scholarship and the
dissemination of research and critical thinking skills.
In my classes I emphasize how knowledge is acquired and the means that scholars use to both verify and challenge ideas. I stress that the basic skills of liberal arts scholarship are applicable to all professions, and thereby necessary for success. After my students gain a basic familiarity with the discipline under study, they can then proceed to move into small groups and engage in various academic experiences that seek to expand their thinking skills. This in turns provides the basis for the second component of active learning: the transmission of critical thinking skills to the student. In all of my courses students are required to learn the techniques of academic research and to examine and challenge various topics and ideas that I present them. They are also encouraged to question any fact that I present them in the classroom. As an instructor, I must be prepared to meet these challenges by demonstrating to my students the basis for my statements. Therefore, I consider active learning to be a conversation between myself and my students in which we both seek to use the skills of critical thinking to understand the past and the present.
My classes require students to master a variety of learning techniques. Through the use of the internet, my students acquire the ability to locate and evaluate academically sound web sites on topics related to religion, humanities, and current events. In my Old Testament and Other Hebrew Scriptures class, for example, students view numerous internet sites that help them to learn how scholars reconstruct the past. These electronic resources include maps, manuscripts, archaeological sites, and articles. I also show students photographs of various archaeological sites to teach them how scholars excavate the past. I supplement these visual materials with actual artifacts from some of these archaeological sites. Students are challenged to identify these objects in order to experience how archaeologists and scholars uncover and interpret the past. By allowing students to touch pottery and other objects from the biblical sites they read about in class, they are able to make a physical connection with the ancient world described in the biblical text. I have discovered that this combination of textual and visual instruction helps students to better remember the course material. I also use my extensive scholarly contacts throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East to keep abreast of any new historical and archaeological discoveries of relevance to my class. This guarantees that my students are receiving the best and most accurate information currently available about the world of the Bible. Because much of the material that I present in my course is still unpublished, UNI students taking my class have access to new discoveries years before they appear in textbooks.