Teaching Philosophy

Medicine and teaching were the two professions I had the most respect for growing up.  I have been fortunate to be able to receive medical training and practice pedagogy at a medical school.  Thus, to me teaching and supervising students is more than just a profession, but a commitment, privilege, and dedication.  I have been very fortunate to have the extraordinary support and understanding from my family.    Last year, I was the only faculty member in the Faculty of Medicine nominated for the President's Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Graduate Supervision.   My teaching philosophy was distilled from my experience as a student, observation as a colleague and research/reflection as a teacher. I believe the fundamental goal of teaching is about enabling and it is more than just knowledge transfer.

Group based class-room teaching:

As an epidemiology instructor, I link my lectures to public health practice and research.  My classroom teaching always begins with relevant health news that makes students to reflect. 

I believe that respect for my students is one of the most important things I can show - not only to encourage their openness to the material I am presenting, but also to inspire them to respect each other and all other humans. 

1.      Good teaching is beyond technical skills and knowledge; it requires passion and dedication.

2.      Good teaching does not stop in classroom.

3.      From a student’ perspective, good teaching is not just teacher-student unidirectional process; it involves a three-way interactive processes:  learning from the teacher; learning from his/her peers; and most importantly learning from him/herself. A good teacher is one who is able to motivate students to learn outside classroom.  

4.      From a teacher’s perspective, good teaching should better be reflected in students’ future achievements rather than exam grades and favorable feedback.

5.      A good teacher is also a good friend of students and gain respect and trust overtime.

Graduate Student Supervision: 

Student supervision is one of my main academic activities at MUN. Since I joined the Faculty of Medicine in 2005, I have supervised/co-supervised (including current students) 8 PhD students, 17 MSc students, and 2 postdoctoral fellows, and I am a supervisory member for an additional 6 graduate students at MUN.   

I have found that graduate student supervision in most cases is both challenging and rewarding. As graduate students are often diverse in training and background, strengths and potentials, and expectations and careers, graduate supervision is a highly individualized task.  While there is no fixed model that works for every student, effective graduate supervision is about working with students to achieve a shared goal.  It involves scholarship and teaching, dedication and responsibility and vision and mentorship. My supervision philosophy is distilled from my experience as a graduate student with my supervisors and mentors, my observation of colleagues who supervised students, and most importantly from interactions with my own graduate students. Reflecting on my interactions with graduate students, I would like to share the following beliefs and experience that work for me: 

1-1:  Respect and friendship:  A good supervisory relationship has a personal dimension and it helps students’ academic success. I try to earn the trust and respect of my students by trusting and respecting them.  In non-academic sittings, I treat my students as my friends and often invite them to my home or a restaurant for group social events.  I also try to be very cognizant about my students’ important events, such as wedding, new babies, and awards.

1-2:  Tailored approach:  A good supervisor enables students to demonstrate their strengths and maximize their potentials.  Often at a very early stage, I work with students to identify a number of possible projects and discuss the pros and cons associated with each one.  Students are given time to think and explore.   “Good supervisors extend their students well beyond what those students thought possible, by setting high but realistic standards”.  

1-4:  Timeliness and efficiency:  Given the large number of students I supervise and teach, I constantly have various requests from students.  I try to reduce my response time to minimum. When a quick turn-around is not possible, I send an explanation and expected timeline.  For time-sensitive issues (such as letters of reference for awards) I also ask students to send me a reminder.    

1-5:  Opportunities and support:  It is my belief and experience that providing opportunities and support often make a huge difference for a student’s success.   The following two aspects are particularly relevant to me: award/competition and manuscript preparation/publication.  I believe this may partially explain my students’ overall good award and publication record.