Christopher Parkinson

As a professor, it is my responsibility to motivate the students’ interest in the course. My goal is to utilize active learning techniques to teach critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills. This is very difficult, but I am fortunate to have a dynamic personality, quick sense of humor and an intense passion to excite students. I often integrate my research and other real-world examples to solidify understanding of important principles. One of my trademarks is my respect for the student. By the second week of class, I know each student by name (even in my 81 person classes.) We set high expectations for both them and me. I invite dialogue. In my class, students learn to expect questions, thus they must be prepared. Students learn that asking “why” is important. There are no stupid questions. My greatest accomplishment is providing a non-threatening, nurturing environment, for my students to learn. Respect is a key reason for this success. When students feel that you genuinely care about them and they see you giving your all to them, they do not want to disappoint you. There are days in lecture that I do not get through all of the planned material as I spend most of the period trying to answer a student’s question several different ways. My thought is, if one student has the question, several others do as well. I often wonder if they work so hard so as to not disappoint me or if I have lighted a fire in them. It doesn’t matter as long as the result is the same. Finally, I love teaching. I prepare each lecture (even if I have taught the course before,) and I try to leave a favorable impression on each student. I believe what makes me an excellent teacher is my ability to motivate students.

Karen Verkler

Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.   George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)   I have been an educator in several different disciplines. However, it is my opinion that content area instruction is of secondary importance. Of utmost importance is the establishment of a caring, positive learning environment in which the student is encouraged to believe in himself/herself and to demonstrate self-respect and respect for others. In addition, I adamantly espouse the view that learning can and should be fun.      To this end, I strive to create a positive, stress-free learning environment. One of my first activities each semester is an icebreaker that allows students and teacher to become familiar with everyone’s name, background, and personality. I encourage them to celebrate the unique individuals they are. I am a firm believer in being oneself and believing in oneself. An individual attempting to emulate someone possessing a teaching style and/or personality different from one’s own will not feel a “fit.”   I show my students that teachers can expect high quality work and have fun at the same time. My expectations are high and I have been knighted “The Grammar Queen of the College of Education” by students. However, my high standards certainly do not preclude the presence of a sense of humor. I have a jovial, playful nature and laughter comes easily to me. I exude enthusiasm and a love for my profession, and encourage my students to celebrate life and have fun. Although they realize that the course content is of a very serious and important nature, they emulate my sense of humor. The resultant classroom environment is one of support, friendship, and concern for one another, the foundation upon which I base all of my teaching.

Hyung-Il Jung

I think the goal of teaching is to help and guide students to become intelligent and socially responsible members of society. However, this logical goal is often clouded by affective domains of learners and teachers together. For this reason, the responsibility of the teacher must include accommodating emotions of learners as well.

I teach accounting and finance—not everyone’s favorite subjects. Students often express their frustration regarding the confusing aspects of the material. This is simply an emotional consequence driven by cognitive obstacles imposed to learners. On the other hand, many educators in the field of Hospitality Management have addressed the difficulty of teaching business material pointing out the students’ lack of ability and interest. This presents a cognitive difficulty for teachers created by the emotional reaction of the learners. These cognitions and emotions can create a negative cyclical pattern of confusion for both teacher and learner.

Through observing the possibilities for confusion, I was able to further clarify my goal for teaching. I am a firm believer that every student accepted to a higher-level educational system has enough cognitive capacity to learn any subject. This assumption led me to the conclusion that altering delivery style may improve the learning environment. In two educational systems, I have tried to help students remove the emotional barrier related to the content. I do this by stimulating each student’s genetic capacity for “logical thinking.”

Through the approach mentioned above, I have noticed improvements in learning behavior. By helping students understand that seemingly complicated techniques are simply mechanical variations of core logic, I observe increased comprehension and interest. Further, I notice increased voluntary student involvement. This convinces me that teachers can help students learn effectively by developing their logical instincts.

In this context, teaching may be viewed as a “creative science.” It should maximize students’ learning capacity by stimulating their desire and interest. This creative science deviates from forceful delivery of content. Teaching should always be a mutual cognitive and affective exchange between the teacher and students. This is my teaching philosophy.

Ken Teter

Engagement is the key to education. In the classroom, I engage my students by establishing a dialogue with them. Instead of simply reciting information, I ask questions. Why is the CDC in Atlanta? Students are surprised to learn that the original goal of the CDC was to eliminate malaria from the southern United States. Historical and contemporary references thus provide my students with real-world links to the lecture material. Other questions ask the students to apply their knowledge of the class material. These questions focus on critical thinking skills and allow me to reinforce the major themes of the course. Critical thinking is also emphasized in my upper-division classes which present data from the primary literature as a way of enhancing the textbook lessons. This question-and-answer format inevitably becomes a dialogue, with the students asking most of the questions. As such, the students take ownership of the class and become active participants in the learning process.   Engagement includes hands-on learning; the best way to learn science is to practice it. I have accordingly sponsored independent research projects for eleven UCF undergraduates. I also established a Program for Undergraduate Research (PURE) within the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. PURE provides a select group of students with a holistic experience that includes independent research, oral and written presentations of their research findings, readings from the primary literature, and discussions of research-related topics such as graduate school admissions. Assessment tools developed with the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will be used to determine the effectiveness of this program and other avenues for undergraduate research.  Engagement extends beyond teaching and research. For this reason, I participate in multiple aspects of the UCF Summer Research Academy. During the academic year, I direct a “Career Opportunities in the Biomedical Sciences” seminar series. By generating additional interest in their field of study, I hope our students will be motivated to pursue an education that emphasizes conceptual learning over memorization. My lecture, lab, and extracurricular instructional activities are thus meant to provide our undergraduates with an exciting, holistic educational experience.

George Bagley

If there is a paramount object to teaching, it should be community. Community leads to confidence among my students that the course will be dynamic, will add to their own intellectual growth, while simultaneously ensuring that each point of view will be respected, all assumptions lying at the heart of the complex contract of teaching.   I look each term to cultivate a legitimate regard for all my students, a sincere desire to see them succeed in the course. If I really care about my students, if my concern for them is more than simple lip service, they will quickly discover this and invest themselves accordingly. This is particularly true in large classes where students can easily slip into anonymous oblivion.   I also seek in my classes to provoke. If I pose to students impotent interrogations of text material or the qualities or components of this or that particular principle, I’ve done little to promote their intellectual curiosity. Any learning will be mired in rote practice, discourse practically non-existent. If, on the other hand, I cause them to momentarily examine their casual convictions I’ve opened the door to critical re-articulation of those convictions. Most student responses begin viscerally, which is the perfect moment to help them appreciate higher dialectic thought, and since provocations, responses and discussion are very public, available to each member of class, one’s discovery becomes the unique product of exchange.   I know there are no perfect strategies for effective teaching. Each term, each new set of students demands its own unique considerations, and if I manage to lead my students toward intellectual curiosity and an understanding of the rewards of intellectual exchange, I discover within myself my own true potential to teach and learn, and my own reward for my small role in the exchange.

Barbara Moore

I believe it is imperative for students to learn the economic way of thinking and applications of economic theory in their lives, and to use technology to do both. I want students to be able to analyze economic policy and how it influences their decisions, as well as corporate, national and international decisions. My students engage in learning with discussion, in-class activities and applications. Class commences with a display of objectives for the class followed by analysis of an Internet news article related to economics content. The class then proceeds with various strategies including quizzes in WebCT, activities in Aplia, and "minds-on" group activities. My classroom is without walls, it extends beyond the 75 minute timeframe. Students are actively engaged online throughout the semester. To continue the improvement of my students' preparation for their academic and workplace careers, I consistently refine the classes I teach to reflect the most current economic analysis and use of technology. I continue to work at improving my technological skills because students are well-prepared in this arena and expect my teaching to use the latest techniques.

Michael Strawser

Three goals that are central to my overall teaching philosophy are energy, respect, and edification. Energy: I believe that a good teacher should be dynamic, enthusiastic, and passionate for the subject, very knowledgeable and competent in communicating his or her knowledge. These are properties that I strive to emulate. I deem a class most successful when the discussion of the subject matter has become so intense that no one wishes for it to end, and that it resonates in the students’ and my minds long after the class has ended. Respect: All true education and edification (or Bildung, which captures the meanings of both words) is based on respect. There are several ways that I try to respect my students. First, in order to facilitate a more authentic dialogue, I learn the names of the students in the class, whether they are 150 or ten. Second, I respect the students' ability to learn by only reading primary philosophical texts. It is important to have high, but realistic expectations of the students, and through encouragement and instruction lead them to a level of learning that they may not have thought was possible. Third, I respect students by letting them have a significant voice in the class. This is done by allowing students' own interpretations of the course material initiate critical discussions (which can be achieved using a variety of methods), and also by carrying out an anonymous evaluation of the course early in the semester (usually after a month) so that appropriate adjustments can be made if they would benefit the students' learning. Another way of respecting students is by allowing them to cooperate and create the course content itself, which has been successfully achieved in my collaborative courses. Edification: I think a good teacher should be able to meet learners where they are at individually, and I believe that a good teacher should be edifying in both a Kierkegaardian and Rortyian sense. With regards to the former, one should start with a foundation of love or genuine concern for the individual learner. With regards to the latter, one should strive for authentic discourse or communication which keeps the dialogue going, open, in development. In general, I believe a good teacher remains open and is continually changing-as flexibility and variety are key factors in learning. When one strives to achieve these goals, not only will the students learn better, but the teacher will as well.

Honghui Chen

I believe that a professor must create knowledge and effectively disseminate that knowledge to students. I carry my enthusiasm for research excellence to my teaching. I pursue teaching excellence by setting high expectations of students, giving rigorous and up-to-date course material, showing my genuine care about their learning, and setting a good example of professionalism in my classroom.

Setting high expectations of the students is a necessary condition for students to have a good learning experience. At the beginning of every course, I let all students know that they are expected to work hard to earn their grades. Following my high expectations, I strive to give rigorous and up-to-date courses that will help students acquire necessary skills to succeed in the future. I give students the opportunities to learn using real life examples, in-class exercises, out-of-class assignments, and projects. Through these hands-on experiences, students develop their problem solving abilities, and more importantly, the skill of learning. It is my hope that students will obtain lifelong benefits from my classes. Since my research is closely related to investments and portfolio management, I have been successful in bringing my research findings and other up-to-date materials into my classes. Students welcome and enjoy the challenges from my classes.

I also genuinely care about students’ learning. I believe that my concern for their learning and their performance in my class also motivates them to care about their performance and to improve their learning.

Finally, I expect professionalism from all my students, and I strive to set a good example for them. On the first day of each course, students are advised of my expectation of a professional environment. I am always in the classroom at least 10 minutes before the class starts, so that I can get the necessary preparations done, and can use class time more efficiently. I always reply to telephone and email questions promptly. I try to exemplify professionalism and expect students to do the same in my classes.

Drew Lanier

Students retain more of course material when they are actively engaged in the learning process. Accordingly, I employ a mixture of lecture and the Socratic Method. Doing so communicates the basic concepts and ideas in the course, while also measuring the students' comprehension, leading to more a profound understanding. Students will retain more of the course material if it is relevant to their daily lives. Because of my academic and professional background, I frequently offer examples and concepts to consider, which makes the material more vibrant than if it were discussed only abstractly. Asking students if they can provide examples of important concepts also facilitates active, engaged student learning. Students learn through repetition. All students must have a basic understanding of important concepts and terms so as to allow them to proceed to more sophisticated analyses. All students are able to learn the material if they are exposed to it several times in various ways. Thus, I strongly encourage my students to read before coming to class. We then cover the material during class, and then I later make reference to preceding concepts and show their linkage to current topics. Criteria-based evaluations are a more valid than norm-referenced evaluations. My students quickly realize that if they know what I emphasize in class, then they will do well in the class regardless of how other students fared. Both the students and I believe that this is a more valid manner by which to assess student comprehension than outright competition against their fellow students. Also, criteria-based evaluations promote cooperative and student-centered learning, which I encourage by explicitly telling students to study in groups. If the group understands the material, then student comprehension will rise too. Students are more engaged in the course when they feel that the professor cares about them. Many students, particularly at a large university, believe that they are simply a number to many professors. To make them feel like an individual, I make a seating chart of all of my students and learn their names. I also encourage students to visit me during office hours, and I give extensive and specific feedback on each of their assignments. My research improves my teaching. When I engage in original research, I am current on the existing literature in the field and I, thus, can better explain how the concepts are relevant to the students. This is particularly helpful in American National Government, in which many students see the subject as distant at best and irrelevant at worst to their lives. Teaching is a learning process for me. Each time I teach a course, I learn new ways to present the material, what to emphasize and how to best communicate the course content. Students’ questions provoke me to consider the material from new and novel perspectives. Teaching, for me, is an ever-evolving craft where I myself am the student seeking a more profound, transformative understanding of the course material. To be a good teacher, I must first be a good learner.

Jeffrey Moore

Although the music discipline is inherently individualistic, a high standard of proficiency for all students is what university training represents. Percussion as a medium has the additional challenge of including thousands of instruments. Diversity of subject matter while finding common concepts is the center of the percussion experience at the university. In continuing to improve my teaching, working to increase quality and efficiency, I looked to my peers and our accreditation agencies for guidance and inspiration. The training for percussionists is divided into two parts: private lessons and ensemble experience. I maintain four ensembles to prepare students for the diversity of music they will encounter in their careers. In addition, I oversee the percussion instructor of the Marching Knights Drum Line, organizing and teaching the section for performances and sometimes composing the music. I utilize WebCT and made my Percussion Techniques, Percussion Literature, and Percussion Pedagogy courses Web Enhanced. As a model for students, I balance performance experience, scholarly work, professional presentations, and working with the industry in product development. I have given numerous recitals on campus, nationally, in Europe, and in Asia. I authored several articles on innovative ways to teach percussion concepts and published several musical compositions and arrangements. In addition, I am a contributing author to Teaching Percussion, the premier textbook on percussion pedagogy. I have designed three snare drum stick and seven keyboard mallet models with Pro-Mark Incorporated, and the lines are distributed internationally.

Melissa Frye

Today’s workplace offers new challenges to students – the options are wider, the demands are greater, and the workplace is less structured. To be successful, students will need to meet the challenges of this type of working environment. A teacher is the guide who helps them prepare to meet these challenges by arming them with the knowledge and know-how to be successful. Sharing knowledge is at the heart of any class. When presenting material, I strive to clearly articulate the concepts and then offer examples so students see how the concepts can be applied. I then encourage the students to ask questions and share their own opinions. Key to the success of this approach is providing an interactive and supportive environment, where students are challenged but assisted to meet those challenges. While students must understand the content of the course, it is equally important that students acquire the skills of learning, including problem solving, scientific inquiry, self-discipline, and self-motivation. Memorizing facts and formulas is only a part of what it takes to master a subject area – the ability to apply this knowledge is where true value is derived. My approach in the classroom emphasizes the application of material to relevant examples that the students may carry forward in their professional life. Keeping students engaged is critical to the success of a class. First and foremost, teaching and learning should be fun. I enjoy looking for new and better ways to present and discuss material, searching for examples to which students can relate. Teaching and learning should also be relevant. I strive to incorporate real-world examples and experiences in my classroom. Creating such an environment keeps the students interested and encourages them to work harder. Helping students learn new and challenging material is extremely rewarding for me. Not all of my students will pursue careers in finance, but the principles they learn can be applied to everyday life and I consciously try to emphasize this. It is my hope that the courses I teach will contribute, at least in a small way, to their ultimate success.

Kristina Tollefson

I demonstrate a humanistic approach to teaching by modeling how to be a productive member of a learning community as I teach content, a lifelong aesthetic appreciation of art and theatre, and communication skills. My goal in exhibiting the behavior I ask my students to practice, including enthusiasm for the topic, self-discipline, respect for the ideas of others and adherence to deadlines, is to foster a positive learning relationship of trust and mutual respect. I accomplish this goal by keeping four objectives in mind. 1. Cultivate a safe classroom of honesty and respect. Learning happens best when students feel comfortable. I have equal respect for and confidence in the ability of all my students, and I employ several methods for communicating this respect and confidence. I learn and use my students' names to make it clear that in my class they will be respected and identified as individuals. I provide my students with a detailed syllabus and assignment guidelines for every class. There are no gray areas; they know my expectations and how to earn their grades. Clear definitions of plagiarism and cheating ensure my expectation of their academic honesty as members of the university learning community. Soliciting comments regarding my teaching on a daily basis and fulfilling those that do not conflict with my pedagogical objectives are easy ways to adapt to students' learning styles and reinforce my respect for them. 2. Make the learning process active, interactive and collaborative. Only when both professor and student actively fulfill their responsibilities can learning occur. Attendance, attention, and participation in class discussions and projects are essential. A professor can do much to accomplish course objectives, but students must also take responsibility for meeting objectives. Traditional lecture courses do not tend to inspire students to interact with the subject matter. To counteract this, I lead discussions arguing both sides of issues to help my students develop their own opinions and learn to think for themselves. I strive to create experiential opportunities in all of my courses. My students learn about the art, process, and people in class and then live those ideas through practical experiences. My collaboration with students on every design I do is a tangible way to bring their classroom experiences into reality in addition to building materials they can present as part of their portfolios. 3. Teach to a variety of learning styles. By combining discussions with course packs, guest speakers, videos, Web sites, small group discussions, and activities, I strive to teach to aural, visual and kinesthetic learners. Combining more than one modality increases my chance for successfully teaching every student. 4. Learn from your students and other successful teachers. Respecting student feedback and attending workshops and symposia on instructional techniques through university and professional organizations are essential aspects of my development as an educator. Each course I teach or workshop I attend provides valuable discoveries that become part of my syllabi, teaching philosophy, or style.

Kenneth White

Formal education is highly correlated to national productivity and individual accomplishments. The skills that students develop help a nation’s productivity while at the same time reward individuals for their commitment to excellence. Teaching is, I believe, one of the most important endeavors taking place in our economy. All students have the capacity and desire to learn and succeed. Teaching is a partnership between the student and instructor. The instructor’s goal is to facilitate the learning process of students to allow them to master difficult concepts. Some students have the ability to understand concepts quicker. However, by presenting a concept, or topic, via different alternative approaches (intuitively, mathematically, using analogies, etc.) makes it possible for all students to learn. All that is required is a willingness on the student’s part to participate. I am in my 38th year of teaching at UCF and I have always valued my relationship with our students. It is my belief that the relationship between instructor and student should not one of advocacy as defined in our legal system, but rather as a consulting relationship helping students to acquire and master the skills and knowledge needed in today’s business environment.

Melody Bowdon

I have taught undergraduate writing classes for over twelve years, and the most gratifying aspect of my experience has always been seeing students make ethical use of the concepts and techniques that they learn from my classes in their lives as professionals and citizens. For me, teaching writing is teaching thinking, and the key to meaningful learning is making a connection between the classroom and the world beyond. For this reason, service-learning is central to my pedagogical approach. This form of experiential education invites students to work on class projects that benefit themselves and their communities through writing for and with people in nonprofit and government organizations and public schools. The work that my students have done in their communities in the past decade has repeatedly pleased and amazed me and I take great pride in being associated with their accomplishments. Students in my technical and professional writing classes have used their expertise to create computer manuals for organizations such as the Winter Park Day Nursery and United Cerebral Palsy. They've created grant proposals, brochures, websites, flyers, and other documents for a wide range of deserving groups. Through this process they recognize how much they know and how much their communities can benefit from their expertise. They realize that the smallest increment of their donated time can make or break a community project, and that no matter how much they know about the technical aspects of their fields, unless they learn to convey their knowledge to real audiences their training will never reach its potential impact. Service-learners in my Literature of AIDS course recognize that people with AIDS aren't characters in books but members of the worlds in which they live and work. They realize that it's not enough to feel compassion for people in an abstract sense or to hope for the best; it is their responsibility as educated citizens to take action. They engage in consciousness-raising events, fundraising projects and client services. Some creative writing students participate in writing workshops with people with AIDS and learn about the power of narrative to heal and to bring about change. Students in my literacy and environmental themed composition courses have served as mentors and teaching assistants at a local elementary school and have led recycling drives and held beach clean-ups. They have learned that as citizens they are responsible for taking part in public education and caring for the world in which they live. Students can learn about technically correct writing through a rules and regulations perspective by reading textbooks and executing hypothetical assignments. What they might miss out on, though, when creating projects read only by their professors and classmates, is the opportunity to recognize the connection between their training as computer scientists, accountants, and other kinds of professionals and the life of their community. Through service-learning, my students have the chance to make that connection and I have the ongoing opportunity to see how much people can accomplish when they're challenged to meet high expectations.

Patricia Angley

Interaction with my students motivates me to find different and innovative classroom techniques, methods, and challenges to keep them engaged with their learning. I try to listen to them, hear what they know and don't know so that we can make meaning together as we read and interpret diverse and difficult texts. Sometimes they are resistant when texts come too close to a reality that frightens them or when I ask them to do research that involves more than just a cursory Google search. Theoretical texts confound many of the students. I tell them, however, that if they will give theoretical approaches a chance, their reading will change dramatically and they will read more critically, looking for and questioning the ideologies lurking behind the textual representations. One of my pedagogical approaches is to try to disrupt my students' complacency through an ongoing dialogue about gender, race, and class as represented in the texts that we read. I work hard to create an atmosphere of respect so that we can have honest discussions of the issues we see represented in the literature. We don't have to reach consensus, but we do have to consider other points of view. When the students tell me that they have continued their discussions outside of class or online, not because of an assignment but because they care about the dialogue we began in class, I am delighted. Active learning takes place in those moments. I feel successful when students leave my course asking more questions than they did when they arrived. I am convinced that by refusing to become complacent myself and by refusing to teach the same old texts over and over, I stay focused and excited about what we are doing in the classroom. My attitude affects them in mostly positive ways. The students seem to like to be there. For me, successful teaching involves active learning, meaningful engagement, critical thought, cogent writing, careful reading, collaborative assignments, respectful dialogue, global connections, diverse viewpoints, and concern for social justice.

Tison Pugh

The common feature of all medieval literature, despite differences in authors, cultures, and genres, is that it is very, very old, and for my pedagogy to be effective, I must demonstrate that this old literature is still very much alive. To accomplish this goal, I rely upon pedagogical practices that center on students as individuals and as members of a learning community. On an individual level, I ask that students respond to course readings with analytic rigor and imaginative empathy. For example, to understand Beowulf we must explore it within its own cultural context, paying close attention to its narrative structure and language, as well as the ways in which it engages with Anglo-Saxon legendary history. But a text is not a lifeless corpse only meant for critical dissection, and I also ask my students to make connections between the past and the present. How does Beowulf enlighten current constructions of gender, for example, or how does it comment on the current War on Terrorism? The issues with which medieval literature engages never die, and I provide ample opportunities for my students to consider a text rigorously while engaging with its issues imaginatively.  My role in the educational process is to adapt to new challenges and changing conditions in the continual quest to foster personal initiative in students while providing guidance that does not devolve into a crutch. For students to develop into independent critical thinkers, they must be challenged yet nurtured, and I seek to bring about this vibrant tension by demanding evidence of engagement from all students. Finding the perfect balance among subject matter, student needs, and classroom praxis in teaching is an elusive goal, but one that I find inspiring. This challenging task is bounteously rewarded when students tell me that they will never resell their copy of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. It may be old, but it’s a vibrant, alive, and priceless piece of literature, no matter how much the bookstore might give them for it at the end of the semester.

Melody Bowden

I have taught undergraduate writing classes for over fifteen years, and the most gratifying aspect of my experience has always been seeing students make ethical use of concepts and techniques learned from my classes in their lives as professionals and citizens. For me, teaching writing is teaching thinking, and the key to meaningful learning is making a connection between the classroom and the world beyond. For this reason, service-learning is central to my pedagogical approach. The work my students have done in their communities in the past decade has repeatedly pleased and amazed me and I take great pride in being associated with their accomplishments.

Students in my technical and professional writing classes use their expertise to create computer manuals, employee handbooks, grant proposals, brochures, flyers, and other documents for nonprofit organizations and businesses throughout our region. Through this process they recognize how much they know and how much their communities can benefit from their expertise. They realize that the smallest increment of their donated time can make or break a community project, and that no matter how much they know about the technical aspects of their fields, unless they learn to convey their knowledge to real audiences their training will never reach its full potential impact.

Service-learners in my Literature of AIDS course recognize that people living with AIDS aren’t characters in books but members of the world in which they live and work. They realize that it’s not enough to feel compassion for people in an abstract sense or to hope for the best; it is their responsibility as educated citizens to take action. They engage in consciousness-raising events, fundraising projects and client services.  

Students can learn about technically correct writing through reading textbooks and executing hypothetical assignments. What they might miss out on, though, when creating projects read only by their professors, is the opportunity to recognize connections between their training as professionals and the life of their community. Through service-learning, they have the chance to make that connection and I have the opportunity to see how much people can accomplish when challenged to meet high expectations.

Jennifer Kent-Walsh

Goals & Foundational Principles Beyond striving to ensure that students learn the fundamental content of the courses I teach, my objectives as a university teacher are as follows: (a) to foster critical thinking skills; (b) to facilitate the acquisition of lifelong learning skills; (c) to help students develop evidence-based clinical problem-solving strategies; and (d) to prepare students to function as highly skilled and competent speech-language clinicians across the scope of practice and in my primary teaching area of augmentative and alternative communication(AAC) in particular. Furthermore, my overall teaching philosophy is based on two principles, which are supported extensively in the literature: (a) active student learning strongly influences student-learning outcomes; and (b) assessment procedures strongly influence student acquisition of knowledge. Teaching & Assessment Methods Given that undergraduate courses in speech-language pathology are necessarily weighted toward acquisition of foundational clinical concepts and knowledge, I use a combination of traditional lecture and problem-based learning formats in my teaching. All of my courses involve at least some WebCT components, giving students opportunities to download lecture note-taking guides and materials and further their knowledge of course content through engagement in complementary online activities (e.g., simulation activities, video case studies Service-learning is a pedagogical approach that I use consistently with undergraduate students. This experiential learning tool allows students to apply their knowledge to real-world problems in community contexts and to complete structured reflections on the relationships between assignments, course objectives, and personal educational objectives. I feel it is important to include such activities in all of my classes since writing skills are critical for all speech-language clinicians and researchers. I also use undergraduate research as a teaching tool, since the research process allows students to apply classroom knowledge through scientific questions of specific interest. Overall Value of My Teaching Role in the University Setting One of the main reasons why I decided to pursue a career in academia was so that I would have the opportunity to work with future generations of speech-language pathologists and educators in an instructional capacity. I view teaching as central to all of my scholarly activities and regularly include Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) in my strategic plan. These activities allow me to identify and disseminate instructional strategies to ensure that students learn about the cutting edge clinical interventions I research on a daily basis. It is my hope that my teaching will allow me to “keep the flame of scholarship alive” in some way and to inspire students to remain focused on the functional effects of interventions designed to improve clients’ speech, language, and communication skills.

Seth Elsheimer

The job of a teacher is not only to present the material in a clear and organized way but also to show excitement and love for the subject. Much of what enticed me into teaching chemistry as a profession was the enthusiasm I sensed from several excellent instructors during my own education. I strive to bring that same enthusiasm to my students. Knowing the subject, while certainly essential, is not sufficient for a teacher or a student. Part of my job is to convince the students that the material is not only knowable, but also worth knowing. Students learn best when they are actively involved in the process. I believe in the Socratic method to help lead students to understanding. I rarely give direct answers to students' questions but rather tend to ask them questions in return in an effort to lead them along the path to discovery. I emphasize understanding over memorization. My test questions are designed to encourage students to apply what they have learned rather than just recite it. Although there are some basic facts and procedures that students must know, I consider it far more important that students have the skills needed to reason out for themselves the problems they may encounter after the course has ended. I believe most students can succeed under the right circumstances. That optimism is necessary to be an effective teacher. I like most students, and respect all of them. I believe that the student is ultimately the one who should be accountable for his or her own learning. As the teacher, I am there to guide, assist, encourage, cajole, and even prod. Convincing students to take personal responsibility can be as important as presenting chemistry when leading them to success. In summary, I believe an excellent teacher needs knowledge, enthusiasm, rigorous but fair academic standards, optimism, and respect for students and their abilities.

Lei Zhao

Enthusiasm is the key to the success of an engineering educator. My enthusiasm in engineering and teaching, which propelled me through many years of hard work in pursuit of knowledge and excellence, enables me to instill the same enthusiasm in my students and guide them towards a rewarding career in engineering. Good teaching can influence the life of many young students. There’s no other job that is more emotionally rewarding than teaching. The importance of personal attention I enjoy talking to my students, both in and after classes. In classes, I frequently ask questions and encourage questions from students. I always tell the students that “if you have a question, chances are there are other students who have the same question” and “there is no stupid question.” Outside of the classroom, I make every effort to make the students feel welcome at my office, even outside my announced office hours. The balance between teaching and research Research is another most important task for the faculty at UCF. Sometime juggling between teaching and research can be difficult, but I feel most of time these two complement each other in that good teaching helps me recruit talented student to do research for me and good research could become the content of teaching and greatly stimulate the students’ interest. By teaching large classes over the last few years, I had an excellent access to a large pool of talented students, some of whom I recruited into my research team.