The Teaching of Psychology in Autobiography: Perspectives from Exemplary Psychology Teachers Edited by Trisha A. Benson, Caroline Burke, Ana Amstadter, Ryan Sidey, Vincent Hevern, Barney Beins, & Bill Buskist.
36 It Takes A Village to Raise a Good Teacher Linda M. Noble Kennesaw State University pp. 247-253

To be honest, I am quite surprised I have been invited to contribute to a collection of perspectives from psychology's best teachers. Although teaching is one of the great loves of my life, I have never thought of myself as one of psychology's best teachers. I consider myself to be a good teacher, but I am aware that most of my accomplishments have been the result of being part of a community, or a "village," of best teachers. My teaching and my students' learning have benefited immensely from that community.

After 20 years at Kennesaw State University (KSU), the last 10 of which I served as Department Chair and Dean, I am now the Associate Director of KSU's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). My primary role at CETL is faculty mentoring at all levels, from new faculty to department chairs. I have also returned to the classroom full-time; and it is great to be back.

I completed the Biopsychology doctoral program at the University of Georgia in 1985. Immediately thereafter, I was hired in the KSU Psychology Department, and I have spent my entire career at a dynamic and thriving university. I have also been part of a department committed to teaching excellence. When I joined KSU, we had 5,000 students and no graduate programs. Since then, we have grown to over 18,000 students, have nationally recognized Master's and Baccalaureate programs, and are striving to become a doctoral-granting institution. My colleagues sometimes ask me if I have ever considered leaving KSU. I always respond, why should I? KSU has been several different types of institutions in the last 20 years, and I have never stopped growing with it. Change has been a way of life here, and I have never been bored.

My Early Development as a Teacher

My graduate training did not include formal preparation for teaching. Teaching assistants (TAs) at the University of Georgia began by assisting an instructor of record in a course and were gradually given more responsibility for their own courses over time. For example, I started out as a TA in the laboratory section of a course and was given sole responsibility for a course only after I completed my Master's degree (which was departmental policy). Oddly, my Master's degree did not include any formal teaching preparation, so I assumed all you needed to be a good teacher was content knowledge. At that time, I was assigned a more senior graduate student as a formal mentor. I also had a major professor who was an outstanding teacher, and both were available to assist me.

I did not consider myself an effective teacher in graduate school. When I started teaching, I looked at sample departmental syllabi and simply copied what I saw. I barely kept my head above water; reading each chapter the night before we covered it in class and designing course assignments on the fly. Most of the time, I felt as though the only difference between me and my students was that I had actually read the chapter.

Being effective was not just about teaching the material; understanding campus culture was also important. I remember teaching General Psychology for the first time during a fall semester. I scheduled an exam for the Friday before the Georgia/Florida football game. Of course, being a principled instructor, I was not about to revise my course schedule for a football game. I was shocked on exam day when only 2 of 35 students showed up to take the test (and those two only came because they could not get game tickets)! I gave up, rescheduled the test, and the next year I attended the game. It was my first lesson that teaching was not just about covering the material; it is also about knowing the culture of a campus.

I am not sure when I decided to become a college teacher. I come from a long line of educators, so I knew I liked the idea of being a teacher. I conducted research and taught while in graduate school, but I was not sure what type of faculty position I wanted. When I began applying for jobs, my major professor explained to me the mission differences across institutions. I understood different types of institutions placed different priorities on teaching and research. I also spent some time reflecting on what activities I enjoyed the most. When all was said and done, I applied to some institutions that prioritized research and some that emphasized teaching. By the time I had to make a decision, I knew I wanted a position in which teaching was my primary responsibility, but in which research was also valued. Having come to that realization, I knew what type of institution I wanted to join, and KSU was a perfect match.

I did not start developing as an effective teacher until I began teaching full-time at KSU. I believe I acquired most of my teaching strengths because I joined a department of exceptional teachers, some of whom became the most significant mentors of my career. KSU's Psychology Department had a strong commitment to teaching excellence and they had built a collaborative community. I had found my village and they began to raise me.

Working at Defining Myself as a Teacher

From the outset I experienced a departmental culture of sharing, collaboration, and support. Having only taught General Psychology in graduate school, I was faced with many new course preparations in my first few years. Colleagues who were teaching the same courses generously gave me copies of their course syllabi and all the assignments they had developed. The first lesson I learned about good teaching was to ask for and accept help. In effective departments, teaching is not considered a private enterprise (Cox & Richlin, 2004). Thanks to my colleagues, I had a lot of materials and examples from which to work. My main challenge in those early years was to sort through the techniques and philosophies of my fellow faculty and find those that fit my own style and philosophy. My KSU colleagues also introduced me to the larger village that is the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP, Division Two of the American Psychological Association [APA]). I found the same sharing culture in STP, and my teaching was now being influenced by a much larger village and some of the best psychology teachers across the nation.

One of the early challenges I faced was developing my teaching philosophy. When I began to teach, we did not talk about teaching philosophies. Although I had some general sense of why I required certain assignments or focused on particular material, I had never fully considered why I designed courses the way I did. It was not until later in my career that accountability became important and the emphasis on student learning outcomes grew (Hutchings & Marchese, 1990). As part of this movement, I developed learning outcomes for my courses and my teaching philosophy began to take shape. The structure of my courses and the purpose behind the learning experiences in those courses became clearer to me, and more importantly, to my students. Helping students see the connection between what they were doing in their academic program and the skills and knowledge they should be acquiring as a result was a critical turning point for me. Learning outcomes provided a nice framework for my teaching, and I was now able to see how student skills such as scientific thinking, effective communication, and teamwork are manifested across all courses I teach.

Another challenge I had as a developing teacher was setting course policies (something that I still struggle with today). My goal is to set course policies with the right balance between good parameters for students and enough flexibility for the type of students we have at KSU (most students are juggling school with jobs, families, etc.). As a teaching psychologist, I believe it is my responsibility to help students develop work habits that will serve them well outside of college. However, I do not want my courses to be seen as a series of rules to be followed. Yet, I cannot allow students to routinely violate the parameters I set up in a course. That much flexibility is not good for them or fair to other students who are following the course guidelines. So, how did I set up fair and equitable policies for attendance, turning in late assignments, and taking make-up exams? Again, I turned to my village. I borrowed ideas from my colleagues, reviewed the literature (e.g., Keith-Spiegel, Whitley, Balogh, Perkins, & Wittig, 2002; Sleigh, Ritzer, & Casey, 2002), and listened to my students. The information I gathered from all of these sources allowed me to establish policies well-grounded in the literature, but tailored to my personal philosophy and goals.

I have recently returned to the classroom after 10 years of full-time administration. Although some faculty sacrifice good teaching for research, I sacrificed good teaching for service. When I realized my responsibilities as Dean were interfering with my teaching, I decided I would not teach rather than offer my students less than they deserved. When you talk to some administrators who are no longer teaching, they often define teaching broadly and explain how teaching does not always occur in the classroom. Granted, as an administrator, there is much you can do to support effective teaching. For me, though, it was just not the same. I missed the direct contact with students and I missed my village. Ultimately, my village made me realize how much I wanted to teach again. During my year as STP President, I reconnected with really good teachers who cared about student learning. Not long afterwards, I decided to leave full-time administration and return to the classroom. Although I would not trade my administrative experiences for the world, and I believe my administrative perspective will make me a better teacher. Returning to the classroom was like coming home-and it is good to be back in the village again!

The Examined Life of a Teacher

Helping students acquire the knowledge and skills to be successful both personally and professionally is at the heart of my teaching philosophy. I am a firm believer in the value of a liberal arts education and a degree in psychology in particular. However, many students do not understand what a liberal arts education is, let alone how it might lead to a job or career. Therefore, I structure my courses to help students see how the material they study and the course requirements they complete are connected to skills and knowledge they will use beyond college. This practice forces me to identify learning outcomes in my courses, connect them to more general program outcomes for the major, and explain to students how these outcomes translate to the workplace. For example, I expect my students to be able to think scientifically, communicate effectively, and work together collaboratively. I intentionally design various course assignments to strengthen their skills in these areas. I talk with students about how the skills required to complete those assignments might be useful on the job. At all times, I strive to help students connect their educational experiences to particular skills and knowledge they may need in the workplace.

It has been an interesting exercise to reflect on how my teaching has changed over the years. I definitely have become a less content-focused teacher. There was a time when covering the entire textbook was my highest priority. I am now more interested in students fully understanding major concepts in a course than being introduced only briefly to all course concepts. I am also more flexible during classroom discussions and more likely to go off on a tangent as a result of a great question.

Of course, technology has also changed the way I teach. In many ways, I feel like a new teacher again. Technology has provided my students and me with 24/7 access to course materials and a library of related information. Having the world at your fingertips and in the classroom has influenced my teaching.

I think the most significant change in my teaching over the years has been my focus on student learning. When I began teaching, the focus was on what I did as a teacher. Today the focus has shifted to demonstrating how what I do influences student learning. It is no longer enough to claim students learn simply because they successfully complete my course. I must now provide evidence that my teaching is enhancing my student's learning. I still find myself leaving a class and experiencing the joy of knowing I had delivered a great lecture, but now that joy is accompanied by the nagging question of how am I sure my students learned anything from this great lecture. I have always been drawn to identifying student learning outcomes and developing educational opportunities for students to meet these outcomes. I am just now beginning to learn how to demonstrate my teaching effectiveness in terms of my students' learning.

Becoming more learner-centered has been an important higher education initiative in the past few years (McClenny, 2003; Wergin, 2005), and I believe it is the way all institutions should be headed. This shift in focus will necessarily change how faculty evaluate and reflect upon their teaching. Until now, I have demonstrated my teaching effectiveness through peer and administrative evaluation of samples of my course syllabi, explanations of my course assignments, and conference presentations and publications about my teaching. It has always been about what I do. I have always relied on student feedback in my courses, but these measures have traditionally been open-ended or required by my department. None of these measures give me any information about student learning or students' perceptions of their learning. It now has to be about how what I do enhances student learning. I will need to develop new teaching techniques that more actively engage students in the learning process (e.g., Huba & Freed, 2000). I will also need to develop multiple methods to assess how my teaching is impacting student learning (e.g., Angelo & Cross, 1993).

Essentially, as higher education changes, how we define good teaching changes. I will have to change to remain an effective teacher. To make these changes, I will once again turn to my village. Being part of the STP community, attending teaching conferences, and reading the literature have always been my preferred methods of improving my teaching. I will certainly not abandon those strategies now.

Advice for New Teachers

My first recommendation to new teachers is to make sure they have found the right institution for them. If you love to teach, make sure you are working at an institution that values and rewards good teaching. A mismatch between your personal values and interests and the mission of your institution can lead to much discontent, both on your part and the part of the institution.

Find your own village! Mine has been my KSU and STP colleagues, but there are others.

Teaching is a lifelong learning process. Just when you think you have mastered it, something changes. Do not hesitate to ask for help. Go beyond your discipline for ideas. Finding and being part of a community of colleagues who are committed to good teaching is essential to your continued growth and improvement as a teacher. You should never stop learning. Avoid complacence. As we say to our students regularly, you do not have to know everything, but you do need to know how to find the information. A village will help you do just that.

Always put student learning at the core of what you do. For me, the most rewarding piece of teaching has been the opportunity to work with students. Never underestimate the role you play in your students' futures. Sometimes we make decisions out of frustration when, in reality, our students need us to take a few moments and think through how we should handle a situation. Be fair, be honest, and remember that some of your most teachable moments will not be about course material. Above all, have fun! Give to your students and they will give you much in return. Remember the words so often attributed to Winston Churchill (2005): "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

References

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cox, M. D., & Richlin, L. (Eds.). (2004). Building faculty learning communities: New directions for teaching & learning, No. 97. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Huba, M. E., & Freed, J. E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment on college campuses: Shifting the focus from teaching to learning. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Hutchings, P., & Marchese, T. (1994 Sep/Oct). Watching assessment: Questions, stories, prospects. Change, 22, 12-37.

Keith-Spiegel, P., Whitley, E. B., Jr., Balogh, D. W., Perkins, D. V., & Wittig, A. F. (2002). The ethics of teaching: A casebook (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McClenny, K. (2003 Spring). The learning-centered institution: Key characteristics. Action & Inquiry, 1, 5-6.

Sleigh, M. J., Ritzer, D. R., & Casey, M. B. (2002). Student versus faculty perceptions of missing class. Teaching of Psychology, 29, 53-56.

Wergin, J. F. (2005 Jan/Feb). Taking responsibility for student learning: The role of accreditation. Change, 37, 30-33.

"Winston Churchill". (October 27, 2005). Retrieved October 30, 2005 from the Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

This page was first posted online on November 10, 2005 and was last updated on November 10, 2005

Copyright 2005 APA Division 2, Society for the Teaching of Psychology. All rights reserved. Copyright Policy. Copyright in this web site is owned by APA Division 2, Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Copyright in individual articles and similar items are generally owned by the author(s), except as otherwise noted. You may review the materials in this site for information purposes and may download and print ONE copy of the materials for your own personal use, including use in your classes and/or sharing with indiviual colleagues. No other permission is granted to you to print, copy, reproduce, or distribute additional copies of these materials. Anyone who wishes to print, copy, reproduce or distribute additional copies must obtain the permission of the copyright owner.