X-Git-Url: https://projects.mako.cc/source/bmh-teaching_statement/blobdiff_plain/29f9505a116fcc57c9b76e614afc6b411c4f4499..b3c8d114e5ab55438c49805f00eb7afbeac69e83:/teaching_statement.tex?ds=sidebyside

diff --git a/teaching_statement.tex b/teaching_statement.tex
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--- a/teaching_statement.tex
+++ b/teaching_statement.tex
@@ -59,108 +59,108 @@
 
 \maketitle
 
-When I was eighteen and frusterated with high school, I took extra
-classes, graduated early, and moved to Ethiopia. A year later, I
-matriculated at Hampshire College: an experimental institution without
-grades, tests, or majors. I chose Hampshire becase I cared deeply
-about a personal connection to learning that I felt more traditional
-institutions would not afford.
-
-Today, I am passioante about teaching and I take pride in teaching
-well. However, as someone once driven away from traditional higher
-education, I also have a healthy ambivalence about my role at the
-front of the lecture hall and seminar table and strong feelings about
-how to help students learn.  Before each lecture, I reflect on the
-total human-hours my teaching consumes. In every class meeting, my
-students give me dozens, even hundreds, of hours of their attention. I
-strive to never waste it.
-
-I have noted that graduating PhD students have spent most of their
-lives in apprentice-like relationships. From their first day of grade
-school to their dissertation defense, students learn eveything from
-reading and arithmetic to sociological theory and multi-level
-statistical modeling from teachers who have and use that knowledge
-themselves.  ``I know something that I find useful,'' a teacher might
-say, ``and I want my student to be like me.''
+Graduating PhD students have spent most of their lives learning as
+apprentices. From their first day of grade school to their
+dissertation defense, students learn everything from reading and
+arithmetic to sociological theory and multi-level statistical modeling
+from teachers who use that knowledge themselves.  ``I know something
+that I find useful,'' a teacher might say, ``and I want my student to
+be like me.''
 
 In much of higher education -- and in graduate and professional
-teaching in particular -- this relationship breaks down for the first
-time in most students' and teachers' lives. In business schools, where
-I teach most often, lectures are given by professors trained as
-academic sociologists, economists, and psychologists.  To say that few
-business school students have an interest in becoming social
-scientists would be understatement. I have seen how a failure to
-recognize this dynamic can lead to a lack of respect and a lack of
-connection between teachers and students seen as, ``the folks who pay
-the bills.''
-
-But this setting has also shown me that teaching that confronts, and
-takes advantage of, this dynamic can lead to transformative learning
-experiences. Successful teaching across intellectual domains goes
-beyond the simple reproduction of skills and knowledge and becomes a
-process of adapation and instantiation of knowledge in the context of
-students' personal experiences. I understand that most of my students
-do not want to be a researcher like me. I believe that in spite of
-this unusual and challenging relationship, and \emph{because of it}, I
-can teach students in ways that suprise, connect, and enrich.
+teaching in particular -- this relationship breaks down. In business
+schools, where I teach most often, lectures are given by professors
+trained as academic sociologists, economists, and psychologists. Of
+course, very few MBAs become social scientists. I have seen how a
+failure to recognize this dynamic can lead to a lack of respect and
+connection between teachers and students treated as, ``the folks who
+pay the bills.''
+
+Business school has also shown me that teaching that overcomes this
+dynamic can lead to transformative learning. Teaching across
+intellectual domains goes beyond the reproduction of skills and
+knowledge and becomes the creation of new knowledge in the context of
+students' personal experience. I understand that most of my students
+will not become researchers like me. I believe that in spite of this
+challenging relationship, and because of it, I can teach students in
+ways that surprise, connect, and enrich. In my teaching, I address
+this dynamic in three ways.
+
+First, I strive to make my teaching relevant to my students
+experiences and interests. I always seek to communicate why the
+material I teach is relevant and how it will be useful. I have taught
+similar concepts to engineers, MBAs, and executives and have worked
+to refine and tailor my message for each audience.
+
+Second, I attempt to involve students directly in learning. Even in
+large lectures, I engage students interactively in the discussion of
+examples from their experience and adapt my teaching to emphasize
+material they respond to more positively. In assignments, I challenge
+students to integrate course concepts with their experience and
+interests.
+
+Third, and most importantly, I structure my teaching around
+explicit mutual respect. Before each lecture, I reflect on the total
+student-hours my teaching will consume. I realize that in every class
+meeting, my students give me dozens, even hundreds, of hours of their
+attention. I strive never to waste it. I continually seek feedback
+from my students so that my teaching is more relevant, useful, and
+important to them.
 
 \section{Teaching Experience}
 
 Over the course of graduate school, I have learned to teach from my
 mentors and have put this philosophy into practice in lectures and
 seminars to MBAs, engineers, executives, undergraduates, and Masters
-of Science students.
+students.
 
 Over the last three years, I have served as the teaching assistant for
 Professor Eric von Hippel's lecture courses on innovation where I have
 worked closely with students on the design and evaluation of their
 course projects. In these classes, I have developed, delivered, and
-refined a series of 90 minutes lectures as a guest lecturer in those
-classes. In particular, I have developed a lecture on Internet-based
-user innovation communities based around the case of consumer
-``hacking'' of Canon cameras and a practical lecture on how to attract
-participants to online communities.
-
-After positive evaluations from students in these course, I have been
-invited to give regular lectures in MIT's Executive Education and
-Visiting MBA programs. These lectures have focused on fundemental
-introduction to concepts on innovation management and user communities
-and on practical methods for putting these into action including lead
-user methods, broadcast search, and the construction of user
+refined a series of ninety-minute lectures as a guest lecturer. These
+lectures include a session on online innovation communities, a case
+study of consumer ``hacking'' of Canon cameras, and a practical
+lecture on attracting participants to online communities.
+
+After positive evaluations from students, I have been invited to give
+regular lectures in MIT's Executive Education and Visiting MBA
+programs. These lectures have focused on managing innovation, user
+communities, and practical tools for innovating that include lead user
+methods, innovation toolkits, and the construction of vibrant user
 communities.
 
-In addition to experience in the lecture hall, I have also run a
-series of seminars for smaller groups of graduate students. Working
-with Tom Malone at the Center for Collective Intelligence, I
-coordinated an interdisciplinary seminar on collective
-intelligence. Working with Chris CsikszentmihÃ¡lyi, I organized and ran
-a graduate seminar on Free, Libre and Open Source
-Software.
+In addition to experience lecturing, I have also run a series of
+seminars for smaller groups of graduate students. Working with
+Professor Tom Malone, I coordinated an interdisciplinary seminar at
+the Center for Collective Intelligence. Working with Chris
+CsikszentmihÃ¡lyi, I organized and ran a graduate seminar on Free,
+Libre and Open Source Software in the Media Arts and Sciences program.
 
-Outside of organizing my own seminars, I have taught in a number of
-seminars at MIT Sloan, the MIT Media Lab, the MIT Program on
+Outside of organizing my own seminars, I have guest-taught in a number
+of seminars at MIT Sloan, the MIT Media Lab, the MIT Program on
 Comparative Media Studies, Harvard Law School, the Stanford Design
 School, and elsewhere. Since 2011, I have also coordinated a reading
 group on empirical research into online cooperation at the Berkman
-Center for Intenet and Society at Harvard.
+Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.
 
 \section{Mentoring}
 
 Of course, not all of teaching is unlike apprenticeship and I have
-also enjoyed my experience as a mentor to developing scholars and
+enjoyed my experience as a mentor to developing scholars and
 researchers. I have had the pleasure of mentoring several
 undergraduates at MIT through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities
 Program. These students worked with me on both a full-time basis over
 the summer and in a part-time capacity over the academic year giving
-me experience with day-to-day management and more hands-off
+me experience both in day-to-day management and more hands-off
 relationships.
 
 Additionally, I have served as an external advisor to two Masters
-degree students. I advised and evaluated one Masters Thesis on
-technology design and in am currently advising a Masters thesis
-studying a large free software community. In both cases, I have
-enjoyed meeting regularly and engaging with students over the life of
-their research projects.
+degree students. I evaluated one thesis on technology design and am
+currently advising a second student in a social scientific analysis of
+a large free software community. As an advisor, I have enjoyed meeting
+regularly and engaging with the student over the course of his thesis
+research.
 
 \section{Example Courses}
 
@@ -169,16 +169,17 @@ Undergraduate ---
 \begin{enumerate*}
 \item \emph{Innovation in the Internet Age}: An introduction to the
   theory and practice of innovation management. Topics include
-  traditional firm-based innovation as well innovation by hackers,
-  user communities, free and open source software, and lead users.
+  traditional firm-based innovation as well innovation by users,
+  hackers, user communities, and free and open source software
+  developers.
 \item \emph{Quantitative Research Methods}: An introductory class on
-  applied statistics. Topics include basic stastical methods up to,
-  and including, linear regression with programming excercises using
-  real data.
+  applied statistics for social scientists. Topics include basic
+  statistical methods up to, and including, linear regression with
+  programming exercises using real data.
 \item \emph{Computer Mediated Communication}: An overview of practical
   and theoretical issues related to computer-mediated
-  communication. The class focuses on analyses of pratice but also
-  incorporate readings and lectures on system implementation and
+  communication. The class focuses on analyses of practice but also
+  incorporates readings and lectures on theory, implementation, and
   design.
 \end{enumerate*}
 
@@ -193,9 +194,9 @@ Graduate ---
   unstructured text, and programming for massively parallel computing
   systems.
 \item \emph{Social Computing}: The theory, analysis, and design of
-  large scale, computer mediated social systems. Final projects will
-  challenge students to create a new systems or execute a study of an
-  existing system.
+  large scale, computer-mediated social systems. Final projects will
+  challenge students execute a study of an existing community or to
+  design or create a new system.
 \end{enumerate*}
 
 
