Teaching Philosophy
Having spent these last couple years thinking about androids, science fiction, and human-machine collaboration, I centered my teaching practice on engaging students in the question of what it means to communicate and collaborate with one another as humans in a world of dialogue. While encouraging a collaborative learning environment, I insist on workshop-style, group work, and peer- review teaching methods. The texts that we discuss in class promote prosocial, collaborative behavior in the students and cultivate empathy. This approach is an alternative to the pervasive overemphasis on individualized screen learning. Instead, I invest in my students’ digital literacy. I combine in-class group activities and digital creation workshops with the use of online resources. I use open-access websites like Canva so that students can learn to create digital materials like infographics. Creating an assignment like an infographic helps introduces students to digital spaces while they practice visual, electronic, and written communication strategies. They learn the value of creating and reading visual data, a skill which remains a part of their digital skills throughout their academic education, in the workplace and in public digital genres, including Social Media.
While teaching students to create assignments such as infographics, I elaborate on the professional value and purpose of each and every activity, including the larger goals of the assignment and activities that contribute to its creations, including peer-review exercises. In peer- review activities, students comment on each other’s drafts in online discussion forums while learning to emphasize the need for a balance of constructive critique and professional kindness. Thereby, I aim to treat students as responsible adults to foster an environment of understanding and transparency. The acquisition of skills such as researching to acquire knowledge and the fulfillment of deadlines are some of the challenges I set for the students. After the course, they can apply some of the insights on discipline and professionalism to achieve academic success.
The privilege of teaching undergraduates at different research-intensive institutions helped me develop a student-centered teaching practice that seeks to be ever more supportive of students and their individual needs. For instance, in a composition course titled ‘The Digital World,’ I asked students to free-write what they want to learn about in the class. Since this specific course focusses on exploring argument and rhetoric in digitally produced texts, I was surprised to learn that of the students’ interests in marketing texts that utilize argument in a digital framework. Accordingly, I adjusted the assigned readings to work with the students’ interdisciplinary interests. I found that a student-centered practice not only engages students in the classroom but also retains them and inspires their creativity.
Thereby, my collaborative teaching pedagogy also translates into creating innovative learning spaces where students can openly discuss their insights to actively promote the exchange of communication in all its forms.
Due to my own intercultural experience, I emphasize the intercultural exchange between the students, who are often from different countries and backgrounds. By learning from and with the students, I aim for an empathetic teacher-student relationship. As a mentor, I highlight the students’ innovative ideas and thought processes in one-to-one meetings, in classroom discussion, and in my commentaries on their written work. My teaching methods prioritize an exchange of views and ideas. For instance, an ‘Introduction to Digital Humanities’ course can teach the students to emphasize with different mindsets while engaging critically with a variety of digital texts. They learn to discuss controversial issues and uncover cultural insights while learning reading and writing practices to process digital information and media.
I foster empathetic teacher-student learning experiences by checking in with students in one- to-one conferences throughout the semester. This helps to make sure that no student falls behind in the class and keeps them accountable. To assess students, I utilize a100-point grading system, in which every component is valuable, including writing assignments, quizzes and exams, and active participation and collaboration with peers. Therefore, I integrate the same grading systems and to develop methods of collaboratively working with digital resources in the classrooms. For instance, I use open-access software es like Audacity to have students create podcasts. I showcase their work in student symposiums or promote their creativity through public scholarship on websites like these: multi-modal-exchange.com.
Zita Hüsing, Ph.D. 