Ethics and Learning

This week's readings focused on several aspects of teaching. From teaching students how to learn, to ethics, to teachers as learners, I feel that we covered a wide variety of aspects of life as a teacher.

One aspect of teaching that I hadn't really considered was the notion of, as the McKeachie book puts it, "teaching students to think like a ______" (p. 322). I guess I'd always know to cover course content, and realized the value of Bloom's taxonomy, but this idea really resonated with me. When I ask my students to analyze the definition of small group communication, how can I expect them to answer when they don't have the background to think like a social scientist. Teaching students to think like members of the field is useful for getting at higher order learning in Bloom's taxonomy.

Higher order learning is fantastic however, the text alludes to the fact that, in introductory courses, it may be advantageous to stick to primarily lower-levels in the taxonomy. I think that this is largely one of the frustrations I face with my class. I want to engage students and have all of these fantastic discussions where we are evaluating and analyzing course material. In reality, I should just be happy if they can remember, understand, and maybe apply the information. I think that with this knowledge of what an introductory course should look like, I may adjust how I teach class. I don't want to necessarily "dumb it down" however, I will change the approach I take in asking discussion questions. My questions will probably be more based on application than anything else. (I am an eternal optimist!) Realizing my students don't know "how to think like a social scientist" does indeed change how I will approach levels of Bloom's taxonomy, especially in discussion.

Another aspect of the reading that will directly impact my teaching is the notion of ethics presented in McKeachie. As a communication major I have had whole classes on, read, and partaken in more discussions on ethics than I'd care to mention. This information however, seemed far more applicable and called into question some aspects of ethics in the classroom that I had not considered.

I like to think that my colleagues and I are ethical individuals. I like to think of academia as this realm where we make the right decisions and do good at all times. Chapter 25 on ethics seriously challenged my taken for granted ideal of the ethical academic institution.

For example, I always considered it good practice to prepare a lesson plan and be prepared for class. I hadn't really thought of it as an ethical violation until I read the chapter. Some examples of less obvious ethical violations I found interesting are the notion of just how we communicate in the classroom. We can teach values (if we intend to or not) just by what we say, and how we engage in classroom discussions.

I feel it is obvious that we are all role models as instructors. When it comes to determining how to act in the academic institutions students follow our lead. McKeachie carries this further into the organizational world and after school. I had never really thought of the potential impact I have as an educator until I read this chapter of the book.

Ethics, and modeling behavior are a large part of being a teacher, but I also feel are particularly important in a field such as communication. During class discussions, especially in upper-level communication courses, the openness of the instructor plays a key factors. I think it is all to easy to listen only to the arguments we agree with. I like the excerpt McKeachie borrows from Hanson, (1996) "'Teachers who can nimbly convey the strenghts of a position they in fact oppose, who can clearly display the weaknesses in a position they in fact embrace, who are modeling a critical engagement from which students may learn their most important lessons' (p. 35)." (p. 332). I hope to achieve the ability to engage in this type of modeling to help my students get to a point where they are able to critically evaluate the information presented in my classroom. I believe that this is something that takes a fair amount of time to develop as a teacher.

I look forward to a career as a teacher. The closing chapter of the McKeachie book reinforced that enthusiasm. The notion of always learning, encountering new situations, and the constant rewards of teaching seems exciting to me. Life as a teacher, and all that goes with it seems to be something that I get only more excited about as the semester progresses.

Helpful Links:

Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: This link will take you to a far more in-depth look at the revisions that Anderson, Krathwohl, et. al (2001) made to Bloom's original 1956 taxonomy.

Ethical Violations: This link will take you to a PDF file that better explains the seven intolerable categories of teaching behavior. I liked this because it gives some examples to simplify some of the concepts.

STLHE Ethical Guidelines: This link will take you to a list of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education's (STLHE) document titled Ethical Principles in University Teaching. This document was referenced on p. 328 of McKeachie.