Teaching Philosophy
I approach the course as a collaborative activity between the students and myself. The most important aspect of creating an effective learning environment is letting students know that I care and monitor closely their performance. To this end, I find it absolutely necessary to create an open and safe atmosphere where students know that their questions and ideas are encouraged and valued. In addition, I find it important to remain adaptable. This implies adjusting to different students and different universities in a manner consistent with the personality of the student or the culture of the university respectively. It also implies always recognizing that my teaching can improve. Thus, I always strive to make it better through constant monitoring and by continually exposing myself to outside input and new techniques.
In order to keep the class stimulating, I try to make it fun and lively. I integrate interesting and elucidating examples, pertinent to the students' personal lives to help them better-grasp abstract or theoretical concepts. I strongly encourage students to engage in classroom discussion and to ask questions. I begin each lecture with a brief summary of the material covered in the previous class. I feel that learning is maximized when the lectures are integrated. I find it useful to create a sense of continuity in the course by describing the relationship between current and past material, re-iterating the main points from current and past lectures, and pointing out common themes that run throughout the course.
The course syllabus is structured so as to provide students with a precise guide as to what they should read, and in what order. Historically, my courses tend to stick to the schedule outlined in the syllabus closely. Furthermore, through a carefully-chosen load of homework, quizzes and exams I try to maximize motivation, learning efficiency and understanding. Then, I combine testing of students' command of basic theory, methods and concepts with opportunities to apply these tools in real world situations. Also, I try to convey to students how economics is relevant to them and how the economic thought process is useful in their everyday lives.