Phillip
A full professor in the social sciences, Phillip has also received the University's highest teaching award. He found it difficult to self-identify in only one category, so chose two to represent his teaching style. He believed that the Personal Model and Facilitator best described his teaching style, and he did score highest in the Personal Model. Never intending to become a professor, he discovered that higher education was the best place and way to pursue what he was interested in. Phillip approaches teaching in a very personal way.
I think I try to teach a class as though each person were my own son or daughter or close friend that I have a connection with because I think when I do that, it makes me a much better teacher. Because there is something involved with it then other than just the facts. Other than just the theory. I think it motivates you to try to communicate better. For me, anyway. That is the crux of my teaching philosophy. I guess its one of the reasons too, I mean, that's related to the caring. And I think that people learn better whenever they can apply things and personalize them.
Although he said his favorite part of his job was teaching, followed by research, he went on to talk about his love of research. " I would say probably the teaching. I love to do research. I love to . . . I've done research for 35 years, I guess or something like that, or longer. I really enjoy that."
When first approached regarding this research, Phillip emphatically pronounced himself to be a technology resister. However, when asked if he used any technology in his instruction, he talked about using video, ELMO and an interactive cd-rom. Phillip went on to explain his dislike of PowerPoint, about which he said, "There's something about it that I just don't like," and also his dislike of computers. When speaking of computers, he said, "They are cold. They are undependable. A lot of times they don't work."
However, Phillip did admit that instructional technology in some ways can be beneficial because it can address different student learning styles.
Well I think the benefits are it can give a person, a student, a different avenue for learning. A different approach, a different style. For those who like the computer and going on the internet, I think it can give them a sense of maybe being more. . . they might get more of a sense of being involved.
At the same time, he believes that too much use of technology could make a student lose the interaction and teamwork that is indicative to his classrooms. For him, he prefers to be more "high touch" than what he believes technology can allow.
Rebecca
Rebecca is a tenured associate professor in the humanities. She self-identified as a Facilitator but scored highest as a Delegator. Rebecca began her career as a secondary school teacher and then moved into a different teaching discipline. Although the first one in her family to graduate from college, she knew from an early age that she wanted to be a teacher. Her favorite part of her job is teaching, and her favorite part of teaching is when she sees students becoming excited about the material. "That's certainly an important moment you know when you see that someone is actually making the move to work with the material in a creative fashion." Rebecca sees herself as a sort of coach or guide with her job being "facilitating the students to realize all the potential that they have and finding ways together with them to bring that out." She attempts to make her classroom a place where the "environment is conducive to people collaborating together, people listening to each other and working on things together and also having a nice time of it as they are learning."
Rebecca would like to use more technology in instruction, particularly WebCT, but said that she has not been able to find the time, and, although motivated to integrate, this barrier has prevented her from doing so.
I guess it was about a year and a half go, we made at trip to Ole Miss and got the whole days demonstration and I was just very much impressed by it and enthusiastic about it. That's been a big motivator for me to want to pursue, do more with WebCT because there were just so many interesting possibilities there. And I see also that through my children, I see how much is being integrated into their everyday life as well. And so there are things out there that would enrich the courses that I'm teaching.
George
A professor of health/medicine in education, George believed that the category of Expert best represented his teaching style, but he scored highest as a Formal Authority. George has also received the University's highest teaching award. Beginning his career as a public school teacher, he entered the professorate without intending too, but instead found himself there after finishing his doctoral degree. His favorite aspect of his job is what he calls "small victories," meaning making a difference in a student's life or career. George also places a high value on and receives great satisfaction from his research. "I get quite a lot of satisfaction from the publish or perish thing, but I didn't perish, and published quite a lot, so I still get a bit of a buzz from seeing things accepted." As a teacher, George sees himself in some traditional role where he wants the students to master the discipline. He also views himself as somewhat abrasive and pushy, but pushy in the sense that he wants the students to succeed and excel.
It's a bit of carrot and stick. I want you [the students] to go out and be a thinking teacher, and you are going to have to because they [school administrators] are doing all this evaluation of you, but they [the students] know just as well as I do that evaluation is a sham, so you have to say, are you going to teach well or not? I hope you've got it in here, that you will, because no one else is going to make. . . so I suppose the key one for me is this disciplinary mastery, and master the content, which is conservative and old fashioned, but ok.
George uses some technologies in his instruction, but overall believes himself to be a resister of it, primarily because others who may or may not use technology do not critically examine it.
People say that 'yeah, I'll use technology in my classes' as if it is automatically great. But, who says so? Just because you use more sophisticated patterns doesn't mean it is necessarily any better. And, in research, the positivists will say the more sophisticated, the better it is. Whereas the strict interpretive qualitative people say, no I'm better than any computer. I reject it all. So, think about that next time somebody says 'technology' to you. Look at whether it is going to help or not, and if it is, then go for it.
George also believes that the key to his success as a teacher is contact with the students, and instructional technology has the potential to take that away.
I'm sure the two big downsides are that I think people use technology for the sake of it, and the other danger is that it makes things so impersonal. And, I think the key to my teaching is making some kind of personal contact.
He does believe, however, that as long as technology is used as a tool instead of a replacement for teaching, then it has potential in the classroom. George admits that it may be a good tool for him as well, and said "Yeah, I'll get Ôround to it. I'll have to in the end."
Carl
Carl, a full professor in the social sciences, identified as a Facilitator and scored equally high as a Facilitator and Personal Model. He did not intend to become a teacher, nor a professor, had a very positive teaching experience as a graduate student and continued on in higher education because of his interest in research. His favorite part of his job is helping people, usually by being a resource for the students.
I like to be able to provide resources, and I think this works for teaching as well, whether it's knowledge, whether it's opportunities, resources to people. To meet where they want to go and what they want to do, and then sitting back and watching them use those resources to go where they want to go. And, I think you can do that in the classroom as well--take students--and sometimes it is just information they need, sometimes it is an opportunity to do, a hands on doing, and then once they do that, you kind of watch that. Using those resources and making some changes for themselves and moving forward.
In terms of teaching, like Kimberly, Carl finds the "ah-ha" or light bulb moment in the education of students the most rewarding. "When I've caught their attention, and they are seeing a new way of looking at the material, when I can read that on their faces that is what I like best about teaching." He continued to explain what he considered a successful teaching experience.
I would like at the end of the lecture to be able to walk out and say there was at least one student in there that gained some sort of insight that was totally different than when they went in at the beginning. Now that doesn't mean you ignore the other students. But if I can see on somebody's face that I think that's what happened for them, the whole thing is a delight, and I just zip for the rest of the day happy as I can be.
In terms of technology, Carl mentioned that he used PowerPoint, but when asked what other forms of instructional technology he used, he answered "None!" followed by a chorus of laughter. He went on to explain his dislike of PowerPoint, its linear nature and how the students interact with it. He does not, however, find instructional technology totally outside his own ideas of his role as a teacher. Referring to the use of instructional technology, Carl said, "Well, I think they get to use other resources rather than the faculty member." Carl views himself as a resource for students and views instructional technology as possibly the same. His reasons for not incorporating more technology are because he is "old and duddy," but more importantly because he believes
One incorporates what they know and do best the first time they do it, or feel most comfortable with. So I'm probably there at the moment. Probably because I have not had all that much exposure to all of the possibilities of technology out there.