Teaching Philosophy

My teaching focuses on experiential learning. I believe that college learning is not simply to memorize ideas, concepts, and theories from textbooks. The key is to apply those concepts and ideas into practice, generating an impact on the students' own activities as well as self development and social advancement.

Since I started teaching at Pacific in 1995, every semester I have directed students in many of my classes to engage in a real research project, collecting a sample of 300-400 questionnaires.

Students first come up with a communication research idea that interests them, develop a measurement/instrument, put their measurements into a class questionnaire, collect real data, analyze data and write their own research papers. By the end of the semester, students have learned how to propose a question, find a way to investigate it, and interpret and communicate the findings.

Every year, I have taken 3-5 undergraduate students to present their research papers at regional/national conferences. I firmly believe that this experiential learning approach is the most effective way to help students acquire communication knowledge and develop communication competence.

Scholarly Interests

Intercultural communication

Socialization and the effects of new media

COMM 143, Intercultural Communication
COMM 149, Introduction to Organization Communication
COMM 139, Theory of Mass Communication
COMM 160, Communication Research Methods
COMM 295, Introduction to Graduate Studies

Tongji Teaching Expert Award  to lecture in Tongji for two weeks on Theorizing Mass Communication and New Media (December, 2014).

National Communication Association (NCA) (2014) selected as as one of twenty-two Communication Experts to work on Learning Outcomes Project for develop measurements for teaching Communication classes across the country.
 
Faculty fellow of the Center of Social Emotional Competence at University of the Pacific (2012)

Research Fellowship (2010) awarded by Social Emotional Competence Research Center at Pacific to study the Impact of Internship on College Students’ Social Emotional Competence Development.