In a behavioral health field, like psychology, course material is both timely and relevant. Perhaps the most important goal to me in my teaching is for students to understand how the course material directly and indirectly impacts them, regardless of if they continue in the field of study. For many of the courses I teach, there is an overarching theme of mental health and several components related to diversity and social justice. Students will come across these themes one way or another, either through immersion or as a bystander. Because of this, I require my students to do more than simply memorize important key terms and disentangle complex theory – of course those skills are still necessary, but it is important not to get stuck in this place. Taking it another step, I always have a level of reflection as a crucial part of my assessment. Indeed, this takes up some grading time. However, seeing students understand where they will see that key term, or apply that theory with substance in their own life is what makes the course impactful. 

Learning involves a professional relationship between the student and instructor – even if it is miniature. While this professional relationship cannot be a full mentor-mentee construct, it can be a guiding one. The students are there to take information that is given by me through the materials I develop and provide. If I am doing my job right, I am keeping my values and goals of the classroom in mind. For my students to successfully take the course material into their lives after submitting that last paper or answering that final question, I have to give them the tools to facilitate that reflection and in-depth thinking. However, I can only facilitate so much. My students have to then take those tools and use them. Although, this will not always happen. Perhaps there are barriers from a life circumstance or other academic demands, perhaps they have chosen to not take the course seriously. Regardless, I can’t force them. However, it might be by my own errors, which I need to identify and address.

Communication is key in any interaction. I found this particularly important when I started teaching online more often. Teaching face-to-face provides a venue for dialogue by default. In the virtual environment, the venue has to be sought out. As such, providing a sense of presence and safety is crucial. I do this in a variety of ways, including open office hours, class discussion time (optional live options for online courses), video announcements, and emails. With this sense of presence, I aim to establish a level of trust and safety for students to be heard. This can be useful for students to ask questions, gain better understanding, and organize their thoughts on course material. But it can also be beneficial for me and future students. I find student feedback to be particularly helpful in improving and growing my personal teaching practice. While I think it is important to stretch one’s experiences, and push students into growth, this never means I do not listen and take in feedback I receive and engage in conversation. I always encourage students throughout the semester to reach out on what they think does and does not work. While I cannot always make a change on some things, I can always be mindful. This includes not only being available to listen, but also actively seeking out advice from them by providing anonymous surveys, hearing a grievance without feeling insulted, actually seeing through a commitment I made, and owning my faux pas. Through this dialogue, I have a powerful tool to keep my courses current.