NFE Reflections Saffell 2007-8
From CTLpedia
MCC New Faculty Experience ReflectionsErinanne M. Saffell, PhD
Cultural Science: Geography
Mesa Community College
Contact me (mailto:saffell@mail.mc.maricopa.edu)
My Teaching Philosophy
I highly value my experience as an educator. My goal in the classroom is to invigorate and engage my students, building an intellectual curiosity that intensifies outside the classroom. In my experience, learning most readily occurs as students become involved with the material, internalizing the subject matter as relevant to their experiences. I challenge my students intellectually, asking them to critically assess familiar scenarios within the context of their new knowledge.
I have led many successful undergraduate and graduate classes in physical geography, meteorology, and climatology. I encourage my students to actively participate in their learning, which includes fieldwork and laboratory exercises. For example, my students often perform transect observations of temperature and dew point temperature across campus, and at the end of the semester, we analyze their observations using a GIS platform. In this manner, they discover for themselves the general physical processes at work in the urban environment.
My teaching expertise is fairly comprehensive, including meteorological instrumentation, physical climatology, boundary layer processes, and geospatial analysis. I would like to develop courses in hydroclimatology and urban climatology, as well as courses highlighting the influence of climate change on natural disaster frequency and magnitude.
Climatologists are charged with understanding the effects of climate and climate change, and I view my role as equipping the next generation of researchers, policy-makers, and the larger community with the tools necessary for intelligent and informed decisions. In that respect, I view outreach and engagement as key components to a successful academic program, and actively pursue meaningful interactions with the K-12 community. It is my privilege and responsibility to serve, encourage, and inspire my students and my community.
Reflection on Scholarly Teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
I have always been interested in what motivates people to learn. Especially as an academic, I want to inspire and motivate my students toward the same excitement I experience in learning. Thus, I monitor and gauge my students’ learning each semester, hoping to improve my ability to inspire and motivate and ultimately facilitate learning.
NFE has shown me a variety of techniques to be able to qualitatively and quantitatively assess my students’ growth. For example, there are certain skills that every introductory geography student should master, especially cartographic skills. This spring, I incorporated a pre- and post-testing approach to assess the learning of basic cartographic principles. On the first day of my GPH 111 Introduction to Physical Geography classes, I proctored a pre-test where the students created a map based on their pre-existing cartographic knowledge. I received a variety of responses, and evaluated their results according to a list of expected outcomes, such as north on top, compass rose, legend, scale, and title.
This assignment was not part of a class grade, and the students weren’t specifically instructed that this was a pre-test. The post-test will be administered on the last day of class, using the same exercise. I will then be able to quantitatively evaluate and assess any improvement to the expected outcomes. I’m looking forward to my evaluation, and hope to incorporate this assessment in each of my GPH111 classes this summer and fall.
Understanding of MCC Culture Gained through NFE
Each campus of individuals builds a collective and cohesive culture. The NFE experience has allowed new faculty insight into the culture of MCC in a friendly and welcoming manner. I appreciate the structure of the NFE, which fosters meaningful relationships among the new faculty and provides a network for the new faculty to bridge into the MCC community.
Impact of NFE on my Approach to Teaching
The NFE experience provides interaction with new faculty and more experienced faculty, and I have learned a great deal from our interaction. I was able to talk with other instructors that offer online courses, and gather feedback on some techniques that they found successful. I felt inspired and motivated to always bring the best experience to my students. Fortunately, the CTL also provides a tremendous amount of support to assist me in my goals.
Reflection on my Experience in the NFE Community
The NFE experience was quite positive. The structure was well-thought out, the discussions informative, and the interactions meaningful. I appreciate the time, talent, and funding that created this experience.
Reflection on My Future as a Member of the MCC Community
I’m looking forward to making a lasting and positive contribution to my community.
