I'm writing to thank you for the terrific guest lecture today in Comm 118 about gays/lesbians in the media. It's a sensitive and potentially volatile topic to cover. But you were so masterful about being sensitive to the students, you were so timely and organized, and you were so very engaging -- it just was a terrific lecture. The students were obviously very enthused about contributing to the discussion, and they were clearly at ease in responding to your questions. That's a great talent, Anne

-Email from professor following a guest lecture in her class, Spring 2009

Teaching Experience

I have had two semesters (Spring 2008, Fall 2008) experience of teaching the undergraduate research methods class for advertising and public relations majors here at Penn State. This is a 400-level course that introduces students to common quantitative and qualitative methods used in communications research. The course is small, about 20 students, and gives students the opportunity to work through a group project from conceptualization to data collection and analysis. I will be teaching this course again in the 2009-2010 school year.

I have also been invited a number of times to guest lecture on the subject of gay and lesbian media portrayals in the intro level media effects class. See the lecture from Spring 2009 below (Links to movie clips are non-functioning in the embedded file.):

Teaching Philosophy

Awareness
I quickly learned that my knowledge was useless if I did not have an understanding of what the students already knew and how they were interpreting the information. It is so important to start the semester on the same page and to be able to adjust to learning styles. Each class of students has its own personality and what worked last semester may not work this time around. The students are the true focus of any class, so if a learning method is truly not working for them, it is necessary to be flexible and find new ways to engage with the class.

Relevance
Being aware of the learning climate makes clear the importance of information presented in a way that is relevant to the students. At times we must all learn things that are new; that are out of our realm of interest, experience, or comfort zone; or that are not of great interest. Especially in the case of research methods, not every topic will be entertaining. Therefore, it is important and helpful to present as many topics as possible in ways that make students feel as though the material pertains to their lives. As a social media scholar, I try to use new technology to present information, and also current topics of interest as examples for research. For instance, when Dunkin' Donuts came to State College I taught the focus group method by running a focus group with the class on their impressions of Dunkin' Donuts vs. Starbucks. I have taught content analysis by asking them to analyze their favorite shows, which not only lets them enjoy the work, but also leads to a greater interest in what these methods are used for.

Learning by Doing
To date I have been the instructor for research methods courses, where hands-on experience is crucial. I try to incorporate many assignments that allow students to see how a method works. By running their own survey, for instance, they come to discover the benefits and drawbacks of survey design in a concrete way which may be lost in a lecture on the same material. The research course requires students to complete a full research project in teams, in which they learn the many nuances of empirical research that one could only learn from experience.

Feedback

Student comments about COMM 420

The instructor makes everyone feel very confortable and is approachable. She offers help and inquires into the level of student understanding constantly. She cares a great deal about her students and is very interested in their progress. She is willing to help you and pre-check your assignments on her free time, even through e-mail. She is creative in making research tools as exciting, fun, and applicable to life as possible.

I really enjoy the range of examples Anne uses in class. She makes it so anyone can understand it... from Americas Next Top Model to the upcoming election.

She is as enthusiastic as anyone could possibly be while teaching this dry material. She jokes around and she used a variety of media tools. She also breaks up class into different segments of quizes, lecture, and activity, which really helps because it is such a long class.

She is very organized and I can always anticipate what we will learn and do in class ahead of time so I can come prepared. I appreciate that she will update the syllabus if she makes any changes day to day to avoid confusion. I like that she follows the same format in class from day to day with a quiz at the beginning, lecture, questions, and an assignment or group time at the end.

The instructor is constantly offering time for questions and ascertaining if everyone is following her explanations. She also acknowledges when she is not an expert and takes student feedback graciously.

She is the most helpful instructor I have had at Penn State so far. She really cares about her students and goes out of her way to help them and make them feel comfortable asking for help.

This is the first semester that I've had graduate student professors and I feel that Anne has done a very good job. I feel that I am learning the best from my graduate student professors. They are more in tune with our workload as full time students and make their classes worth going to. Anne's class is a great course. I have to admit that I hated research but I am starting to have a growing interest. Anne's love for what she does makes the class even better because she can bring first-hand knowledge to the lecture and provide better examples that we may understand.