Teaching Philosophy
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. –Pablo Picasso
I refer to myself as an “accidental educator” simply because it was never my intention to teach despite countless career aptitude tests and advisors telling me that is exactly what I should be doing. Instead, I pursued the path of a marketing communications generalist who also had a knack for explaining things in a way people could easily understand. But while successful in my career, I never felt fulfilled…until the day I was assisting clients with their Facebook accounts, and they asked me to create an official class with the industry state commission office so that they could receive continuing education credit. That simple request changed the trajectory of my professional life. I spent the next seven years working with adult learners and enjoyed helping them feel comfortable engaging on social media and branding themselves. I then was offered the opportunity to adjunct a couple social and digital media classes at my alma mater and immediately realized I had found my place in the world. One semester later I joined the marketing faculty full-time at The University of Alabama and am so grateful for the opportunity to share my experience and knowledge and engage with the next generation of business leaders!
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel - Socrates
I do not believe that rote memorization and regurgitation of terms and concepts creates knowledge or deep understanding. I believe students need to learn how to meaningfully apply concepts and think critically as they will be required to do so to succeed in their careers. I bring real world examples into the classroom to illustrate concepts and ask the students to share their own examples as a personal reference point to increase recall. I also bring industry professionals into the classroom to provide “day in the life” glimpses into their industry (how marketing concept knowledge is applied) as well as offer dialogue with the students on whatever topics they choose to explore.
My marketing principles classes are large, with over 200 students per section. It is a course that is required of all business students regardless of major. As such, I have separate goals for the students in this class. The marketing majors will gain a subject matter foundation to support their future marketing classes. All other majors will gain an understanding of how marketing relates to and impacts their chosen business major or minor. All students participate in a semester-long personal marketing project where they are positioning themselves as the product to present to the job market. This project requires introspection and reflection including a personal SWOT analysis and culminates with an elevator pitch to prospective employers. Finally, my intent for every student is to leave my class as a more critical consumer who will make thoughtful and informed purchasing decisions by understanding how marketing influences them daily.
My other class is promotion management. As a smaller class, it provides the ability to assign group tasks. For example, for every chapter a group of students must present the information covered in the text and relate it to a company/brand chosen at random. Therefore, these students must understand the concepts presented so that they can teach them to their classmates. Additionally, they must be able to analyze the concepts through the lens of the selected company/brand. There is also a semester-long consulting project for the students to apply their acquired knowledge and skills with real world outcomes. The students must organize themselves into an agency structure and members of the university’s strategic communications team offers guidance and feedback throughout the semester. The expectation for each team is to demonstrate consistent forward progress toward their marketing objectives throughout the project. Using experiential learning, they are more engaged in the learning process by transforming knowledge into concrete experience.
In all of my classes, I encourage my students to actively communicate with me whether it is to discuss an assignment or exam, projects for another class, their job search, or life in general. I have set office hours but also make specific appointments with students by request and I reply to emails promptly. I have had several students tell me they feel I really care about their well-being, and I frequently have former students come by my office to give me updates, request grad school/job recommendations, or ask advice. I believe this interaction outside of class is important to keep them involved and on track to success.
My marketing principles classes are large, with over 200 students per section. It is a course that is required of all business students regardless of major. As such, I have separate goals for the students in this class. The marketing majors will gain a subject matter foundation to support their future marketing classes. All other majors will gain an understanding of how marketing relates to and impacts their chosen business major or minor. All students participate in a semester-long personal marketing project where they are positioning themselves as the product to present to the job market. This project requires introspection and reflection including a personal SWOT analysis and culminates with an elevator pitch to prospective employers. Finally, my intent for every student is to leave my class as a more critical consumer who will make thoughtful and informed purchasing decisions by understanding how marketing influences them daily.
My other class is promotion management. As a smaller class, it provides the ability to assign group tasks. For example, for every chapter a group of students must present the information covered in the text and relate it to a company/brand chosen at random. Therefore, these students must understand the concepts presented so that they can teach them to their classmates. Additionally, they must be able to analyze the concepts through the lens of the selected company/brand. There is also a semester-long consulting project for the students to apply their acquired knowledge and skills with real world outcomes. The students must organize themselves into an agency structure and members of the university’s strategic communications team offers guidance and feedback throughout the semester. The expectation for each team is to demonstrate consistent forward progress toward their marketing objectives throughout the project. Using experiential learning, they are more engaged in the learning process by transforming knowledge into concrete experience.
In all of my classes, I encourage my students to actively communicate with me whether it is to discuss an assignment or exam, projects for another class, their job search, or life in general. I have set office hours but also make specific appointments with students by request and I reply to emails promptly. I have had several students tell me they feel I really care about their well-being, and I frequently have former students come by my office to give me updates, request grad school/job recommendations, or ask advice. I believe this interaction outside of class is important to keep them involved and on track to success.
One who dares to teach must never cease to learn. – John Cotton Dana, 1912
I am an avid lifelong learner which is fortunate as marketing is a dynamic field that requires constant research and updating of materials to remain current and relevant. Therefore, I continuously work on my classes to incorporate new concepts, examples and technologies. I attend conferences and webinars to improve my instruction techniques. I also review the student submitted course evaluation studies each semester for feedback on what they like – and don’t’ like – to help me create the most engaging educational experience for my students.
Header image: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Header image: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons