Diane M. Dunlop
Assistant Professor
Professional Agrologist
B.Sc. (Agr.) NSAC
M.Sc. Alberta
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
It is very special to be able to inspire inquiring minds and
help students become something much more than they thought they
were capable of. My love and passion of teaching occurs no matter
the culture which I am engaged. I have experienced the same
sense of fulfillment teaching internationally as at NSAC.
My focus is to present challenging, interesting, thought provoking,
current, and relevant material. I make sure to foster a positive
learning environment which is stimulating, motivating, participative,
and supportive. Imparting independence, critical thinking, and
communication are central in the courses I teach. I encourage
students to explore new ideas and develop confidence in expressing
their thoughts. I make every effort to learn from the insights,
backgrounds and experiences of all my students. It is this that
makes my approach to teaching “student centered.”
My goal is to teach students the love of learning so when they
leave my class the learning never stops.
I offer a unique first year economics course which is applied
and interactive. To enhance skills and catch student interest,
I use a multitude of learning and teaching devices. I have developed
an integrated and interactive webct resource. Apart from lecturing,
I use cooperative learning techniques and independent out-of-class
assignments. Group in-class assignments are used to give students
additional learning devices and enable students to teach one
another. News pod casts are used in which students apply microeconomic
theory to analyze real world issues. Clicker technology has
been used by organizing teams of students and playing a game
of jeopardy with economic concepts. My goal is to have students
understand that economics is an exciting, stimulating and fun
area to study.
In my policy classes students further develop analytical skills,
independent and critical thinking, presentation of ideas, and
leadership through several types of teaching techniques. To
allow students to bring their own interest to the course they
read, present, and lead class discussions on domestic and international
policy issues. In groups, students develop newsletters for particular
organizations in agriculture and food. The goal is to have students
be creative and communicate information about policies through
articles, letters to the editor, and important announcements.
The “jigsaw method” of learning is used to also
have students teach and learn from one another. To broaden student
thinking, policy debates are held. Guest lectures and trips
to local farms and businesses are used to demonstrate the “real
world” of policy.
Teaching does not only take the form of traditional classroom
lecturing, but can also occur through conversation. It is this
component of teaching that makes academic advising an integral
part of my teaching program. Students are encouraged to drop
by my office any time for conversation. It is these conversations
which allow me to thoroughly understand students’ learning
approaches and desires in their education. This has allowed
me to incorporate different approaches in my teaching program
that has reached students. This is evident from comments on
course evaluations.
|
|
| 
|
