Teaching Overview
In this section, I describe my primary teaching responsibilities and teaching philosophy.
At James Madison University (JMU), I teach health communication, doctor-patient interaction, health literacy, introduction to research methods and advanced quantitative research methods. I anticipate teaching in our pending graduate program, still to be approved by JMU's Board of Visitors and The Virginia State Higher Education Board, to be launched ideally in Fall 2011.
At the University of Houston (UH), at the graduate level, I taught Communication Theory, Family Communication, Research Methods, Health Communication, Health Literacy, and Provider-Patient Interaction. At the undergraduate level, I taught Small Group Communication, Health Communication, Health Literacy and now Doctor-Patient interaction. A new 39 hour Health Communication concentration was developed and spearheaded by myself and colleagues in the Jack Valenti School of Communication (JVSoC). It offers both a health care delivery and public health promotion campaign subspecialty. A similar graduate proposal was also initiated by myself and JVSoC colleagues. Both have been approved by Texas Higher Coordinating Board, as of Fall 2008.
Although my views of teaching are still evolving, I am guided by a philosophical framework. It is drawn from three primary areas: my undergraduate and graduate student learning experiences; teaching experiences predominately with undergraduate students; and the writings of Dewey, Kreps, Mill, Rogers, Walzer, and Whitehead. In general, these scholars reinforce the values of a liberal arts education, encourage teachers to develop instructional strategies tailored to a variety of learning styles, and champion the adoption of a "win-win" mentality between teachers and students.
Subsequently, the bulk of my teaching rests on at least five major premises. First, teachers must empower students by enabling them to demonstrate their understanding of key communication principles and concepts across contexts. Second, teachers must provide a strong theoretical grounding/preparation to enhance students' critical thinking, writing, and application skills.
Third, teachers must challenge students to learn and excel. Fourth, teachers must encourage students to voice their concerns regarding the many aspects of the course. Finally, teachers must help students meet high performance standards by way of example.
I am committed to teaching and learning because they are inherently empowering, invigorating, and life-long processes. I cherish the opportunity to work with and learn from motivated students as they develop and refine their speaking, writing, and analytical skills. To help students attain these goals, I diligently strive to incorporate research exemplars and current events--via newspaper articles and Internet exercises--into my classes as appropriate.
I also believe that key course content, which initially may appear as intimidating or mundane, can be transformed into straight-forward and appealing information through classroom experiential exercises such as Hollywood Squares. In this exercise, several students become "celebrity" panelists, two students become contestants, and I serve as the host. Panelists then respond to questions with the correct answer or a bluff. The contestants have to determine if the celebrities are giving the correct response or a bluff. The first contestant to earn three squares in a row wins the round. I supply the questions, correct answers, and possible bluffs to the celebrities. This "fun" exercise seems to have a positive effect on students, and enhances their retention of otherwise "distasteful" material.
In addition to the preceding exercise, I have developed and use a wide array of teaching aids or tools. Some examples include: advice handouts from previous classes, lecture handouts with self-review questions, risk-free reviews of early paper prospecti, a writing standard guide, sample quiz and exam questions, sexual harassment role-play exercises, online review sessions and online chats with leading scholars from Communication and related disciplines. I also communicate extensively with my classes through electronic mail and I actively promote conservation through an almost "paper-less" classroom.
I am convinced that my teaching methods also help reduce student anxiety. It has been my experience that a high level of uncertainty often hinders the learning process. In my classes, then, the challenge most frequently lies in meeting the high standards; not figuring out what the professor expects.
Finally, I strive to share with my students that all candid humans fail at various times and it is prudent to anticipate that. A strong indicator of one's character is not that s/he never failed, but rather, what occurred afterwards. It takes courage to admit growth needs and then address them effectively. I also strive to consistently demonstrate that I take my students' performance as seriously as they do.
