Deborah Turner
University of Washington
Teaching philosophy
My teaching philosophy stems from a desire to help individuals increase their knowledge of the course material such that they might also use concepts learned to help improve the quality of their lives. As I transition from facilitating continuing education activities to teaching in a more formal academic context, my primary teaching goal is to draw on adult learning concepts I currently practice. That is, I introduce concepts and utilize a variety of learner-focused teaching styles and techniques. I clearly communicate program logistics in a way that helps students positively channel any anxiety that can accompany learning. By ensuring a climate, which includes both mutual respect and time for reflection, students can begin to incorporate course material into their own experiences and knowledge. I also aim to teach critical assessment skills to help students in making informed decisions. Finally, I hope to help them become knowledgeable about the state of the Information and Library Science profession so that they can begin to posit themselves within it and be able to one day contribute to furthering issues we face.
Research Statement
I am continuously intrigued by how our society negotiates the current transition away from being a production-based society towards being a knowledge-based one. It moves me to study in my primary research area, human information behavior. Knowledge management is my secondary research area. I will focus my investigations in the area of leadership and management of information institutions (including libraries, service organizations, and the like).
In this nascent stage of my doctoral career, I have numerous research interests. One question I hold involves how individual information behavior affects groups. More specifically, I am interested in exploring how group effectiveness may change when one group member has information behavior practices that differ from the rest of the group. For instance, does group effectiveness change when a new group member who prefers to communicate face-to-face or via phone joins a team of avid electronic mail users? Such situations have been studied in different disciplines. Can an information science research project shed new light on them? At some level, such an investigation may help better inform nation-wide efforts to diversity administrative and executive level teams. I expect supplement coursework in social psychology, organization development, and communication will help me as I advance in my studies, identify themes in my many curiosities, and hone in on a significant research question.