Teaching Philosophy

I believe, “the goal of the educator is to prepare students to be “effective performers in the business world” (Winer, L. 199, p 11).

Before entering academia I had a long and very enjoyable career in financial publishing. I was lucky enough to meet and work with some incredible people, some indeed who have shaped nations and changed lives.  The ability of these amazing women and men to engage an audience, lift them up, inspire and transform their lives and opinions has had a tremendous impact on me as a person.  

So coming from this background, my teaching philosophy is in a word to engage!  I believe if you love and are excited about what you do it shows.  I said in an earlier post I want to engage, enlighten and educate.  Teaching is not a spectators sport. Students do not learn just by sitting in a classroom. It is imperative they are able to apply what they learn in a real world context.  One of my teaching objectives is that every lecture is an opportunity to engage students more deeply with their learning by incorporating real life industry examples and experience.  I believe translating marketing concepts into real business scenarios, not only makes learning easier, but it makes it fun and encourages more effective learning.

We are all human  and people make mistakes. After over 20 years in industry I have made many mistakes and witnessed even more.  I love to tell students stories about what went wrong and then we talk about why!  These stories often put my teaching of theory in context which is incredibly satisfying. 

Ultimately, I believe teaching is a dynamic profession and I often learn more by listening to my students questions.   What I have taken from this programme so far is that I have a lot more to learn AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!