In sum, I rely on five major principles to guide my teaching activity. First, I believe that learning the knowledge and skills of social work necessarily takes place within the context of social work as a profession and its associated values (e.g. NASW Code of Ethics). Second, I know that individuals learn in various ways and am open to using diverse teaching methods as long as there is evidence of student learning. Third, I believe that learning is enhanced when students speak about the concepts that are being taught, and as such encourage class discussion. Fourth, I believe that technological skills are an asset to social work practitioners and administrators. Finally, I believe that learning is enhanced by a positive, dynamic, and fun environment, as well as by providing relevant content and clear expectations.

The theoretical foundation for my teaching approach fits best with Bandura's social learning theory but is also guided by Bloom's taxonomy and the idea that learning occurs in successive phases. In sum, these two theoretical frameworks suggest that students must first add new knowledge to their existing repertoire. As a second step in the learning process, the newly acquired knowledge is then organized (or in some cases re-organized) to form new conceptual schema so that students may comprehend broader understanding and higher levels of learning. Third, fine tuning must occur to help students apply knowledge to a specific tasks, and this effort often involves repetition or practice. After students have mastered application, a fourth step in learning involves the deconstruction of new ideas and skills, and examining the various component parts. Fifth, the parts are reconstructed to create a new whole, or generate new ideas. Finally, the last stage of learning involves evaluation of the knowledge and ideas.

This hierarchical model of learning assumes knowledge exists in one's memory before new conceptual schema or knowledge adjustment can happen. This framework is particularly useful for teaching policy and research in social work given that the majority of students have little to no background or experience in these topics. This model also has utility for assisting students in understanding that learning new concepts is an essential first step in knowledge building for the social work practitioner. This understanding may alleviate anxiety that sometimes results when students find the pace of learning research or policy is "incongruent" with the pace of learning in other courses, such as those in the practice portion of the curriculum. The pace of learning in research tends to be particularly slower and more cumbersome (especially at first) since students tend to struggle with both a new vocabulary and a new (and sometimes foreign) logic. However, the learning curve for most students seems to have a j-shape; that is, learning seems slow to start but once the basics are mastered, learning occurs at an accelerated rate. So... to my students I say....hang in there, it only gets better!