–Teaching Philosophy–
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–Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Philosophy–
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Pedagogical Reflections
Ruminations. My teaching philosophy evolved through observation of my professors, participation in pedagogy workshops, and experimentation within the classroom during my tenure as a doctoral student and currently as a faculty member at the University of Alabama. Amidst this process of observing, training, and testing, I developed my own pedagogical style. In doing so, I have discovered that teaching is a blend of art and science—an amalgamation continually refined through introspection and feedback from students, peers, and mentors. Curriculum. Goal setting is the cornerstone of my course curricula. With each course I teach, I strive to create learning objectives that are specific, measurable, action-oriented, relevant, and challenging. At the outset of each of my courses, I provide students with my syllabus, which explicates my course expectations. During my syllabus review, I describe how each assignment works directly towards attainment of the course goals. I have found students appreciate this articulated approach, as they perceive greater relevancy of the course assignments. Bounded autonomy. I adhere to an authoritative teaching style in accomplishing my course goals. Under this paradigm, I establish clear learning objectives that serve as the proverbial scaffolding for my courses; however, within this framework, I foster autonomy by offering multiple options for accomplishing the course goals. I have discovered that empowering students in this manner instills within them a genuine sense of ownership over the learning objectives. For example, when I taught Personal Health Behavior I administered a questionnaire at the outset of the course that requested students rank-order the amount of emphasis placed on the health topics I covered in the class. This technique was extended to allow them to choose from a pool of assignments aligning with the course objectives, as well as selecting teaching methods for specific topics. Upon first implementing this technique, I realized that each class has a unique personality, as no two groups of students selected the same combination of pedagogical proceedings. In addition, I have found this teaching style keeps the course content fresh; both for myself and for my students. Intermittent feedback. Student feedback is crucial for achieving my learning outcomes. Throughout my courses, I regularly collect feedback from students through electronic surveys and focus groups. This benchmarking technique allows me to assess student progress towards achieving my course aims. With this proactive approach, I can address learning gaps in real-time, rather than waiting until the course concludes to identify areas needing improvement. Pedagogical Strategies Organic learning. I believe that pedagogical experiences are enhanced when a milieu of merging modalities are woven into the educational landscape. To create a rich learning environment, I incorporate a range of teaching techniques into my courses to facilitate higher learning. These include participatory lectures, classroom demonstrations, both in-class and out-of-class activities, role-plays, case studies, and group discussions. This blend of approaches contributes to a dynamic and comprehensive learning experience that accommodates the diverse needs of my students. For instance, during my tenure as an instructor at the University of Cincinnati, I had the opportunity to teach the program's Lifestyles, Health, and Wellness course. In this role, I designed a curriculum that included self-assessment surveys for students, focusing on various health behaviors. After completing the surveys, students scored their responses and received personalized evaluations regarding their individual health profiles. This was followed by comprehensive group discussions where I explored techniques to enhance overall health outcomes. A key aspect of this activity was fostering peer-to-peer interaction by allowing students to exchange ideas and solicit recommendations. This approach not only promoted classroom engagement but also tailored the learning experience to individual student needs. Similarly, in my Applied Statistics in Human Services II course, I regularly integrated case studies designed to channel students into a quantitative mindset. Students consistently found this method effective in demystifying statistics and reducing their anxiety toward complex data analysis. As a faculty member at the University of Alabama, I continue to embrace a range of teaching techniques. In each class, I strive to incorporate multiple pedagogical approaches to engage students and support a multiplicity of learning styles. For instance, in my Principles of Health Promotion course, I request my students complete a survey I designed that assesses healthy sleep based on the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Once students complete this questionnaire, they participate in small-group discussions focused on devising intervention strategies to improve sleep outcomes. While the students are engaged in this activity, I input their survey responses into statistical software, setting the stage for an interactive lecture that effectively illustrates the practical relevance of public health theory. Similarly, in my Advanced Evaluation of Health Programs course, doctoral students develop proficiency in systematically analyzing intervention research. The culminating project involves presenting their findings through conference presentations and manuscript formats. Students consistently express appreciation for this practical assignment, with many of them ultimately publishing their manuscripts in peer-reviewed academic journals. Throughout the course, I integrate active-learning methods, delivering core content related to evaluation design through online, audiovisual presentations. This is followed by hands-on data analysis in a computer lab, creating a blend of theory and application that enhances understanding and engages students in an activity that stimulates their interest in evaluation methodologies. Technology Integration. I incorporate technology-driven skill building activities into my educational outcomes. For example, during my on-campus lectures discussing the concept of sleep debt with college students, I introduce the topic by encouraging them to utilize their mobile phones for an online mental alertness test. In addition to this, students are prompted to self-report their sleep duration from the previous night. Following the completion of this task, I employ statistical software to categorize the alertness test scores into two groups: short sleepers (<6 hours) and normal sleepers (7-9 hours). The response from the audience is consistently enthusiastic, especially when it becomes evident that those students who reported shorter sleep durations perform significantly worse on the psychomotor vigilance assessment compared to their well-rested counterparts. This simulation scenario offers students a tangible demonstration of how sleep deprivation directly denigrates their academic potential. Professional Preparation Effective preparation extends beyond imparting content; it aims to equip students with the skills needed to apply acquired knowledge to real-world challenges. "Knowledge is necessary for, but not sufficient to produce, most behavior changes" (Rimer & Glanz, 2005, p. 12).
This principle resonates in the classroom. Ultimately, I believe that students pursue higher education to discover fulfilling careers that infuse their lives with meaning and purpose. After obtaining my bachelor's degree, I spent five years working in both the private and public sectors, achieving two promotions during this span of time. This experience provided me with insight into the skills that employers seek in college graduates, which include: (1) the ability to follow instructions, (2) effective communication across various mediums, (3) critical thinking and problem-solving, and (4) goal-setting and achievement. In parallel, I design assignments to meet course learning objectives while fostering skills for professional success. When explaining my assignments to my students, I share this insight, illustrating how the course projects will nurture competencies essential for realizing their career ambitions.
"Commitment is enhanced when people believe that achieving the goal is possible, and that achieving that goal is important" (Locke & Latham, 1994, p. 17).
My pedagogical style encourages students to step beyond their mental comfort zones by engaging them in the learning process and bridging the gap between theory and practical application. After every class I teach, I reflect on the feedback I receive from students, peers, colleagues, and mentors in my ongoing quest to become a more effective teacher. I look forward to continuing to ameliorate my teaching philosophy in new environments and with diverse audiences of students.
References Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211. Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (1994). Goal setting theory. In H. F. O’Neil & M. Drillings (Eds.), Motivation: Theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Rimer, B. & Glanz, K. (2005, p. 12). Theory at a glance: A guide for health promotion practice, second edition. (NIH Publication No. 05-3896). Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. Teaching Philosophy by Adam P. Knowlden, MBA, MS, Ph.D. - Last Updated: 8/2023 |
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Research Statement
My research seeks to reify the relationship between sleep and adipose-based cardiometabolic health outcomes through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cardiometabolic disease pathways associated with obesity and sleep are often conceptualized as closed systems encompassing a constellation of intertwined biological and mechanistic processes. However, it is my assertion that complex public health problems must consider the cultural context in which the lived experiences of those affected are embedded. As noted by the eminent sociologist Simon Williams: "When we sleep, where we sleep, and with whom we sleep are all important markers or indicators of social status, privilege, and prevailing power relations"
(Williams, 2005, p. 75). Subsequently, I believe exploring how sleep and adipose-related inequalities impact the most vulnerable members of society is crucial in shaping our identity as a community of researchers, academics, and public health practitioners.
While progress has been made in modeling the links between sleep and adiposity, the influence of social determinants driving health disparities within these domains has received limited attention. Subsequently, I am gathering epidemiological, clinical, and free-living data as part of the SLUMBRx (Short Sleep Undermines Cardiometabolic Health) study to model the demographic and ecological factors mediating these health outcomes. This line of research holds substantial promise for public health within a diversity, equity, and inclusion framework; objective, empirical data exploring the interaction between adiposity and sleep, contextualized within a socioeconomic schema, are important for understanding cardiometabolic pathogenesis in diverse populations and for developing public health interventions to prevent its conception and treat its consequences. Central to achieving these goals is my commitment to fostering a sense of trust in the communities I serve. A core tenant of my research philosophy is ensuring participants fully comprehend their rights as study volunteers during each stage of research inquiry. As such, I employ multiple mediums of communication, rooted in health literacy techniques, to ensure research volunteers understand both the benefits and risks to study participation throughout the lifecycle of an investigation. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Teaching Statement I believe the classroom environment is optimized for education when learning is interactive, engaging, and conducted in a non-threatening atmosphere. To foster a safe learning space, I engender a psychosocial ecology of empathetic listening and compassionate communication within my classroom. "Seek first to understand, then to be understood"
(Covey, 1989, p. 120). During the delivery of my course materials, I strive to ensure that health issues facing underrepresented communities are at the forefront of my course objectives and assignments. For example, in my undergraduate Environmental Health course, students react to the Anniston Alabama Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) case study in which minority communities were exposed to environmental contaminants through improper disposal of PCB waste products. In addition to assessing the policy prescriptions designed to initiate site remediation, this exercise requires students reflect upon the implications of the Anniston Community Health Survey data which found disproportionately elevated PCB levels among African Americans in Anniston, relative to their White counterparts (Pavuk et al., 2014).
As well, students in my doctoral, Advanced Evaluation of Health Programs course develop skills to incorporate face and content validation techniques to design culturally relevant measurement tools. As part of an in-class, panel of experts round table discussion, students critique methods to evaluate social determinants of health apropos to their specific research foci. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Service Statement Cultural humility is at the core of all service opportunities I undertake. Whether service initiatives are advanced at the university, community, or professional level, I believe all stakeholders impacted by the results of the service activity have a right to express their voice. "Cultural humility is a process of self-reflection and discovery in order to build honest and trustworthy relationships. It offers promise for researchers to understand and eliminate health disparities, a continual and disturbing problem necessitating attention and action on many levels" (Yeager & Bauer-Wu, 2013).
For example, when I served as chair of the search committee for the University of Alabama Department of Health Science tenure-track, assistant professor of biostatistics position, I requested the college-wide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee provide training to all members of the committee. I solicited their coaching as I believed it was our moral responsibility, as a committee, to ensure we operated with cultural competency and sensitivity throughout all stages of the search and interview process.
Concomitantly, during my role as Associate Editor for the peer-reviewed journal, Health Education & Behavior, I actively sought the expertise of reviewers from a diversity of backgrounds and research perspectives when my finalizing editorial decisions. References Pavuk, M., Olson, J. R., Sjödin, A., Wolff, P., Turner, W. E., Shelton, C., ... & Anniston Environmental Health Research Consortium. (2014). Serum concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in participants of the Anniston Community Health Survey. Science of the Total Environment, 473, 286-297. Williams, S. J. (2005). Sleep and society: Sociological ventures into the un(known). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Yeager, K. A., Bauer-Wu, S. (2013). Cultural humility: Essential foundation for clinical researchers. Applied Nursing Research, 26(4), 251-260. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Philosophy by Adam P. Knowlden, MBA, MS, Ph.D. - Last Updated: 3/2023 |
