ArcE Homepage
Calendar
Interesting Links
Philosophy
Vita
Research
Teaching

Philosophy

I embrace teaching as an opportunity to inspire and empower young minds to be architects and engineers. As a teacher, it is my goal to enhance student learning as a transformative experience. Ideally, I want students to feel personally changed by their participation in a course I am teaching.

Promoting an understanding that social and economical forces shape the construction and utilization of knowledge is central to my philosophy of teaching because it helps students sharpen critical thinking skills. I work to encourage students to challenge their understanding of the basic behavior and theory, but at the same time I apply "real world" significance to the subject. This helps students see boundaries whether personal or social as constructed, and affords them an opportunity to challenge and resolve them.

In an informal atmosphere learning is most likely to occur when students become personally engaged with the material and perceive the subject matter to be directly relevant to their own lives. it is important that a high level of mutual respect is achieved between the teacher and the student, because without respect, the education process can not be optimized. While students must ultimately take responsibility for their own learning, a teacher can often inspire their desire to learn.

Learning about the students I teach and listening to their experiences has helped me to (re)consider ways of making course material relevant and fostering critical thinking skills. I have taught several undergraduate courses and labs. I am passionate about finding the most effective ways of stimulating and sustaining intellectual growth among those who enter my classroom. Learning is a complex process that is individual, content and context specific. As a teacher, I am attentive to these factors and work to be flexible, adapting my approaches according to the needs of learners, subject matter and setting.

While my teaching objectives vary depending upon the course level and content, my philosophy serves to inform my practice. In designing course format and evaluation requirements, I strive to optimize student engagement and success. At the undergraduate level, class format is varied and generally includes my own presentations accompanied by a written outline for students to follow, questions or creative exercises for stimulating class discussion along with various exercises as they pertain to each particular topic.

Because teamwork and communications are critical to both an architect's and engineer's success, I continue to alter the courses to expand the student's opportunities for team activities. By their very nature, team activities require communication. Student teams are challenged to solve design problems, develop independent study reports, and even take a test. In addition, I work to influence learning that occurs outside the classroom by supplementing class time with a wide range of teaching/learning activities including reading, formal and informal writing assignments, internet searches, oral histories, and social action projects. Providing access to my expertise is also a priority in my teaching. I actively encourage dialogue with students during office hours, by appointment, telephone and email. Additionally, I regularly strive to improve my teaching by seeking student feedback, talking with peers, attending teaching seminars, reading and experimenting with new methods.

Teaching is a privileged position that demands humility as much as respect. It is crucial that teachers recognize the power inherent in their role and are self-reflective about their actions. In my teaching, I work to be mindful of my position as a role model of the kind of learning I strive to promote among students. Transformative learning is a reciprocally educative endeavor - informative and uplifting for teachers and students alike. It is about "opening hearts and minds…" and changing lives for all those involved in the process. I know I am successful in my teaching when students tell me that they have learned "to see the social world through a new lens" and "to think more critically." These are tools of empowerment and rewards of transformative teaching and learning.