My teaching encompases several facets, including teaching of both undergraduate and graduate class as well as preparation of secondary school teachers of math and science with emphasis on computer science. It is in connection with this desire to help prepare teachers that I am part of UNT's Teach North Texas (TNT) program. It is also the reason why I am a member of the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA). In the rest of this statement I will focus on my personal teaching at the university level, however.
The overriding goal of universities has to be to help students learn. Of course, classroom teaching is a significant part of that. And this philosophy statement will concentrate mostly on instruction in the undergraduate classroom. However, a major aspect of undergraduate education is non-classroom interaction between faculty and students. Thus, I try to make myself available for students as much as possible. And if interaction outside of class is an important part of undergraduate education, it is responsible for virtually all learning at the graduate level.
My classroom teaching philosophy is, in many ways, defined by the antithesis of the three following quotes.
Certainly the first suggests a disdain for students that could be considered objectionable but how could one disagree with the sentiment that ``Knowledge is good?'' I believe, however, that all three accept a paradigm of teaching as information transfer from teacher to student. Casting pearls (real or virtual) is completely based upon information transfer. ``Knowledge is good'' also promotes the notion that the person with the most knowledge (information) is the best educated. And while I've learned a substantial amount when preparing for information transfer (via lecture), in classes where students seem to have done best I've learned little other than how well our students respond to active learning. Information transfer may well be what students desire, and it certainly leads to easy evaluation, and relatively easy (if time-consuming) preparation, but I fear it does not prepare our students well for the challenges that will face them both in their careers and in their lives.
Well, if information transfer is not to be our paradigm, what should be? I believe that education should provide students with two things:
Noble goals certainly, but how does one meet them? By focusing classes around student work, be it problem sets, programming assignments, or written essays. By instilling students with the enthusiasm I have for the subject and connecting course goals to their career aspirations. By developing the course around significant but "doable" projects whose completion will sharpen students' problem solving skills and increase their confidence that they can learn.
This approach has recently come to be called Project-Based Learning