An Overview of my Teaching
Philosophy
By: Kelly Lyons
My goal
is to build on my mentoring, leadership, practical and research experience,
ground my teaching in learner-focused values and provide learning experiences
for students that take advantage of the multi-disciplinary aspect of the
Faculty, the diversity of the student interests, and the fact that they are in
a professional masters program situated within a research Faculty.
My
teaching philosophy is shaped by the fact that I am part of a Faculty that has
a strong multidisciplinary research capability together with a highly respected
professional masters program. In my
courses, research-based readings and discussions co-exist with and complement
practical activities that are used to help students contextualize notions in
real-world settings.
The
opportunity to learn and take courses in a Faculty known for its
multidisciplinary strength is extremely valuable. I challenge students to see
and respect the different perspectives their classmates bring and to step out
of their own comfort areas and challenge themselves to learn the material
through different viewpoints and experiences.
We read papers from different disciplines and I
work with students to apply the concepts in a variety of example domains. I believe that students should not only learn
the material but be able to apply it in other courses and contexts in their
lives. Students are asked to relate what
they are learning in class to what they are reading in other courses, current
events in the news, on-line resources, and in their leisure activities.
My
teaching philosophy is further influenced by the unique perspective I bring as
a result of my years of experience in industry where I led organizations,
managed teams and projects, mentored many people, and built strong
collaborative relationships across different groups. Similar to my role as manager and mentor in
industry, my role is as teacher in the classroom is to guide students through
the material. I expect students to take responsibility for their own learning
experience. I provide a learner-focused
environment where students actively participate in setting their own learning
objectives and understanding and articulating their own goals. Students should
learn to think about their goals and what they want to achieve then determine
how they will know when they have achieved their goals (how they will measure
success). In each course I teach and in my capacity as an advisor, I ask
students to reflect on their own specific learning outcomes and basic goals and
help them develop strategies to guide their learning throughout the course.
Students should know why they are there and understand what they want to get
out of the course and their program.
I make
material available to students and ask that they also find and make available
information and material relevant to the course. A course website provides the
course syllabus and outline but Blackboard is used as a learning management
system to support groups, sharing of information, lecture slides, important
dates, assignments, and other information about the course, as well as the
facilitation of interaction among students on topics related to the course.
I
structure my courses with lectures or panels followed by hands-on active
learning activities that students carry out in groups (or sometimes
individually) then report back or discuss with the class. The lectures provide perspective and links to
the readings and course learning objectives and the hands-on activities enable
students to contextualize the ideas in a particular domain or situation and
link them to their own learning objectives.
The domain or situation in which students apply their knowledge is
usually selected by them. Reporting back and student-led discussions give
students experience expressing their ideas to others.
I believe
working in groups is critical for success in the real world but I also
understand the need for individual assessment. In my courses, students work in groups
but most assignments are individual. I
use the groups to bring students with different backgrounds together to work on
activities in the classroom and consider different aspects of their
assignments. At the start of courses, students provide a self-assessment on
several criteria and then I put the students into groups that maximize
diversity among the criteria. The
intention is to put students together who bring diverse backgrounds and
perspectives and whose learning objectives and goals complement each others’. I believe that interaction among students and
their collaborative work are essential to their learning experience in the
classroom and to their future as leaders.
One of
the most important qualities I want to instil in students is the ability to
think critically, apply their knowledge in unique ways, and to ask the right
questions. My assignments challenge
students to think about alternatives and what they believe is the best way to
approach an issue or situation. They are assessed on how well they thought it
through and how convincingly they make their points. I structure assignments and hands-on
activities such that students look at issues of today and new technologies in
the context of what they are learning formally. In this way, as new issues
arise in their careers, they will have the tools, experience, knowledge and skills
to understand and form opinions, make judgements and decisions.
I provide
value to students in my courses and through my advisory capacity that extends
beyond the content or the subject matter. I design pedagogical methods that provide
experiences that students can bring to their professional careers. For example,
in the project management course, students are asked practise project
management principles in every aspect of their coursework and interactions with
one another and we use structured meeting methods to carry out group
activities. In this way, they not only
learn the principles of project management and how to manage and work on
projects more effectively but will also learn how to organization their work in
general more effectively and learn some tips and suggestions for being more
effective in everything they do.
I believe
that the diverse backgrounds that students bring to the program and the
different goals they have professionally should be used to enhance their own
learning and that of their peers. I
structure discussions and hands-on activities such that students learn from one
another and relate the knowledge learned through the course to our past
experiences and imagined future opportunities.
Where possible, students define the scope of their assignments and
report on their work to their classmates. For example, in project management,
the projects they work on are initially defined by the students and elaborated
on through guidance from me and other group members. In the core course on Information Systems,
Services, and Design, students select an information system to design and
implement in their groups and define their own system development methodology
and information sources.
I
recognize that teaching and pedagogical methods continually evolve so I look to
experts for new methods and ideas to use in my classes. I read papers on teaching and learning and continue
to improve my teaching by learning formally through courses and informally through
discussions with peers and colleagues both in the Faculty of Information and
the University of Toronto and at different institutions.