My teaching philosophy

My purpose as an instructor is to guide students to be critical thinkers and continuous life-long learners, who actively engage with and share information with others. To achieve this first requires cultivating a classroom space where students feel safe and encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas openly. As an instructor of both statistics and I-O psychology, I recognize that statistical concepts can be daunting for many psychology students, which is why it is important to meet students where they are at, create an environment that supports student learning and well-being, encourage intellectual perseverance by emphasizing that mistakes are a part of the learning process (“fail forward”), and support student self-efficacy by believing that all students can learn statistics and grow in their knowledge (i.e., the Pygmalion effect; see Friedrich et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2018). I apply a variety of evidence-based practices to support student learning and development of their knowledge (see Ambrose et al., 2010; Smith & Baik, 2019). My three goals for students are to become critical consumers of data and statistics, transparently apply their skills within and outside the classroom, and share their knowledge with others.