Of all the courses I teach, I find Comm 240 to be one of the most personally satisfying and meaningful. This is a result, on the one hand, of my personal conviction that all members of contemporary societies need to become more critically literate regarding the mass media that surround and influence them in subtle but significant ways.  On the other hand, it is also a result of feedback I frequently get from my students, sometimes long after they have taken the course, in which they tell me things like "I have never been able to look at the media the same way again after taking that course" or "that course made me rethink what I want to do with my life".

My approach to teaching traces back to pedagogical insights gained originally through my training in the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto, where I completed a B.Ed. in 1992. Since that time, I have remained keenly interested in pedagogical questions and have continued to read about, and experiment with, instructional innovation, first at the high school level and subsequently at the university level.  As a result of this ongoing interest, I have adopted a number of pedagogical principles, including the following:

• I believe that a good teacher must model the processes of learning and inquiry that he/she expects of his/her students.  Only by staying personally engaged in and exemplifying those processes can a teacher effectively foster in students the attitudes and skills that will assist them to become life-long learners and critical thinkers.  As an expression of this pedagogical tenet, I make every effort to approach this course as one student in the company of others, with a responsibility to model – as well as to structure and stimulate – the learning process.  The role I assume is thus one of co-inquirer rather than authoritative knower.

• I believe that the diverse experiences, perspectives, values, and insights contained in any group of students constitutes one of the most valuable learning resources available in the classroom – provided the group can collectively develop those communication skills and attitudes required to effectively “mine” these resources.  The role of the educator, in this regard, is to facilitate (as well as participate in and exemplify) the processes of dialogue, deliberation, and cooperative inquiry that make this possible.  This involves fostering an atmosphere within which the most reluctant students can feel comfortable and confident in expressing themselves and the most closed-minded students can momentarily suspend their pre-judgements in order to consider perspectives that differ from their own.  It also involves taking measures outside the classroom to attract and recruit the most diverse students possible.  For in addition to the important goal of ensuring that minority students have access to higher education, diversity in the classroom also ensures that all students have access to the widest possible range of perspectives and insights.  For this reason, I strive to recruit diverse students to the class, as well as create the atmosphere described above within the class.

• I believe that writing is a fundamental tool for learning.  Writing is more than a mere vehicle for the expression of thought.  It is a means of clarifying thought.  It is a means of working through difficult concepts and interrelationships, sifting and sorting ideas, weighing and measuring claims, analyzing and synthesizing information.  Thus writing, together with dialogue, discussion, and oral presentation, constitute the primary practical tools in my pedagogical toolbox -- as demonstrated by the assignments within this course.

• I believe that meaningful learning is seldom a product of outside pressure or manipulation.  Rather, learning is most effective when a student engages in personally relevant and purposeful activities, and it is least effective when activities have no apparent relevancy or purpose to the student.  The role of the educator, in this light, is to design learning activities – be they discussions, written assignments, service learning opportunities, research opportunities, or whatever – with sufficient scope and flexibility that students can explore personally meaningful avenues of inquiry within them.  Again, this commitment is reflected in all of the assignments within this course.

• I believe that learning is most effective when it engages students, in a constructive manner, on both cognitive and affective levels. Media literacy lends itself very well to this because media representations have both cognitive and affective dimensions -- both of which students can critically examine.  In turn, critically examining these representations tends to produce both cognitive and affective change in students.  In this regard, however, it is not enough to engage in intellectual criticism of the media as an end in itself, because this tends merely to breed affective responses characterized by cynicism and apathy.  Rather, students must have opportunities to explore ways that they can become active social agents, so that the desire and motivation to work constructively for change become the affective counterpart to (a constructive form of) intellectual criticism.  Accordingly, these opportunities are provided in the last segment of the course.

• I believe that one of the most important roles an instructor can play in theory-based courses like Comm 240 is to help students see the connection between theory and practice -- or what many philosophers refer to as praxis.  In this case, the theories of mass communication that we study often appear, at first glance, to be far removed from the practical concerns of most students.  On the contrary, however, I consider this course one of the most practical courses a student might ever take, because the insights gained from the course can inform countless practical decisions that students will be making for the rest of their lives (e.g., choices about what media to surround themselves with; what media to expose their children to if they raise families; what media regulations and policies they might support as both media consumers and citizens; or even what media careers they might pursue and how they might pursue them, should they be interested).  Accordingly, I provide many opportunities for students to recognize and reflect on this connection between theory and practice within the course.

• I believe that students need access to small, engaging, and intensive seminar-style classes early in their university experience.  Too often, freshmen and sophomores only have access to large lecture-style classes.  In my experience, rather than drawing students deeper into their studies and instilling in them an enthusiasm for learning, these large classes tend to alienate and disengage students.  As current experiments with "Freshmen Interest Groups" and other freshmen engagement and retention strategies demonstrate, it is as important that students have access to small, engaging classes early in their university education as it is for them to have access to such classes when they are well-advanced in their majors.  For this reason, Comm 240 is taught as an intensive seminar-style course.

• I believe that students need opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills they gain in the classroom in settings outside the classroom -- especially in meaningful service to others.  Toward this end, Comm 240 has a service learning component that requires students to conduct media literacy training in the wider community.  This service-learning component also serves as a media literacy "multiplier" by bringing media literacy insights to a larger population.

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My practical application of these principles is, of course, flexible and evolving.  In this regard, ongoing self- evaluation, coupled with continuous efforts to refine my teaching strategies, are also fundamental commitments.  The ongoing process of application, evaluation, and refinement can thus be thought of, in turn, as the last principle in my personal philosophy of education.