TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

My main teaching philosophy has always been affiliated to socio-cultural theories of learning and instruction acknowledging all the processes that take place at brain level when we process new information. I conceptualize learning as a dynamic interplay between our existing knowledge and socio-cultural experience. Therefore, the general philosophical framework of my teaching approach resonates with that of social constructivism. On this note, it is my belief that, as an instructional scientist but mostly, as an educator, it is essential to be able to create a student-centered, democratic learning environment, where learning is constructed through social interaction and active engagement of the learner in hands-on activities based on real-life scenarios that often require problem solving skills and competence. This has always been a central focus of my teaching, in an attempt to make learning derived from my instruction as meaningful, as deep and as fun as possible.

Furthermore, I strongly believe that technology, if employed purposefully and in a targeted manner, may significantly promote the learning derived from an instruction and thus, carry added value to the whole learning experience. From my perspective, technology is a powerful, versatile, dynamic and invaluable tool in the hands of the educator and it is something that I always strive to meaningfully embed in my instruction. Additionally, as an interdisciplinarian, I perceive the world in a systematic way where learning does not begin nor stop in the classroom or in any formal settings. I view learning as a self-driven, eternal, on-going process to provide answers to questions so that one can make sense of the world. I generally relate with academics who view the ultimate purpose of their instruction to be that of creating intrinsically motivated, lifelong learners who are able to apply their creativity first and their critical thinking next in order to innovatively solve real-life problems.