Jigisha Dharman Dharman

I believe that learning/teaching process is an art form that is constantly changing and evolving. My teaching philosophy is developed from my own personal philosophy of learning. As a student, I expected my classes to be interesting and rewarding. These expectation has truly guided my method of teaching. I favour a constructive approach that incorporated collaborative activities and learner focussed projects to meet course objectives. As a teacher I always strived to be a facilitator and motivator who promotes situational and task based activities through supervised exploration. Knowledge of current pedagogical practises and field specific research techniques underpins the methods I use. I also discovered that the most effective means for teaching is to promote skill development by active learning which includes giving real life scenarios rather than passive transformation of information.
When planning for a course, I first develop the objectives for the course and then a rational for each objective. Within the course plan, I emphasize
ritical thinking skills and collaborative learning. To the undergraduate groups, I usually plan a sequence of theoretical-practice classes through case studies and data analysis. In my experience, incorporating group discussions have been a successful tool for fostering interaction with the students. In addition to these goals several pedagogical strategies characterise my teaching. For instance, I always try to be mindful of the challenges beginner students face. Especially in introducing courses, new terms, methods and perspectives can make it difficult for students to enter into classroom discussions. In order to diffuse anxieties and engender curiosities I act myself as a bridge that takes technical concepts and turn them into layman’s terms.
Moreover teaching has always been motivating for me. I never feel more energized than after a class that has gone well. I want students to see me as a dedicated person who tries to empower students to accomplish their goal of completing the course with information that prepares them to the next stage of their career path.