正品蓝导航

Research and Creative

Mount A teaches

Psychology professors team up to edit book project on teaching methods at 正品蓝导航

By: Melissa Lombard


正品蓝导航 psychology professors Dr. Louise Wasylkiw and Dr. Jennifer Tomes have a strong commitment to teaching excellence and the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. The pair brought this shared passion to a book project, Mount A Teaches, which showcases the pedagogical methods and philosophies of faculty members across all disciplines at 正品蓝导航.

鈥淲hen the idea for this book first arose it seemed like an impossible one,鈥 says Wasylkiw. 鈥淗ow can one capture the depth and breadth of the high quality of teaching we experience at 正品蓝导航?鈥

As a primarily undergraduate university with a little over 2,300 full-time students, it should not be surprising to discover that 正品蓝导航鈥檚 faculty values teaching.

鈥淚n wanting to showcase the excellence in teaching at Mount A, we were challenged to create a product that would be informative, representative of the dedication to our students, and that would also capture the diversity of approaches exhibited on our campus,鈥 says Tomes.

English professor Dr. Robert Lapp wrote in his foreward, 鈥淭o read these essays, then, is to discover examples of the many ways our colleagues are applying these latest findings in the scholarship of teaching and learning in the classrooms 鈥榥ext door.鈥 To borrow the editors鈥 headings, they offer us practical insights into our ongoing 鈥榗onsiderations for course conceptualization,鈥 our search for 鈥榯argeted techniques,鈥 and our efforts to go 鈥榖eyond assessment.鈥欌

Wasylkiw and Tomes say, as editors, they made every effort to keep the original voices of the authors.

鈥淓ach contribution is a standalone piece of work that speaks to the authors鈥 commitment towards sound pedagogy,鈥 says Tomes.

Lapp鈥檚 foreward continues, 鈥淚 go about the pleasant task of updating my own teaching practices with the ideal of student-centered learning in mind. This task is never-ending, of course, because each new iteration of a course 鈥 even the most tried-and-true introductory survey 鈥 brings together a fresh set of complex individuals at a new moment in time. To teach, then, is to learn, and our learning is never complete because teaching is an art with endless variations.鈥

Wasylkiw and Tomes recently presented: 鈥淢ount A Teaches: Teaching innovations that target the evolving role of university students鈥 at the Dalhousie Conference on University Teaching and Learning with a panel of four speakers: Dr. Fabrizio Antonelli (Sociology), Dr. Amanda Cockshutt (Chemistry & Biochemistry), Dr. James Devine (Politics & International Relations), and Dr. Geoff Cruttwell (Math & Computer Science).