Summary Statement
Philosophy
Academic Development
Assignments/Syllabi
Online Efforts
Service Learning
Service Projects
Student Feedback

Summary Statement

Since teaching is our primary focus at ASU, it's appropriate that you'll find a lot of content on this page. In addition, please see Dr. Towns for hard copies of student evaluations, copies of letters and emails, and other supporting materials. Here you'll find my philosophy of teaching, a discussion of how I've work to develop my teaching, links to and comments about my assignments and syllabi, a discussion of my online efforts, a summary of my integration of service learning into several of my courses, and finally my thoughts about and responses to student feedback that I have received over the years.

Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based on four main assumptions:

1. Students can read. Thus, I do not teach straight out of the book. I assume that students have read the material, and that what we do in class will build on the material, not just repeat it. I also do not stress the learning of raw information, but learning how to learn, how to think, and how to critically evaluate.
2. Students learn better when they're doing. Thus I try to work active learning into every class period, even those periods when I have to spend a large portion of the time lecturing.
3. I try to focus on what students know, not on what they don't know. I then try to show students how to unlock their own knowledge, to make use of it, to reflect on and evaluate it, and to supplement it with other resources to make it even greater.
4. Students do better when challenged. Unfortunately, they are not challenged much in education. I do my best to challenge them, although I must make every effort not to make the challenge frustrating or overwhelming.

My teaching philosophy is also based on certain assumptions about grades. I include the following information on every course syllabus:

• C work means you do the work assigned on time, attend regularly, are prepared to discuss, are active in your groups, contribute to discussion, and respond to your peers' work. This is average work.
• B work includes all of the above, plus demonstrating a substantial amount of critical effort. This means your writing is thought-provoking, you address difficult questions well, you read critically and make connections between what you have read and other aspects of the class, and you respond to criticism by improving your work. Your work demonstrates a higher level of creativity and productive thought.
• A work includes all of the above, plus demonstrating excellence in all work. You are recognizably a leader in the class, asking good questions, significantly teaching your peers, maintaining an open mind and sharp focus, and intriguing and exciting the class with you insights. Your speaking and writing demonstrates stylistic abilities far above the norm, creative approaches, careful reflection, and control over mechanics. The class as a whole usually recognizes A students as an asset to their own learning.
• D work fails to meet the requirements of C work in significant ways. This includes an number of elements: late work; frequent absences; superficial writing, reading, and speaking; little reflection about your audience; mechanical, unexplorative communication; little effort to contribute in class or to seek aid from either your classmates or myself; little improvement.
• F work means you perform significantly below D level. You rarely contribute in class and don't compensate by concentrating on other assignments. Your assignments are frequently late or missed completely. You don't show signs of improvement; your assignments show you do not take them seriously; mechanics, organization, and support are confused, superficial, and ragged; you make no attempt to connect class information with anything else. The class as a whole usually views F students as a hindrance to their own learning, and as such ought to be sanctioned by the group.

In terms of style, I'm a relatively laid-back teacher. I'm generally informal, accessible, and flexible. This sometimes causes students to assume that I'm an easy grader, which I am definitely not. It used to be a shock for my students when they got their first grades. Now I try to warn them in advance that I have high expectations, but even so some are surprised to see their first grades.

One of my strengths is my ability to bring a lot of outside material classes, but at times I get carried away and talk above the students' level. I'm usually enthusiastic (except for very early classes) but again I sometimes go too far and talk too fast. Usually I get excited about complicated and new material, compounding the problem because that's when I should be talking slower. Also, I sometimes try to cram too much into a class period, leaving me with insufficient time to summarize at the end. But in the final analysis, I think that enthusiastically challenging students to stretch themselves is the best way to encourage learning.

I like to argue, and I like students argue with me. This can be good or bad. With the right mix of students we can have a great discussions. At times though I can dominate the conversation. I have to monitor this carefully when I teach, to make sure that I'm maintaining a good balance of challenging students while at the same time showing them that I am open to their ideas and views.

With class assignments, I try to make them as creative as possible. I work very hard to come up with assignments that encourage students to make connections between theory and practice. For the most part I'm successful at this, although sometimes my assignments are too creative in that students have a lot of fun but don't necessarily make the connection to theory. I evaluate their work quickly and critically. Students have sometimes criticized my evaluations as too rigorous, but rarely (if ever) as unfair.

Two basic ideas about education undergird all of my efforts here. First, I believe that teaching is a service. Because of this, I do my best to act as a resource for students' learning. Second, I believe (and this is supported by research) that education gives people a greater sense of efficacy. They learn that they can make a difference, they can change their lives for the better. It is always my hope when my students leave my classes that they have come closer to this realization.

Academic Development

During my years here at ASU, I have continually worked to develop myself as a teacher. I have taken advantage of several workshops offered through the Hubbard Center, including two on Service Learning and one on Learning Communities. The first summer that ASU offered WebCT workshops, I attended the week-long training session. In the summer of 2001, I participated in another week-long workshop here at ASU, this time focussing on distance education technologies. Team-teaching, in my opinion, is another significant way to develop my teaching abilities, and I have been able to do this twice. But the most significant evidence of my academic development is the changes in my teaching that have come over the years, which are difficult to document. However, I believe that by looking over my syllabi and assignments below you should see evidence that I work hard to keep my courses fresh, with updated content and cutting-edge assignments. Every semester I teach a course I make significant changes, such as new online content, new assignments, new content areas, new readings, and sometimes I even completely redesign the course (such as COM 1100 for Fall 2002, or COM 3155 for Fall 2000). These changes come from my efforts to continue to develop as a teacher, supported by the various developmental centers here at ASU.

Assignments/Syllabi

• COM 1100 Syllabus, Assignments
• COM 2121 Syllabus, Course Schedule, Assignments
• COM 3155 Syllabus, Course Schedule, Assignments
• COM 3200 Syllabus, Assignments
• COM 4111 Syllabus, Course Schedule, Assignments

Looking over my syllabi and assignment pages, a few things should stand out about the required work for my courses. First, I try to include a wide variety of assignments in every class. This is because I firmly believe that we not only need to teach to different learning styles, but also to assess students in different ways. Second, I try to make the assignments creative and unique, in part to stimulate students to greater effort, but also to make it more difficult to plagiarize. Finally, I try to make the instructions for assignments as detailed as possible, so that students know what is expected of them.

Another aspect you will no doubt notice is that I am moving away from exams as an assessment tool. Exams can measure some types of learning, but typically not the kind of learning that I am trying to foster. In my classes, I assess student learning through assignments that require them to integrate and evaluate what they have learned, and not just restate what they have crammed into their heads the night before. Research papers, analysis papers, and large projects are typical in my classes, and through these I can assess how well students can take course information and apply it. This is not to say that I do not use exams where appropriate; for example, in the Foundations course, students need to master and retain a certain amount of basic information about communication, and exams work well to measure this.

I include online quizzes in many of my classes, usually posted every other week. These quizzes are open-book, open-note, and in some cases students are allowed to work together on them. I use these quizzes for two reasons. First, they are a way to make sure that students keep up with the course (both the readings and the class lectures/discussions/activities). Second, they are a way to encourage students to look beyond just the textbook and myself for their learning, to see that they can learn from themselves and their classmates as well.

Many of my courses also include an online discussion requirement. These listservs allow students to continue discussion beyond the limits of the class hour, and provide an alternate forum for students who are hesitant to contribute verbally in class. In every class, these listservs are used in slightly different ways, but in each case I am attempting to extend students' learning and critical thinking.

Online Efforts

In the past years, I have been gradually moving toward putting all class materials online. I have made this a gradual move, in part because I haven't been able to devote the hours necessary to do it all at once, but also because I am trying to be sensitive to student needs. Not all students have had access to computers in the past, but as the percentage without access has declined, I have raised the amount of online materials commensurately.

As it stands right now, I put the syllabi and assignment information for all of my classes online. I see several advantages to this: it makes it easier for students to find the material, it cuts down on the amount of copying I have to do (as well as saving the department money), it resolves the problem of "I lost my syllabus, so I didn't know when it was due," and it allows students who are considering signing up for my course to see what the course expectations/assignments/work load are.

Of course, online materials have disadvantages as well. Putting materials online requires MORE effort than traditional photocopying of handouts. The coding of webpages takes time and creativity which sometimes is not recognized. Students print out many of the materials anyway, causing them to bear more of the costs of the course. Some students are still not familiar with the Internet and have difficulties accessing the materials.

However, I still plan to continue to put materials online, because I believe the benefits outweigh the costs. I believe that student familiarity with the Internet will continue to grow, and incoming students will begin to expect and even demand more access to course materials online. Online content allows me to include extremely current events; for example, I can have students in my Rhetorical Criticism course analyze speeches that were given the night before. It allows me to point students to unique advertisements being aired in other countries. In short, the Internet can be a powerful tool for teaching, and I will continue to use it to improve my students' learning.

Service Learning

I decided to have a separate section for service learning because it is so labor-intensive, but also so rewarding. Since the fall of 2000, I have included an intensive service learning group project in my COM 3155 (Theories and Practices of Persuasion) course, I have had students in my COM 3200 (Internet Communication) design websites for local non-profits, and starting this fall I am serving as the coordinator for COM 1100 (Foundations of Human Communication) which now also includes a basic service learning project. You can read a great deal more about service learning on the ACT website, but essentially it combines service to the local community with the content of the course, allowing students to simultaneously apply course content to the "real world" while they engage in critical thinking about issues that affect the community. When I look over the projects that the students in the sections of that I have taught the past two years, I'm amazed both by how much they learned as well as how much they accomplished for the community. When I think about the 3000+ hours of community service contributed each semester by students in all of the sections of COM 1100, I am left speechless.

Incorporating service learning into my classes was extremely challenging for both myself and my students. For myself, I had to figure out some way to fairly grade widely disparate projects, balance keeping students on task with enough of a "hands-off" approach so they could maintain ownership of the project, and ensure that the projects were meaningful but not overwhelming, all while teaching the normal course content. Students were challenged by the amount of out-of-class work, the "real world" nature of the projects, and (for some) the technical problems posed by WebCT.

Nevertheless, I'm committed to using service learning. I'm a firm believer in service; in my opinion we all ought to be critical servants to the communities in which we live (you can read my QJS article if you're interested in my perspective). Students can tend to get very self centered during college, focusing on "getting a degree" so they can "get a job" and "make lots of money." It's my hope that in these classes they'll not only learn a great deal about communication, but they'll also learn that they are interdependent with the other members of their communities. One of the greatest benefits of education is an increased sense of efficacy, and it's my belief that service learning opportunities make it even more clear to students that they can make a difference.

My commitment to service learning goes beyond my courses. I'm a member of the ASU service learning task force, I both participated in and presented at service learning workshops here at ASU, I've been invited to speak twice at Lenoir-Rhyne College, and was a keynote speaker and presenter at a Campus Compact conference. I was gratified to receive the Service Learning Faculty Member of the Year award from ACT twice: for 2000-2001, and 2002-2003.

Service Projects

Over the past two years, students in my COM 3155 and COM 3200 classes have done an amazing amount of work for the local community. Here is a listing of the projects completed, listed by semester.

Fall 2000

• Watauga Youth Network — helped promote the Support Our Students (SOS) program to parents and children in the area. Created a video about SOS, a radio ad, and a PR announcement.
• High Country United Way — created a list of small businesses in area, visited businesses and spoke about United Way, solicited donations.
• Hunger Coalition — worked on a food, diaper and clothing drive.
• Hunger Coalition — publicized the Food Recovery program to local restaurants, met with restaurant managers to convince them to join, created fliers and an advertisement.
• Department of Social Services — solicited local businesses and obtained items to create emergency need bags for foster children.
• Department of Social Services — created and distributed fliers, bulletin announcements, and advertisements to encourage people to become foster parents. Contacted local businesses and obtained gift certificates to be given to foster parents.
• New River Earth Institute — researched appropriate grants and assisted in writing and formatting of grant proposals.
• New River Earth Institute — gave presentations to student groups and organizations about classes taught by Institute, developed contact table for Union.
• National Committee for the New River — created fliers, brochures, and other materials to increase awareness about local environmental issues.
• Glenstone Health Care — designed creative, low-budget ideas to improve employee morale.
• Volunteer Outreach Center — designed advertisements, public service announcements, and fliers to promote the Center.
• Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary — created an educational video to be shown to elementary school students about the proper care animals.
• Department of Communication — created a portfolio of materials to be used for fund-raising efforts, specifically for a new computer lab.

Spring 2001

• Hospitality House — planned, organized, and Randy fund-raiser.
• Hospitality House — promoted House in the community, may presentations to increase awareness of homelessness issues to community.
• Hunger Coalition — worked on the 5K Run for Hunger.
• Green Valley Community Park — redesigned a promotional brochure and created a new logo, designed a promotional poster for the Park.
• Department of Social Services — created promotional materials, solicited to gift certificates from local businesses to be given to foster children.
• Watauga Youth Network — promoted One-on-One program with fliers, advertisements, public relations announcements.
• Parent to Parent Family Support Network — redesigned a brochure, created a new logo, and helped promote the organization.
• Volunteer Outreach Center — created promotional materials for National Youth Service Day, made presentations at schools to help encourage children to participate.
• Cove Creek Preservation and Development — assisted with promotion of the Doc Watson Musical Festival, including the development of an action plan and timeline.
• Adolescent Health Committee — used a wide variety of methods to promote awareness of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.
• Appalachian District Health Department — created Tell-a-Friend promotional program for WIC, solicited donations from area businesses to be given to contest winners.
• Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary — created a promotional video about the sanctuary to be sent to potential donors.
• Volunteer Outreach Center — created various promotional materials to reach a wide variety of local audiences (children, retirees, seasonal residents, etc.).

Fall 2001

• Hunger Coalition — publicized the Food Recovery program.
• Hunger Coalition — developed newsletter for various programs at HC.
• Habitat for Humanity — worked to increase exposure in community through newspaper articles, radio spots, and more.
• OASIS — designed and implemented a campaign to publicize Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
• OASIS — created and staffed an information booth in various locations throughout Boone to publicize agency's services.
• Alcohol and Drug Council — worked to promote Red Ribbon Celebration, a week-long anti-drug campaign.
• Department of Social Services — developed brochure, flyer, and PowerPoint presentation for Foster Parent program.
• Mountain Pathways Montessori School — promoted school through print campaign, developed presentation for fundraising.
• Volunteer Outreach Center — promoted VOC at local high school.
• Hospitality House — started an "interview closet" by getting goods and services donated.
• Watauga County Parent Support Group — worked to increase awareness of support group through brochure, informing doctors, etc.
• Appalachian AIDS Outreach — planned and promoted World AIDS Day events.
• Blazing Saddles — created promotional video for agency to use for fundraising.
• Hospitality House — developed web site.
• Commision on Aging — developed web site.
• Parent to Parent Support Network — developed web site.
• Blazing Saddles — developed web site.

Spring 2002

• New River Earth Institute — wrote 6 persuasive articles for ALIVE newsletter.
• New River Earth Institute — developed display boards for use at various events.
• Hospitality House — developed a community marketing plan for House, preliminary research work.
• Hospitality House — promoted Hunger & Homelessness Week by putting books in local schools, soliciting donations to cover costs.
• Parent to Parent Family Support Network — developed packets to distribute to area doctors and businesses to increase support.
• Appalachian AIDS Outreach — planned, promoted, and ran a workshop to inform fraternities and sororities about HIV risks.
• OASIS — designed and staffed informational booths for area events.
• Alcohol and Drug Council — developed fundraising materials (poster, presentations) and presented at area events.
• Hunger Coalition — promoted 5K "Run for Hunger," particularly targeting college students.
• Legal Services of the Blue Ridge — created large-print display board and presentation materials, brochure, and more for elderly clients.
• City Seeds of Boone — updated and improved display board and publicity book.
• City Seeds of Boone — created and delivered presentation on Solar Greenhouses at area events.
• Brain Awareness Week — promoted events for national Brain Awareness Week.

Summer 2002

• Legal Service of the Blue Ridge — developed web site.
• High Country Amigos — developed web site.
• Watauga County Parks & Recreation High Country Senior Games — developed web site.
• Watauga County Arts Council — developed web site.
• New Life Mobility Assistance Dogs — developed web site.

Fall 2002

• Hospitality House — put together a campaign to encourage dentists to donate care to homeless
• Hospitality House — created new promotional materials, including brochures, to make doctors aware of health issues facing homeless
• OASIS — ran a workshop for area therapists on abuse issues in gay and lesbian relationships
• OASIS — anti-sexual assault campaign, targeting issue of date rape on campus
• Volunteer Outreach Center — set up "World AIDS Day" events
• Hunger Coalition — persuaded new restaurants in area to join with the Food Recovery Program
• Project on Aging — visited and interacted with elderly
• Shelter Rock — variety of projects
• Glenbridge — visited and interacted with elderly

Spring 2003

• Computers for Uruguay — persuaded area businesses to donate used computer equipment for schools in Uruguay
• WeCAN — created new logo and brochure to help start up a newly formed relief clearinghouse
• Legal Aid of NC — created new brochure, information campaign for illegal firings
• High Country Conservancy — persuaded local hotels to add a $2 charge to room fees to help preserve natural resources of area
• OASIS — created information campaign about connections between alcohol and abuse
• Shelter Rock — put together a campaign to get school supplies donated for rural poor in region
• Hospitality House — worked with the Feinstein Foundation to raise money for local shelter
• Project on Aging — visited and interacted with elderly
• Shelter Rock — variety of projects
• Glenbridge — visited and interacted with elderly

Fall 2003

• Playhouse — visited and interacted with children, parents
• Project on Aging — visited and interacted with elderly visitors
• Shelter Rock — variety of projects
• Glenbridge — visited and interacted with elderly patients

Spring 2004

• Playhouse — visited and interacted with children, parents
• Project on Aging — visited and interacted with elderly visitors
• Shelter Rock — variety of projects
• Glenbridge — visited and interacted with elderly patients
• Don't Throw it Away — persuaded students to contribute used dorm supplies to a rummage sale to be held in the fall to raise money for local non-profit agency

Fall 2004

• Habitat for Humanity — help start up a new youth-oriented sub-organization, called Youth United
• Living Wage Initiative — increase awareness among local businesses of need to pay living wage
• Humane Society — create media campaign for capital funds drive for a new shelter
• Watauga Youth Network — raise money for scholarships for students to attend after-school program
• Watauga Youth Network — boost Hometown Heroes mentoring program
• Watuaga County Life Stories — collect oral histories from area seniors for posting to web site, publication in newspaper

Student Feedback

For the quantitative data from my teaching evaluations, please see the hard copies available in Dr. Towns' office. For qualitative data, see the hard copies of peer evaluations and student letters (also in Dr. Town's office). Finally, for examples of student work (probably the most "real" measure of my teaching abilities), please see the sample portfolios from COM 3155 projects (also in Dr. Towns' office) or check out the High Country Amigos website (which was developed in my COM 3200 course). Here I will comment on what the feedback means to me, and how I have used it over the years to improve my teaching.

My "numbers" over the past 7 years here at ASU have consistently been around the department mean or higher. Students' comments from the peer evaluation, the comments on the back of the SEI forms, and the comments that students put on the forms they filled out for the ACT office (which are in the service learning section), usually comment positively on my instruction, noting a number of significant qualities— entertaining, creative, challenging, encouraging, and supportive. Students almost always note that they find my classes interesting, enjoy the different methods I use to teach, appreciate my style of teaching, and make connections between class materials and the "real world." Peer observations of my teaching support the students' claims that my instruction is of high quality.

One aspect of my teaching that may tend to reduce my scores is that I strive to challenge students. Occasionally, I may set the level too high, especially when I am trying something new myself. But I will continue to set the bar high, because I refuse to accept that our students are not intelligent, talented individuals who will perform at high levels when we expect them to do so. Occasionally, I see the fruits of this approach. One of the students in my Persuasion class noted in her final reflection paper that "for the past two years I have been waiting for a class that I feel poses a challenge. This was definitely the class." Students in my Theories and Criticism of Rhetorical Communication regularly comment that it is the toughest course they have ever taken, but that it also did the most to improve their writing abilities. The fact that each year several of their papers are accepted for presentation at the Undergraduate Honors Conference provides evidence that they learn to write high-quality research papers.

When I look at the overall feedback — the written comments from the evaluations, the peer review observations, student work, etc. — I am pleased with my teaching. I put a tremendous amount of effort into all of my classes, and I think it shows in the results. Students respond well to my instruction, and produce some amazing results.

However, I have seen some areas for change and improvement, and have taken steps to improve my classes. In the COM 3155 course in particular, I have used feedback (including midterm assessments) to continually tweak the online content and group projects. I have also worked to make the interaction between the students and the agencies more efficient/effective, which has been an issue. Students noted in one peer review session that they didn't like how much of their grade was group-determined. I worked to remedy this by more clearly explaining (and laying out visually on the webpage) the grading components, since in actuality only a small portion of the grade is group-determined. I also keep trying to make the connection between the course content and the service projects as obvious as possible to students. I've seen improvement in this regard lately as I increase the amount of in-class time spent discussing the projects.

In all of my courses, I have taken certain items to heart. I have worked on my "wait time," and in a recent peer review Dr. Moore noted that it is (now) very good. Based on early feedback, I have made an effort to continually preview and review in classes (although I have yet to see those "numbers" rise significantly on the SEI forms). My biggest difficulty with the student forms is that I tend to notice the one negative comment and ignore all of the positive ones. But I believe this pushes me to continually improve my instruction, which is the goal of assessment, after all.

Introduction | Discovery | Integration | Application | Teaching | Service/Other