Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy, which I incorporate into every course I teach, whether on-ground, online, or hybrid, is a culmination of twenty plus years of teaching in academic environments and twelve years teaching in corporate learning environments and relies on components of knowledge acquisition, knowledge integration, and ultimately knowledge application to the real world – knowledge, skill, and practice – as outlined by Robert Gagne’[1].  Theoretically, my teaching philosophy is based on a portion of Gagne’s Hierarchy of Educational Outcomes (Cognitive Domain:  verbal information – declarative knowledge such as facts, and information; intellectual skills – procedural knowledge such as discriminations, concrete and defined concepts, rules, and problem solving; and cognitive strategy – strategies for thinking and problem solving).  According to Gagne’, because learning is complex and diverse, learning objectives must be categorized using these educational outcomes, and appropriate conditions of learning applied.

Following from Gagne’s Hierarchy, I structure each course to accomplish three objectives.  I expect each student to gain verbal information, which according to Gagne’ represents the language or vocabulary of a particular subject matter.  The verbal information provides a foundation for all learning in a subject matter area by providing the vocabulary for learning the information in that area.  I also expect each student to learn intellectual skills, which according to Gagne’ represent the application of the verbal information to the particular subject matter area.  The intellectual skills represent the actual learning of the information, or the ways in which the information in the course can be used.  Finally, I expect each student to exhibit cognitive strategies, which according to Gagne’ represent the application of both the verbal information and intellectual skills to real-world situations.

With these objectives in mind, I organize each course with weekly lectures providing students with the verbal information necessary to understand the subject matter and intellectual skills aimed at helping the students understand and integrate the material.  Accomplishing this objective is assessed through periodic objective quizzes that include multiple choice questions, short-answer questions, definitions, and so forth.  I also incorporate seminar-like discussion opportunities to allow students to “work” with the verbal information exploring the formation and application of concepts.  This objective is assessed through mid-term and final subjective exams with short- and long-answer essay questions; as well as writing assignments.

Finally, I assign a semester-long capstone project focused on a real-world problem or issue, which requires the application of both verbal information and intellectual skills.  These real-world problems or issues can be worked on individually and/or in groups and in-class as well as out-of-class time is dedicated to their completion.  This objective is assessed through periodic discussions (typically managed through a threaded discussion board forum), and an end of semester presentation demonstrating the various solutions that students have devised for these various problems or issues.  The goal is for each student at the end of every semester to leave my course with the basic knowledge of the vocabulary necessary to understand the subject matter, the ability to thoroughly understand and integrate the information presented in the course, and insight as to how this vocabulary, understanding, and integration can apply to the real-world.

Additionally, I integrate technology into each course I teach in multiple ways.  I provide students with an implementation of a course management system for each course (presently, I utilize Blackboard, however, in the past I have used Moodle, WebCT, YahooGroups, or a hand-coded CMS application) that houses a course outline, all lecture notes, links to helpful Internet sites and tools useful in the course, a discussion board that I monitor where questions can be posted for me or the class, a chat facility that I do not monitor where students can interact to work on their real-world problem or issue assignment, and an e-mail facility that allows students to easily communicate with each other and/or myself. 

[1] Gagne, R. M.  (1985).  The Condition of Learning and Theory of Instruction, Fourth Edition.  Wadsworth:  Belmont, CA.