TEACHING            

"Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom."  -- Baha'u'llah

philosophy

Knowledge and skills are keys to individual progress, community development, and the advancement of human civilization.  Education, the acquisition of knowledge/skills, is the means to the welfare and empowerment of individuals and communities. Society must ensure the provision of infrastructure, technology, and capable educators to promote the transfer of knowledge/skills and development of new discoveries. Educators must develop their own skills and gain experience necessary for effective teaching adapted to the needs of the students.  Individuals have unique learning styles based on their natural abilities/talents and past learning experience. Educators need to carefully plan and conduct their lessons/workshops/courses to accommodate these diverse learning styles.  Learning is generally most effective as an interactive experience, where teaching activities provide multiple channels for experiencing, internalizing, processing and creatively re-communicating the info/skills to be learned.  How this is best achieved is dependent on the field of study, student learning styles, instructor's abilities, classroom setting, resource availability and cultural context. As a current student and aspiring educator, I am striving to transfer this philosophy into action in the classroom when teaching. 

My role as an educator is to facilitate students' learning experience, collaborating in the quest for understanding and serving as a guide where my expertise and mediation skills are needed.   My multi-disciplinary interests has led to my pursuing a career of research, community development and teaching work integrating the fields of ecology, environmental science and public health.  As one who appreciates interdisciplinary study and work, I extend this principle to the field of teaching, adopting and adapting diverse teaching approaches and tools to the courses I plan to teach.  The courses I teach will consist of a combination of lectures, discussion, and lab/field experimentation - this will be adjusted to best suite the needs education level of the students and course topic.  The objectives of courses I teach will include learning/reviewing the fundamentals of the subject matter, linking new/advanced information with past/fundamental knowledge, fostering critical thinking, instilling interest in the field of study, and generating practical creative works.  Evaluation of student's learning and progress in courses I teach will involve a combination of methods including creative essays, written reports, oral presentations/demonstrations, and tests.

technology

An ever increasing inventory of technological tools are being adopted and developed to enhance educational experiences.  I am fortunate to have participated in diverse learning environments opening my mind to the potential of specific technologies to facilitate learning.  I completed most of my K-12 education at home through distance-learning independent-study courses using textbooks, exercise books, and traditional means of communication (postal mail/shipping); however, once in college I was immediately exposed to many advanced technological educational tools including: experimental laboratories, PowerPoint presentations, course websites (Blackboard and WebCT), online discussion boards, online testing, and email.  The contrasting experiences with and without technologies makes me realize where and how certain tools can enhance learning. 

Communication of ideas and information is fundamental to education.  Communication should not just be unidirectional (teacher to students) but rather multi-directional, with opportunities for the teacher and students to interactively exchanging understanding and insights. In-class discussion provides opportunities for such exchanges; however, several current technologies, most specifically email and online course websites such as Blackboard, offer additional out-of-class opportunities for the exchange of ideas and information.  Blackboard, which I have used extensively as both a teaching assistant and student, provides a centralized collection of communication and data transfer tools for: announcements, file upload/downloads, email, discussion boards, group pages, online testing, and links to additional resources.

My knowledge of teaching technologies has been expanded through training I received as a student in Dr Hugh Crumley's GS301 Instructional Technology Course offered at Duke University.  This course is specifically designed to offer graduate students with a working knowledge of current pedagogical theories and state-of-the-art technologies available for instructional use including: iPod technology, Blackboard course design, PowerPoint presentations, Dreamweaver webdesign, wikis, online resources, and social networks. In fact this website was developed largely as a product of the portfolio development component of the course. As an instructor I plan to adapt these technologies to courses I develop and teach.  As a teaching assistant I have already had opportunities to use technologies including: Blackboard course websites with online discussion boards, group project collaboration sites, video-conferencing equipment, iPod digital recordings, and PowerPoint presentations.  I am currently developing a courses on tropical wetland ecology and ecological health in which I will integrate technological teaching/learning tools wherever they may serve to enhance the learning process.  The key to using technology is to realize that it should serve a tool and means for improving one's work and not simply adopted because it is available, popular or cool.