NFE Reflections Cameron 2006-7
From CTLpedia
MCC New Faculty Experience Reflections
Preston D. Cameron
Preston D. Cameron
Faculty, Program Director
Business Programs
School of Business
Mesa Community College
www.mc.maricopa.edu/~prestoncameron
My Teaching Philosophy
My role of a Professor, I believe, is to be a facilitator. Professors should enable students to become responsible for their own learning. The class should operate as a community of active learners, not as a classroom of passive listener-observers. My goal is to create a dynamic, stimulating and student-centered classroom in which my students feel comfortable enough to share their thoughts with each other and with me. It is my ultimate pleasure to see my students engage in their own intellectual journey of discovery and come up with their own perspectives and interpretations.
In addition to lecture, I structure a significant part of my class time around discussion either in a large group (as a class) or in small group scenarios that centers on a series of challenging questions, real-life business dilemmas, or case analysis situations that demand students to both read the text closely and listen attentively to each others' questions and arguments. An ideal lesson is a highly interactive one in which students are actively engaged in conceptual dialogues with myself and with one another.
My teaching philosophy is heavily influenced by my 25 years of business experience. In the world of business, success is defined less by what you know and more by what one can do or accomplish. One of my most important qualities as a critical thinking teacher is the ability to "coach" students in thinking, to become "facilitator of learning" rather than "giver of information." Coaching rather than giving or imparting information means recognizing that THEY the students are the performers, and I am not. Once again, I am a coach, what I need to make sure is that in class the students are “performing”, and not that I am performing for them (even though a fair number will sit back like spectators at a ball game!). Ideally, my students will come to see my class principally as a place for ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT IN A DISCIPLINED PERFORMANCE and that I, the teacher, am there on the sidelines coaching them, making sure they are performing as they should. As two colleagues put it, "If basketball players are to learn to play better basketball, they must learn the fundamentals of basketball and then “get on the court and practice” playing the game while focusing on the fundamentals. And they must do this over and over again. In the same way, if students are to learn to think within a content field, they must learn the fundamentals of good thinking and then practice thinking through problems and issues within the content. They must do this over and over again, hundreds of times." And while our students play over and over again and perform FOR US, we, as coaches, should be ready to blow whistle at anytime when we see the class failing to "perform" the assigned tasks in the right way or in the right spirit. All in all, we should design the class in such a way that it is difficult for the students to adopt a passive, spectator role.
This role of "coaching" rather than "imparting information" is a very challenging one. It is easy to fall into the "cover the content" trap. But we must ask ourselves whether we are covering the content, or if the students are covering it. I can disseminate a lot of information to my students. But that doesn't mean students are able to use it in any meaningful way. If students are to learn anything well, they must actively bring what they are learning into the structures of their minds. They do this through reading, writing, speaking, thinking and rethinking the ideas into their thinking.
In addition to being a coach and designing an active, engaged, student-centered and corporative-learning type of class environment for students, it is also vital to assign students to small working groups outside the class where they are more likely to be active participants and engage each other in debate about and refinement of their ideas. Also, since students all learn in different ways, as a Professor I should be able to vary teaching styles flexibly and creatively, allowing students to participate in a mixture of short lecture, discussion, individual writing, and small group activities in order to ensure wide participation and include all students in the learning process.
While close reading is important, I try, also, to go beyond the text and bring students' attention to relevant current business ethical, social, and political issues. To make learning relevant to their lives, it's crucial to validate their pre-existing knowledge and abilities, to engage them in a critical look at the business world in which they live, and to encourage them to see themselves as actively engaged in the intellectual arena, a world where their thoughts and ideas have both potential and consequences.
Finally I strive to be a Professor who is friendly and approachable and tries his best to develop a strong rapport with my students. A good Professor should respect and recognize each and every student's unique contribution to the class as a whole, knowing that students may bring new insights to a subject or raise questions that have not yet been considered.
As Socrates puts it, "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." Ultimately, the goal of having a highly stimulating, interactive and reciprocal learning environment is to help student take ownership of their own learning and direct their own education, so that they can engage in their own life-long learning process and become critical readers, effective writers and articulate speakers.
Finally, “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” - Desiderius Erasmus
Reflection on Scholarly Teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
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Understanding of MCC Culture Gained through NFE
Fortunately, the culture reputation of MCC was not represented in our NFE sessions.
Impact of NFE on my Approach to Teaching
Reflection on my Experience in the NFE Community
The NFE curriculum is an invaluable tool for new members of the faculty. I would welcome the opportunity to participate in any capacity to further its development and content. Our sessions have been informative and well attended. I would recommend more field trips to the other MCC campuses.
