As a scholar who overcomes physical disability, I am keenly aware of structural barriers students can face in their lives and in their educations. As such, I actively work to create an inclusive and equitable arena for sharing and discussing diverse knowledge in my classrooms.
The six central pillars of my teaching pedagogy are:
1. Helping to foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
2. Affording students agency over their education.
3. Creating an open and approachable learning environment.
4. Diversifying content.
5. Enthusiastically engaging with students.
6. Leveraging experiential learning opportunities.
The six central pillars of my teaching pedagogy are:
1. Helping to foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Teaching students central approaches, theories, concepts, and cases with foci on disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity is the beginning of a dialogue with students about how they can use these ideas to better understand their lives and the world.
2. Affording students agency over their education.
- I always help students find subject matter they are passionate about so the questions they craft and the answers they seek become ‘real’ and their quest to seek truth is not only an assignment but becomes something to which they have a vested interest.
3. Creating an open and approachable learning environment.
- Teaching about violence, rights, and justice necessitates an instructor be aware of complex layers and dynamics of a class where creating a safe and inviting space for learning is required. It is important for me to approach serious and difficult topics with honesty, compassion, and an understanding that individuals and groups will absorb and interpret these topics differently.
4. Diversifying content.
- In my experience, students appreciate learning various politics and histories from around the world as it bolsters their empirical knowledge base and deeply engages them on conceptual and theoretical ideas. Having this diverse content makes the humanities and social sciences approachable and exciting, and aids in student comprehension of the application of these ideas globally. For Canada specifically, I have actively responded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action Number 62 through the integration of Indigenous content in courses I have developed.
5. Enthusiastically engaging with students.
- I enthusiastically engage with students by presenting content with passion, and, to promote student engagement, with appropriate humour. I am constantly eager to share knowledge with students and for them to share their knowledge through assignments and student meetings. This is a foundational symbiotic relationship for positive experiences for both student and instructor.
6. Leveraging experiential learning opportunities.
- I understand experiential learning as students applying knowledge and skills in authentic contexts for the purposes of learning about specific topics, developing skills, clarifying values, heightening self-awareness, and the exploration of career paths. Experiential learning can increase student engagement and satisfaction, provide interactive curricula, and strengthen student comprehension of course content.
Photo: Selection of Teaching Materials.
Source: Andrew R. Basso, 2021.
Source: Andrew R. Basso, 2021.
