Statement of Teaching Philosophy 

	I believe that effective teaching is based on three things: 
desire to learn, active learning and adequate guidance. To elicit 
in the students the desire to learn an instructor must bring out the 
student motivation about the subject in question. One way is to tease 
the students' natural curiosity via relevant and interesting examples, 
data and case studies. We can work with the student, but not for the 
student. Only when the student is committed to learning does the 
learning process really take place. In my mind, bringing out student 
motivation is the most difficult part and constitutes the essence of 
our work as teachers.

	Once the student is committed to learning, the best way is to 
engage in a hands-on activity: learning by doing. I use projects and 
group learning techniques to provide them with challenging and relevant 
tasks to tackle and solve. Interacting in groups, the students learn 
from each other and teach each other. Then, by having to synthesize
their results and present them to their peers, they acquire two of the 
most important skills that a professional needs: working with others and 
communicating the results.

	Then, students need that instructors provide them with guidance. 
The learning process is like a long trip:  students need to know where 
they are going and how they are getting there. They need to know where 
to slow down and where to speed up; where to be careful and where to cut 
corners to save time and be able to cover the entire material. And they 
need to feel confident that whomever is guiding them knows what he/she 
is doing.

	Finally, a good doses of respect and TLC can be very helpful.