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My mom, who has been an elementary educator for 28 years, asked me on the day when I started applying for graduate school, “do you want to be a teacher?” I nodded at her. “Do you enjoy helping people,” she then asked, looking into my eyes. I nodded to her again, like a stubborn kid. Born in a teacher’s family, I was educated and influenced by many family members who devoted themselves to teaching and school administration. This passion for helping people has always been a flame that motivates me to explore teaching and learning. My teaching philosophy is largely shaped by my belief about what education should do. I believe the ultimate goal of education is to empower students to become goal-oriented and reflective learners in a collaborative learning environment. Over the years, these simple philosophies, coupled with my teaching and learning experiences, have evolved into my own personal teaching beliefs.

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                Teaching and Learning Is a Goal-Oriented Activity

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I have been teaching an introduction to educational technology course at Purdue University for four years. Most of my students were pre-service teachers. Through the interaction with my students, I found that students who are more motivated and self-initiated in learning are typically those who have clear learning goals in mind. As the course instructor, I intentionally highlight the course objectives upfront and encourage students to set personal learning goals that can be aligned with the course objectives. For example, in this course, students were asked to learn some different education technologies throughout the semester. Instead of requiring them to complete an assignment each week, I asked them to “sign a personal contract” with me; clarifying what they would be learning each week and when they would submit the works. It turned out that most of my students were more motivated in learning and they appreciated the flexibility offered in this course.

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One of my research interests is goal-oriented learning. Some of my professional presentations and papers deal with how to help learners use technologies to support their goal-setting processes. Thus, I encouraged my students to use all kinds of tools, such as digital badge and project management tools to connect different types of goals: personal goals, career goals, and different sub learning goals. With the support of digital badges, students were able to demonstrate what they had accomplished in this course in their portfolio and connect to their long term professional goals.

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Teaching and Learning Is a Reflective Process

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I remember the first journal article I wrote with my doctoral study advisor Dr. Tim Newby. After the initial draft, he asked me to review the draft from the perspective of a journal article reviewer pretending it is someone else’s paper. Once I reviewed it with my notes all over the place, he told me to start over and rewrite the article. Then he asked me to review and revise it again. Although this was rather time-consuming, I learned many valuable lessons. One, in particular, focused on the importance of reflection.  Many hours I sat thinking about how to analyze and then synthesize the information in a way that I could convey its importance. Along with this experience and others, I see the value of having students work at developing their skills of intentional reflection. In Spring 2018, I taught an Advanced Instructional Design Theory course to graduate students in the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Purdue College of Education. In this course, students developed their understanding of the role and value of theories in the field of instructional design through readings and discussions. I see this belief in reflection being brought out throughout the process in several ways. First, at the beginning of the course, students often desire “black and white,” or concrete explanations. They become more intentional in challenging their assumptions after being encouraged to be reflective of their thinking process. Second, in our field, there are multiple perspectives on what constitutes instructional design theory.  By spending time reflecting on their individual learning process, students had the chance to articulate their understanding based on personal and professional experiences, scholarly works, peers’ ideas, and reflective synthesis of these diverse ideas. Throughout the process of teaching this course, I saw the need for reflection to develop greater theoretical understanding.

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               Teaching and Learning Is a Collaborative Process 

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Looking back at my teaching experience, I realized that teaching and learning is a collaborative process. It is a collaboration among learners and between the course facilitator and the students. Just as every collaborative activity, being respectful is very important. I treat learners as co-workers rather than students. I value the voice of each individual learner. Instead of perceiving my role as a teacher to tell my students how to think or what their beliefs should be, I believe my mission is to collaborate with them to reach their personal goals. 

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I hope that my future work always includes teaching.  I look forward to refining my teaching skills and continuously working to become the best teacher I can be.