Teaching Philosophy

  • My primary goal as a teacher is to inspire curiosity that sustains individuals’ motivation to learn throughout their academic and professional careers. I believe that the curious individual will be receptive to learning about the world around them, and self-motivated to become a well-rounded critical thinker.

    According to Clabaugh (2010), when reflecting on Bruner’s theory of discovery learning, a “curious” learning environment is “designed to encourage learners to continually question and explore concepts through hands-on experiences” (p 9). Combined, the strategies of compassion, confidence, and curiosity form an environment in which students feel heard, inspired, and capable. From there, curiosity can lead students to sustainable practices like critical thinking and self-motivation—all of which allow them to cultivate their skills and apply them efficiently.

  • In utilizing compassion as a teaching strategy, I place value on the students’ experience in order to improve two specific areas of instruction. Firstly, applying a philosophy of compassion enables me to design course that resonates with students.

    Secondly, it allows for me to respond to student issues more effectively and more thoroughly engage them. I’ve found that routine check-ins and actively listening to students’ concerns pertaining to issues both in and out of the classroom improved their success in the classroom. This tenet also provides a structure in which they took can employ their ability to emphasize with the world around them.

  • Confidence is an essential mechanism of my teaching philosophy in two ways. First, students must feel confident in their ability to understand the course material. My assignments are designed to introduce new concepts, but also build upon previous concepts and reinforce key learnings. Along with any constructive criticisms, I provide equal amounts of positive feedback meant to teach students how to utilize their strengths.

    Secondly, students must have confidence in the course material’s ability to prepare them for a successful career. I often use examples from my professional experience when explaining concepts, and my assignments blend course material with practical skills and applications. These practical integrations are meant to demonstrate the utility of the course material in their future work.

computer

From the Students

  • As a senior, I have been in many classes, both required and optional where I felt like we were learning the same things in “different fonts” (if that makes sense lol) and I really felt that this class gave me new perspective into work that impacts us all.

    - Public Interest Communications Student, 2024

  • "I just wanted to reach out and say thank you for being such a helpful and informative lab instructor this past semester. You truly helped me fully understand and comprehend the concepts and elements of the class. You were also so incredibly understanding with conflicts and wanted nothing but for our class to succeed and I cannot appreciate that enough."

    – Search Engine Marketing Student, 2022

  • "I was in your SEO class last semester and just wanted to reach out and let you know that I just started my first week of my Paid Search internship role with Public Health for the summer. I really enjoyed your class and the Google challenge we did throughout the semester so much that I applied for internship positions in SEO & digital marketing and I got this one! I can already tell that the information and experience I gained during your class has put me ahead of some of the other interns. I just wanted to say how much I appreciated you and your class because it introduced me to a field I really enjoy!"

    – Search Engine Marketing Student, 2021

  • "I sincerely want to thank you for your compassion."

    Strategic Communications in a Global Environment Student, 2020

  • "Thanks for being super cool during a pretty wild semester due to this pandemic."

    Strategic Communications in a Global Environment Student, 2020

  • "I truly enjoyed having COMM420 with you this semester. I was insecure about my statistic and research abilities prior to this course, but I feel like I learned a lot and am now more confident in this area."

    – Research Methods in Public Relations and Advertising Student, 2019

  • "I'm fortunate to have attended your class COMM420. This class was very impressive for me and offered me insightful knowledge frameworks in Research in Advertising. I also got more exposed to campaign management and public relations through the group projects that you assigned which I truly learned a lot by taking your advice and your professional experience"

    – Research Methods in Public Relations and Advertising Student, 2018

 Instructor of Record Courses

  • This undergraduate course teaches students how to use strategic, science-based communications to effect positive social change. Public interest communication is a form of strategic communication through which organizations, causes, or movements take on specific communication objectives that have some benefit to society.

  • The purpose of this course is to provide students within the PhD program with a solid teaching foundation. Students will learn how to build a course from the syllabus to an individual lesson plan, using a hands-on format that allows them to apply what they are learning to tangible takeaways. This class also discusses broad themes of equity, culturally relevant teaching, student-focused pedagogy, connecting with and elevating all students and keep these themes at the center of educator development.

  • This online asynchronous undergraduate course explores methods and practices in the areas of research and analytics with a focus on understanding how customers perceive the organization, assessing communication materials, and tracking how website visitors experience an organization’s site. The course will helps students to understand how to identify audiences, collect data, and calculate results in a meaningful way. Research methods taught in this class include surveys, interviews, content analysis, and focus groups.

  • I’m currently working with an instructional designer to migrate this course to an online, asynchronous format.

    This course provides hands-on experience planning and executing a digital advertising campaign using the Stukent Mimic Pro search marketing simulator, the Google Ads platform (formerly Google AdWords), and the Google Ad Grants Online Marketing Challenge (OMC). Students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct a keyword and programmatic sponsored search campaign by completing simulated campaigns for real clients.

  • Mass Media and Society is a required overview course focusing on the interaction between mass media and society. By drawing from selected topics, the course pays particular attention to the social influences (e.g., economics, politics, technology, law and culture) that shape media messages. Students are informed about the overall structure and scope of the mass media and led to understand the power and influences associated with media messages and practices.

  • This course provides students with a framework for applying public relations and advertising tools across media platforms and across cultures. Students are exposed to a number of frameworks for segmenting publics in this new environment, both geographically and psychographically, and learn the skills to work with colleagues across borders and cultures to create effective, ethical strategic communications campaigns.

  • This required course provides students with the tools to outline, execute and evaluate mass media research in public relations and advertising. The primary focus is on using research for advertising and public relations program and campaign management—planning, monitoring and evaluating.