Dr. Jason Dittmer
Assistant Professor of Geography
Curriculum Vitae
 |
| Dr. Dittmer (far right) and students on an Urban Geography field trip to Savannah |
Background
I was thrust into the classroom in 1999 as I started my first semester of PhD work at Florida State University. I had just finished my Master’s in a field other than the course I would now be teaching (which was World Regional Geography), and I was 23 years old. I was terrified. Two weeks earlier I had been told I would be teaching for my graduate assistantship. “Is there a book for course?” I had asked. “I think we ordered some for you,” came the insouciant reply. “Is there a syllabus?” I had asked. “No,” came the chilling answer.
As I walked into the classroom that first day I tried to affect an authoritative tone, despite the fact that I had very little idea of what I was going to do. It took one whole class period before a student asked me how old I was. This was going to end badly, I was sure. Half the class seemed older than me (probably only about 1/4 were, but who’s counting) and I soon realized that trying to be professorial would get me nowhere. The only way I got through that first semester was by discovering a combination that has served me well ever since:
- set up clear course rules and expectations, and stick to them (the fewer judgment calls the better),
- treat students like you would want to be treated (the “respect” principle), and
- spoof the professorial stereotype while providing content-rich lectures.
The lecture, you say? Absolutely. I came to Georgia Southern University in 2003, and I’ve spent most of my time since teaching large sections of World Regional Geography, the same course I cut my teeth on in my first semester of PhD work. I get to teach some upper-division seminar-style courses but most of my time is spent conveying large amounts of information to large amounts of students. This has fundamentally shaped my teaching style.
"...I soon came to the opinion that I was being paid not just to teach, but for these students to learn."
|
Approach to Teaching and Learning
 |
| Dr. Dittmer |
As alluded to above, my teaching style has been constrained by the size of my classes – and so I have been working on ways to make old-school lecture hall instruction more successful. In some ways lecturing needs little help – students love it! It allows them to be passive recipients of knowledge; they can sit there and take notes with little to no disruption to their text messaging, sleeping, etc. And therein lies the rub.
Lecturing is, in some ways, premised upon two assumptions:1) students will listen and, 2) lecturers will be interesting. Too often, one or both ends of the bargain are broken. When I first started lecturing, in accordance with my fundamental belief in respect for students, I thought that it was my job to be a dynamic and interesting lecturer, to provide energy and substance for the day. I still believe that (although I don’t fit the bill every day, unfortunately). However, I found that students, despite my best efforts, often don’t manage to arrive for class, or arrive only in time for the end-of-class assessment. This was (and is) very frustrating to me as an instructor. For a long time, I held to my belief that students’ decisions were their own, and as long as I was upholding my end of the bargain I did not have to worry about theirs. However, I soon came to the opinion that I was being paid not just to teach, but for these students to learn.
So, my recent focus in innovating my teaching strategies is to provide more impetus for students to engage with the material. Isn’t that more “respectful” of students than abandoning them? To believe that they, given a little prodding, will engage with the material and walk away from your class a little more knowledgeable, a little more ready for the world? To that end, I am experimenting with technological fixes to the size of my classroom. The size of the classroom eliminates most traditional methods of facilitating learning (even passing an attendance sheet becomes time-prohibitive). My new best friend is the iClicker technology, which allows for students to engage with the material through a remote control that they bring to class. It opens possibilities for in-class polling (both serious and goofy) as well as numerous opportunities for pop quizzes (with auto-grading!). My hope is that this will lead many students who otherwise would find other ways to spend their time to instead come to class, engage with the material and feel like something other than a passive recipient of a lecture.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Office phone: (912) 681-0174
E-mail: jdittmer at georgiasouthern dot edu
|
