Education

MUP, University of Oregon (1991)

Teacher Certification, Social Studies (middle and high school), University of Oregon (1984)

BA (history), University of Oregon (1982)

Summary of Interests

Project management, nonprofit management, leadership, strategic planning, cognitive load theory

Current Research Interests

Experiential learning, androgogy

Courses (see below for syllabi)

Teaching Philosophy

I subscribe to three models of learning that guide my classroom instruction:

• Constructivism (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992) posits that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world by experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. New knowledge builds upon our previous ideas and experience. Ideally, learning happens in collaboration with others.
• Experiential learning (Kolb, 1984) supports students in applying the knowledge and conceptual understanding gained in the classroom to real-world problems or situations. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for the learning activities. Adults are most interested in learning that has immediate relevance and impact to their career or personal life, and their learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.
• Relational-cultural theory (Miller, 1976) proposes that successful relational connections—interactions that are mutually empathic and mutually empowering—are vital to individual and shared learning, as well as emotional growth and health (Miller & Stiver, 1997). RCT’s key tenets are trust, mutual empathy, and growth-in-connection, which is essentially the enhanced ability to learn and progress through healthy, growth-fostering relationships.