Statement of My Teaching Philosophy and Goals The first inspiration for my teaching philosophy borrows from the broad definition of psychology (i.e., “the scientific study of behavior and mental processes”). Generally, in every class that I teach, I strive to ensure that every student understand how the two (i.e., behavior and mental processes) impact their lives, the lives of their close-others, and the lives of the clients (i.e., individuals, groups, or organizations) they will work with upon getting their qualifications. Therefore, I design my courses in a way that allows the students to understand the relevance of psychology in their own lives and the lives of others. I also constantly encourage students to apply abstract theories to life situations and their general experiences. Globalization also continues to have significant impact on people’s ways of life and their identities (Arnett, 2002).The American Psychological Association, which can be viewed as the most established psychological association also encourage the use of the so called ‘cultural lens’ as a central focus of psychologists’ professional behaviors. I believe that such a recommendation is even more important in the contexts such as Botswana given the fact that psychology is a fairly a new discipline in the country. Accordingly, I concur that each psychology professional should work tirelessly to establish how the set standards and principles of psychology operate within such a context while simultaneously protecting the integrity and identity of the profession. I achieve this in my classes by giving students opportunities to critic existing knowledge and to come up with new theories, concepts, and models that can be used in their contexts. Furthermore, I believe that every student of psychology should continually establish how such globalization directly impact them, people around themselves, as well as the potential value of the psychology in contexts similar Botswana. From this perspective, I see my role as the lecturer as an enabler of students’ abilities to identify broader developments and paradigms in psychology and related fields, evaluate their impact, and assess the significance and impact of the developments and paradigms on themselves and others. I also believe that there are core and basic principles that should be understood by any university graduate regardless of their field of study. For example, it has been established through research that competencies such as innovation, entrepreneurship, self-confidence, achievement orientation, emotional intelligence, political skills, planning and organization, interpersonal understanding, expertise, conflict resolution, self-presentation, teamwork, and communication skills are fundamental in ensuring effectiveness at both a personal and professional level. Therefore, regardless of the class I teach, I ensure that the class activities and assessments ensure some development of these critical competencies. This has made me committed to providing a challenging and rigorous learning environment that equips students with such competencies. For example, to ensure that students improve their communication, self-presentation and self-confidence, I make sure that each student conduct some minor research and thereafter facilitate a discussion on the topic or their findings. Furthermore, regardless of one profession and organizational status, everyone who will be employed will work in teams and/or groups. This has made me a proponent of active learning that encourages collaboration and interaction with both knowledge and other learners. To achieve this, I give students group projects, and/or in class group activities to give them experience in managing challenges that are commonly present in teams and/or groups. Another inspiration for my teaching philosophy comes from the knowledge that nobody, regardless of their achievements and/or status has monopoly over knowledge, wisdom, ideas, and/or solutions. Related to this view, I also believe that the university should be a place that fosters knowledge sharing, creation, innovation and development. I have also observed that as both individuals and a collective, students possess powerful knowledge and innovative approaches that a course instructors may benefit from. For me, this awareness presents an opportunity for me as a lecturer and a future professor to embrace, and tap into students’ knowledge, wisdom, ideas, and/or solutions. To achieve approach also encourages what I call I bottom-up learning. In order to achieve this bottom-up learning objective, I use cooperative and active learning strategies that strike a balance between teaching, and student centered learning. I specifically encourage in class debates, and bring outside practitioners to engage students. I further encourage critical examination of the content that I present to students. This approach has been beneficial such that students are freer to critic and criticize my teaching practices. I have also used lessons picked from class discussions to inform my research and content design. My experience has been that my approach has fostered both analytical and critical thinking and these are also important competencies critical in today’s economy. Another important element of my teaching philosophy aligns itself with what I see as the goals of education, particularly in institutions of higher learning. At a high level, I see education as having 3 primary goals. The first being to distribute, share, and innovate knowledge and information to the future employees. The second goal of education being to align learning/ educational activities with the needs of the employment system (i.e., the employing organization, the community, and the general economy) - and to also ensure that students are aware of these needs. Another important goal of education should be to seek answers to the questions and provide solutions to the challenges that the world faces now and in the future. Because I see the future belonging to those who will come up with solutions to the challenges the world face, I strive to ensure that the students that I teach do not only see the problems, but strive to be part of the solutions. In conclusion, I endeavor to use teaching practices that brings my teaching philosophies to life and which ensure that the seemingly theoretical academic work contributes to preventing problems of yesterday and to finding solutions to the problems of today and the future.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:54:47 +0000
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