Melissa McCracken, Ph.D.

My role as an instructor is to shape, guide, encourage, and assist students through their education. Learning can be defined in many ways – from formal classes to informal everyday learning experiences. In a formal learning environment, such as found in higher education, I believe the instructor must meaningfully design and teach their courses to fit with course goals and student needs. Course objectives and student expectations should mirror what is needed by students, the job sector, as well as the norms of the water resources and geography disciplines. Therefore, my goal as the instructor is to ensure that students increase their skills, critical thinking, and understanding of the content – the three prongs of my teaching philosophy. 

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In addition to these three prongs, another aspect of my teaching philosophy is in creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment. Students come to courses with different backgrounds, learning experiences, and needs; with this in mind, I aim to design courses to best meet their needs, while allowing them to develop the skills, critical thinking, and content knowledge to be successful both in the course and in their future endeavors. As an instructor, I must be aware that students come from different backgrounds and with or without different privileges. Without assumption and judgement, I must be creative and inventive to develop a quality-learning environment where every student has the potential to be a successful learner. One way in which I aim to do this is to select course content, such as readings, movies, pictures on slides, and examples, that is representative of many backgrounds, rather than just the dominant culture. For example, I select readings or articles from non-white or non-European authors.

To summarize my teaching philosophy, I am a perpetual learner that believes the role of the instructor is to encourage and assist students in their education. I aim to develop courses that fit student, discipline, and job sector needs, while developing their practical skills, critical thinking, and understanding of the content in my courses. I am committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive learning environment, with clear student and instructor expectations. The following section explains in more detail my teaching methods and example materials.

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To learn more about my teaching philosophy, see the samples of my on campus course content in my portfolio.