Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning

Courses you Teach

CMJ 100: Introduction to Media Studies
CMJ 203: Media Theories and Research Methods
CMJ 483: Capstone Seminar in Media Studies
CMJ 540: Social Media and Digital Culture
CMJ 601: Seminar in Research Methods

Tell us a bit about you

If your teaching (or research) had a theme song, what would it be? 
Unstoppable by Sia. I picked this song because it’s got this great rhythm and energy. I am very enthusiastic about teaching, and would definitely describe myself as a high-energy instructor. Like the song, in many ways. When I’m done teaching, I feel like I can do anything, regardless of how the rest of my day has been going. Teaching really energizes me, just like the song. And while I wish I could pick a deep, meaningful song with many layers, the energy of “Unstoppable” represents how I feel when I’m teaching.

What’s the most surprising thing a student has ever taught you?
The most surprising thing a student has ever taught me was how to do a cheerleading routine that was popular at the Albany State football games. This was when I was still an assistant professor at Albany State University in Georgia. In this particular class, we were talking about flipping the classroom and what that meant, and I explained that this means the students were in charge of teaching. One student said they could never do that, and I said, “You’re on the cheerleading team. Don’t you teach new cheerleaders how to cheer? Come up here and teach me how to cheer”, and she did. And that is how I, in front of a classroom full of students, learned how to do a cheer.

What’s a surprising fact most people don’t know about you? 
I was a certified parachute packer when I was in graduate school.

What’s something you’d walk across campus in a snowstorm for? 
A well-made cappuccino. Coffee, like love, always wins. Oh, and hugs. I’m always down for a hug, especially in a snowstorm.

Tell us a bit about your approach to teaching

How would you describe what you feel to be meaningful changes to your course design or approaches to teaching that have emerged as you have grown as an instructor?  
I can think of two meaningful changes that were somewhat of a leap for me.
When I was a graduate student in the Netherlands, I took this pedagogical module. It was like public speaking for instructors, where you had to design your own lessons every week and teach it to the class. And I remember one of the final feedback forms I got said “Try to be less in charge,” and this is something I’ve always found really hard to do. I used to be someone who wanted to show you how to do it and tell you how to do it. What has been meaningful for me is to be able to let that go and instead focus on what my students should be able to do or know at the end of the semester, and then related, thinking about how I can help them get there on their own and what prompts and activities I can provide that will have them do the thinking, as opposed to me telling them this is how it is. That doesn’t mean that I still don’t tell students things, because obviously, if I’m going to teach, say, the central limit theorem, I have to explain what that is, but then, I have them engage in activities to show me what they understand and what needs more work, rather than taking a more top-down, instructor-driven approach.
Another meaningful change for me is making student learning both experiential and personal. I used to shy away from having students spend a lot of time talking about themselves and their own lives, as I thought it was taking away from the learning material. However, in recent years I have come to see the value of allowing students to connect what they are learning to their personal experiences. I have, for example, started to implement module reflections where students write a reflection after they’ve completed a module. In these reflections, they write about what they have learned, also, what they have unlearned, and I ask them to connect the module and their takeaways from it to other parts of their life.Originally, I was, like, oh, that’s way too “woo-woo,” all this talking about your personal experiences. But I’ve found that it’s really not very woo-doo at all; if you let students connect what they’re learning to what they know and are familiar with, it grows deeper roots within their system of knowledge and really becomes part of their professional or academic identity.
The fact these two changes are meaningful is somewhat ironic because I went to a Montessori school as a kid. So this means I’m used to working independently, setting your own goals, and being trained to figure things out on your own. I guess I have now (finally) come full circle back to my own training.

How would you describe the impact of these changes on the students in your classes?  
It’s hard to say, but I think they’re more engaged. I don’t know if they always like it; sometimes you get feedback that says they just want you to lecture because it’s easier for them. But, when I look at their final projects I see that they are better able to connect ideas and theories from my class as well as other classes. In addition, when I talk to them in later semesters or years later, they’ve retained certain things much better because they have been able to connect it to their personal lives. In addition, I do see a lot more in-class engagement. When you mostly lecture and you ask a question every once in a while, I have found that I often just get crickets. However, once I created a routine of a brief lecture followed by an in-class activity of some kind, students know that when you ask if they have any questions, they will ask all the questions because they don’t want to sit in this activity and not know what they’re doing.

As a result of this work, what has changed for you as an instructor and/or colleague in terms of your own teaching. 
Having relationships with students has always been very important to me. I’ve always wanted to know them and connect with them, and I’ve always interspersed parts of myself into my teaching. I believe that these kinds of relationships are essential to teaching and student success. But I think that with my new approaches to teaching, these relationships have really grown more meaningful. I’m really getting to know students a lot better because I’m asking them to connect the course to their own life through a variety of assignments and activities. In my-100 level course, students write about their families or their friends and how they use media together. And my grad students may write about their former institutions, their work experience, and their research projects. These allow me to get a much deeper insight into where they’re coming from and that allows us to connect more meaningfully.
While this may sound weird, these changes I used to be much more focused on “This is what you must know”. There still “must knows” but I also have the belief now that students will eventually get there. I will provide the guard rails and they will get there. That is also just part of teaching, and I think I am more okay with that now. Like, it’s the student’s responsibility, not mine, and I think the shift in teaching has really taught me that this is on them and they are getting all these opportunities.

What would be a piece of advice you might give a new instructor at UMaine? 
Obviously, my first piece of advice is to connect with CITL. Go to all the workshops, and meet with the instructional designers. Don’t think you have to do this on your own. As faculty, we are trained to be amazing researchers, but we’re not always trained in teaching, and CITL has people who’ve been doing this for years. Utilize that. Don’t sit there and think you have to invent the wheel yourself because there are people out there who can give you so much advice.
In addition, talk to your colleagues, ask to observe their classes, ask to see their syllabi. I love seeing other people’s syllabi because every syllabus is different and every instructor has their own, original approach. Ask folks outside your department for ideas, or meet with your associate deans. It doesn’t matter if someone is way outside of your field, students are students, learning is learning, and the topic is not always relevant.
Finally, try new things, and know that it’s ok to have them fail. That’s the only way you’re going to know whether something works for you and your classroom. If you’re open about that, it will actually really help you build relationships with your students. If you tell your class, today, we’re going to try and experiment and do this to achieve that, and then reflect with the class on how that worked (or didn’t), you will really build a great classroom community.