Edward M. Alwood
Adjunct Professor
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
University of Maryland
College Park, MD.
My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that education should promote the ability of students to think critically, develop their problem-solving skills, and stimulate their creativity within a supportive environment.
Employers value decision-making and information processing among employees. Society places a premium on an individual's ability to analyze a problem from different angles, to gather and evaluate information drawn from diverse sources, to analyze data, and to communicate the results clearly, concisely, and economically.
My goal is to motivate students to learn as well as teach them how to learn. This cannot be accomplished through a rigid, fixed agenda. To be an effective teacher, I must strive to maintain sufficient flexibility and self confidence to meet unexpected challenges and permit experimentation.
To help students prepare for the challenge they will face in the workplace, I choose information for my courses carefully and present it in a manner that makes it relevant, meaningful, and memorable. Whenever possible, I try to engender active learning not only of basic facts, theories, and methods but also of the relationships between different branches of knowledge.
In order to stimulate learning, it is important for me to know my students, find out what they know, and create a context of learning that encourages them to actively engage with the subject matter.
I also believe I am responsible for nurturing and developing minds and talents in a manner that recognizes the diversity of students who learn at different rates and at strikingly different levels of complexity and completeness. Therefore, I must provide a supportive learning environment in which evaluation and grading is as fair and objective as possible. I must strive to maintain an intellectual atmosphere where diverse opinions are encouraged and valued.
From my professors and mentors I have learned that development of effective teaching skills is a never-ending process.
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