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Teaching Philosophy
"The most important thing I’ve learned in this class is the ability
to discuss sensitive topics freely but in a respectful way at the same time."
N. Z. - Student,
MG 335.0, Managing Workplace Diversity
December 5th, 2004,
In general:
I prefer to see myself as a facilitator or team leader rather than a conventional "teacher," because I deliberately set the level of interaction on "high" in my classes.
I encourage high interaction, because I strongly believe that the greatest amount of learning happens through active and conscious participation from all parties, and that an interactive approach stimulates learning for the students as well as myself as the team leader. This mutual learning would not happen if all I did were depositing my knowledge through lectures.
In line with this, I am convinced that teaching and learning, just like yin and yang, have a reciprocal effect: the teacher learns while teaching, and the learner teaches while learning.
My personal definition of a great teacher is someone who knows how to connect with his or her audience in such a way, that their interest is peaked long after the course is over. A great teacher is a transcendent one. Being a transcendent teacher entails that your impact exceeds ordinary limits. A great teacher engages his or her students throughout the process of knowledge exchange. This teacher practices all creative options at his or her disposal to deepen the interest level, encourage reflection, and broaden the insights of the students.
In my opinion, learning happens most effectively in a relaxed, open, and engaging atmosphere. To me, learning happens best through sharing. A great teacher, which is what I try to be, is therefore a facilitator who uses his or her emotional intelligence toward the students to find out what style works best in the given setting.

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"I enjoyed this class because we were encouraged to bring |
Toward My Courses
In my courses I have student cohorts that widely vary in age, experience and other dimensions of diversity, so I find myself oftentimes relying on my intuition regarding the amount of clarification and elaboration required for each course topic.
To enhance students' engagement, I make it a point to explain the purpose behind every assignment, exercise and discussion at 3 levels:
I strive to leave a legacy beyond my teaching topics and persevere to enhance the following insights within each of my students:
I further strongly believe that leadership, management, and business, - the areas in which I facilitate courses – are very closely related to one's personal performance and perspectives in life. I therefore feel that my responsibility is of an inspirational and encouraging nature.
a. The micro level (How does this relate to the course topic?)
b. The median level (How can it benefit our learning in general?)
c. The macro level (How does it pertain to life as a whole?)
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"I was inspired by Dr. Marques in a beautiful and courteous way. Any woman moving not only from another country but maintaining status and a pleasant attitude encourages me to continue. I have been discouraged by many things: outsourcing, men earning better pay, and the thought of limited jobs for the future now co-exist within me. I believe God put women in the world for a reason, and every time I get ready to give up another one inspires me to continue. Thank you, and I hope you will be blessed in all of your endeavors." |
I earn my greatest pride from:
When my students leave my course, I want them to have an elevated internal locus of control and an intense belief that their future has little or no boundaries. I want them to carry the conviction that they are talented individuals who can achieve anything they set their focus on. I want them to have a macro perspective of what business, leadership and management are all about; but most of all, I want them to know that they are key in bringing about a positive change in the corporate world.
A) Seeing a positive change in my students during the course;
B) Engaging in brainstorming projects with my students, that regularly result in publications from which others can learn; and
C) Detecting a stellar performance within my students after they have finished my courses.
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"Dear Professor Marques,
Thank you for all your advice, I like your style. |
Anticipated General Learning Outcomes
In general, I anticipate the following learning outcomes for my students:
From my teaching portfolio the following highlights can be extracted:
The following figure demonstrates how I perceive these learning outcomes to be aligned with my teaching philosophy.

In order to ensure that my teaching philosophy and anticipated learning outcomes were in line with Woodbury University's School of Business, I first reviewed the mission statements of the undergraduate as well as the graduate (MBA) programs, because I teach in both formats.
Next, I reviewed the learning objectives these two programs anticipated from students, and subsequently, I listed the common factors between both lists.
Once the list of common objectives between both programs was formulated, I developed a table, in which I placed these objectives alongside my teaching philosophy and anticipated general learning outcomes.
From this process, a figure emerged, in which I illustrate how I perceive the alignment between my teaching portfolio, my anticipated general learning outcomes for students, and Woodbury's School of Business and Management's common learning objectives for MBA and undergraduate.
The figure is presented below.
