"It is the supreme art of the teacher to
awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
Albert Einstein
scientist

Ernest L. Boyer in his book, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, challenges readers to consider the changing role of faculty and not to lose sight of the fact that teaching is one of the cornerstones of the academy. In considering the triumvirate of academia, (research, teaching and service), and as I reflect upon this discussion of my teaching, I am fully aware that the three are inextricably intertwined.

As I consider my teaching philosophy, and my various roles in the School of Library and Information Sciences (SLIS) at the University of North Texas, I believe I am first and foremost a researcher. The pursuit and exploration of new knowledge and the contributions I make to the body of literature through my research, conference presentations, publications, etc., actively inform my teaching. I feel a great sense of responsibility to provide the linkages to transform knowledge into course content, introduce new theories and methods to students, and to teach and inspire those students to make discoveries and connections on their own.

I am actively engaged in service, which provides me opportunities to apply knowledge to action. The professional connections I make with practitioners in the field via various service opportunities keep me current and aware of present trends and the needs of employers, which similarly inform my teaching. I also have a cadre of other teachers with whom I communicate regularly to discuss the benefits and challenges of online teaching so that I can continue to advance my pedagogy skills in that realm.

 

In toto, the combination of scholarship, service and teaching become integrated into a cycle and a continual process of discovery and change. This results in modifications, enhancements, and revisions to my courses that challenge and continue to excite me in my work with students.

 

To become the ideal teacher, I believe I must be dedicated to the following goals:

 

• To develop myself as a scholar

• To develop my knowledge of the historical, theoretical, and methodological constructs of the subject matter I am teaching

• To stay abreast of developments in the very dynamic and interdisciplinary field in which I teach and conduct research

• To engage in activities to support pedagogy and emerging teaching trends

• To set high standards for my performance as a teacher and similarly set high standards for student performance

• To develop teaching technologies in the online learning environment that are on the cutting edge -- aesthetically designed, sense-making, content-rich, interactive, functional for a multiplicity of learning styles, and dynamic enough to foster collaborative learning

• To be organized, detailed, thorough, attentive and responsive to my students

• To continue my life long learning and outside interests to stimulate and sustain teaching energy

• To create a cultural milieu that is joyful to foster my personal success and to sustain me while doing this challenging, rewarding work.

 

Having previously worked in higher education administration, I have found that being a professor is the role in academia where I can best contribute my talents as a teacher, mentor, and scholar. I fundamentally believe that I am in service to my students when I teach. I bring to my work a passion that is inspired and informed by the great teachers and mentors in my life. Teaching is a process and I certainly affirm the need to continue my personal growth and development as a teacher.

 

PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES

 

As a teacher, I want my students to know that I care about their learning and also respect them as individual people. I believe that all of us bring the totality of our life experiences -- our knowledge, our cultural heritage, our philosophies, our beliefs, our personal objectives, and our dreams -- into the classroom. This premise becomes an inherent part of the learning process for the individual and influences the collaborative classroom activities that I incorporate. I believe diversity is strength; understanding differences and giving attention to the wholeness of both the individual student and the group creates a healthy foundation for dialogue and intellectual growth.

 

I use a number of pedagogical strategies in my teaching which will be discussed in the following order:

• Three Key Information Resources

• Setting the Tone of Face-to-Face and Online Classes

• Developing a Teaching Team

• Developing Official Course Websites for Courses

• The Use of Multimedia in Courses

• Other Resources Developed to Teach, Support, and Mentor Students

• Librarian in the Classroom

• Guest Lecturers

• Mid-Semester Surveys

Three Key Information Resources

 

The most important tools I have for implementing my pedagogical strategies are three key information resources included in all of my courses:

 

1.    Introduction: A "heavy" introduction, description, overview and contextualization to the purpose and content of each specific course

2.    Syllabus: The course syllabus with the overall picture of the course processes, schedule, procedures, rules, assignments, policies, etc.

3.    Goals and Objectives: The goals and objectives I establish and prominently display for a) the course as a whole and b) in each weekly module of all courses.

 

These clearly establish the purpose, scope and anticipated learning outcomes for students, which helps them establish and develop a personal strategy for successfully completing their course work.

 

Setting the Tone of Online Classes

In all of my courses, I have a formal Introduction or Introduction document that fully contextualizes the course. In my opening discussions with every class taught, I address the "ownership" of the class culture. I help students understand what I value in having an effective and respectful learning environment and what my expectations are for accepting differences and conducting proper etiquette/netiquette. In some cases, I ask students to break out of "old notions" about their education. It is always an interesting process that I find warms the classroom climate.

I also value an active presence for my students, especially in online courses. I taught my first 100% online course in Fall 2001 (Storytelling for Information Professionals) and have taught all of my courses 100% online or in a blended format (3-day face-to-face Institute and the remainder of the course online) since the Summer of 2002. Many of my students ask me if I live online; and while I do not "live" online, I have learned how to optimize accessibility and be more efficient with my presence in courses.  For example, I prepare "transition notes" at the beginning of every new week that summarize the week we just completed and informs students of "the plans" for the new week.  I also put up the "quote of the week" to catch students attention.  These notes and quotes are saved and revised for each semester to make my time online more efficient. I also have an Assignment Questions Board in all of my courses that I pledge to check often, and I do. This reassures my online students that I am accessible and that I will give attention to their important questions quickly.

 

I value my student's mastery of content, but I value the development of critical thinking skills more. I have very high expectations for my students and I strive to impact cognitive development through planned assessment. Also, I hone applied skills while fostering inspiration for intellectual curiosity in the future. My approach to teaching is dependent upon the particular course and the level of study of the students involved (e.g. early in the Master's program, end of the program, doctoral student, etc.). The content of my courses is consistently and deeply rooted in interdisciplinary concepts, which I think is critically important in the field of library and information sciences. Storytelling is a feature of my teaching style and something I actively promote in the classroom. Story lends itself well to many learning styles, personalizes communication, illustrates concepts, and helps evolve situated problem-solving. I try to interject stories from folklore, popular culture, history, and personal experiences with stimulating readings, well-developed and rich content modules, hands-on lab or performance activities, and real-world case studies to enrich the classroom experience. I also strive for a respectful and mentoring approach in my interactions with students to foster their success.

 

Developing a Teaching Team

 

A key factor in my teaching strategy is developing teaching assistants and clinical faculty who work in concert with my teaching philosophy and with each other as a team. Clinical faculty are often practitioners who assist faculty in the delivery of courses; in my case, I have one clinical faculty in the core course that I teach. All of my teaching assistants are doctoral students and currently, all plan to enter the professoriate.

Developing Course-Related Websites

I have a publicly available Website that features a main Index page, a Professional Index page, and a Personal Index page.  For each of my courses, I have a subject- or course-related publicly accessible Website linked in my Professional Index that is made available to the students during their time in the courses and afterwards. These are a value-added resource for students and others surfing the Internet.
 

COURSE-RELATED WEBSITES

SLIS 5600 - Information Access and Retrieval Course INFORMATION ACCESS AND RETRIEVAL WEBSITES http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/Resources/Resources.htm SLIS 5440 - Storytelling for Information Professionals Course and SLIS 5611 - Advanced Storytelling Course STORYTELLING WEBSITES http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/STORYTELLING/StorytellingWebsites.htm SLIS 5445 -History and Culture of Youth Information Services Course HISTORY AND CULTURE OF YOUTH INFORMATION SERVICES WEBSITES http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/HistoryAndEthnography/websites.htm SLIS 5680 - Seminar in Graphic Novels and Comics for Youth and Adults Course GRAPHIC NOVELS AND COMICS WEBSITES http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/GraphicNovels/GraphicNovelsAndComicsWebsites.htm

 

The Use of Multimedia in Courses

 

I have strong interest in course design and multimedia technology use for instruction as part of my pedagogical strategies. I believe two of the hallmarks of my online courses are the aesthetic and common-sense approach design features and the use of multimedia to support instruction. The Digital Storytelling Project multimedia production lab is housed in my SLIS office. The lab supports the development of streaming media for Web-based accessibility as well as electronic storage.
 

SLIS 5611 Advanced Storytelling Concert Websites

Spring 2004 Storytelling Concert http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/GOWEST/ Minim ester 2004 Storytelling Concert http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/StoriesForTheHumanHeart/ Spring 2005 Storytelling Concert  http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/StoriesAndSongsAroundTheCampfire/ Minimester 2005Storytelling Concert http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/TheFunnyBone/ Spring 2006Storytelling Concert http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/CreatureFeatures/ Summer 2006Storytelling Concert http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/JourneyTales/index.htm

 

 

Other Web-Based Resources Developed to Teach, Support, and Mentor Students

In addition to the course-related Websites I maintain, I have other types of resources to teach, support and mentor my advisees and both Master's and doctoral students on my faculty Website; here are some examples:

Library and Information Science Employment Resources
http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/Figa/Employment.htm

Terminology Resources for Library and Information Science Professionals
http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/Figa/Terminology.htm

Citation/Bibliographic Resources
http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/Citations.htm

Preparing for Faculty Interviews in Higher Education
http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/Figa/PreparingforFacultyInterviewsinHigherEducation.htm

Teaching Assistant Resources
http://courses.unt.edu/efiga/Figa/TeachingAssistantResources.htm

Librarian in the Classroom 

 

In Spring 2005, I noted mention on a university listserv about a new program called Librarian in the Classroom (LITC) proposed by the university librarian with oversight for user instruction. In summer 2005, I discussed this program with the librarian and learned no one had yet tried the service. In Fall 2005, I became the first faculty member on the UNT campus to bring the Librarian in the Classroom concept to a university course. I created a LITC discussion forum in two online courses (SLIS 5600 and SLIS 5440) to facilitate communication. The librarians were given Teaching Assistant-level log-in access to the courses and the LITC discussion forum to deliver services online and to arrange consultations with students.  The first week of the course, I posted a needs assessment questionnaire in both courses for students to complete.  This information was shared with the librarians. At the end of the semester, an evaluation survey was distributed to students to evaluate the LITC service. The program has been well received by students and it has served as an excellent pedagogical enhancement. I have continued to have the LITC in my courses and each semester I have conducted the needs assessment questionnaire and an end-of-semester evaluation survey.

 

Guest Lecturers (examples)

I try to invite at least one guest lecturer to class (including online courses) every semester. This adds value to the course and invigorates the students.  Here is a selected list of scholars and performers who participated in online chats with my students:

      SLIS 5600 Information Access and Retrieval:

Linda C. Smith, Ph.D., Author of the course textbook and Professor

Bernie Sloan, Expert in digital reference services

Ross Atkinson, Ph.D., Association of College & Research Libraries Librarian of the Year

 

      SLIS 5440 Storytelling:

James Harper, Professional storyteller

Barre Toelken, Ph.D., Professor and Native American Scholar

Janice Del Negro, Professional storyteller, author, professor

Betsy Hearne, Ph.D., Professor and author

Elizabeth Ellis, Professional storyteller

 

      SLIS 5445 History and Ethnography of Youth Information Services:

Christine Jenkins, Ph.D., Professor and scholar of youth librarianship

Mary K. Chelton, Ph.D. Professor and scholar of youth information seeking behavior

Karen Patricia Smith, Ph.D., Professor and author

 

      SLIS 5611 Advanced Storytelling:

Doug Lipman, Storyteller and author of the course textbook

Shelly Kneupper Tucker, Professional Storyteller

 

Overall Pedagogical Goals:  To Develop Students Who Become:

 

• Reflective information professionals who can think independently, develop life-long learning skills, creatively problem-solve, appropriately question and assess information critically, and establish personal and professional standards of excellence and service;

• Collaborative partners who respect others, employ good listening skills, possess skills of empathy, and are capable of sharing their own ideas while supporting others in sharing theirs reciprocally;

• Effective communicators and change agents who can organize their thoughts, write and communicate effectively, and be open to and facilitate change;

• Responsible users and developers of technology who positively influence the impact of technology upon their profession and society, and

• Individuals who understand and value diversity in their work and actively create a cultural milieu in which diversity and differences in views are respected and valued.