Teaching Experience and Agenda

Teaching Experience and Agenda

Table of Contents

1. Teaching Philosophy (p. 2)
2. Overview of Courses Taught (p. 3)
3. Sample of Courses Prepared to Teach (p. 4)
4. Teaching Evaluations (Quantitative) and Student Evaluation Comments (p. 6)
5. Sample Syllabi (p. 9)
6. Policy and Governance in Sustainable Systems (p. 9)
7. People and the Environment (p. 21)
8. Management Foundations and Approaches (p. 30)

Teaching Interests and Philosophy

In every course that I teach, I try to focus on the development of three key skills that people need in every walk of life – critical thinking, oral communication, and written communication. By addressing the improvement of these skill sets, this goal helps to reach students regardless of their future career path or their reasons for taking a particular course. This approach has worked across a wide variety of classes that I have taught in the past, from introductory environmental studies classes to upper-level undergraduate governance/policy courses to master’s level conservation biology to doctoral level international policy discussions. In general, my classes require multiple presentations and a number of writing assignments ranging from brief memoranda to essays and opinion pieces of a few pages to longer research papers. I often work specifically on developing students’ presentation skills, drawing on training from my previous work in the business world. These types of assignments help further the development of both types of communication skills mentioned above.

To develop critical thinking, however, is a substantially more difficult task. Assessing and building a mentality of insightfulness and of looking beyond the “one right answer” requires fostering deep classroom discussions and getting beyond the text. The challenge lies in pushing the class to realize the complexity of the world beyond the classroom while helping empower them and develop tools for taking a holistic approach to deal with uncertainty, nonlinearities, and lags and feedback in their world. The principle way of doing this is having a solid theoretical grounding in resilience and complex adaptive systems and encouraging a multiple method approach. In addition, I tend to ask more questions than I answer. In undergraduate courses, such as those offered in the School of Sustainability, open-ended questions often stimulate discussions in interesting and unexpected ways. Another way to deal with complexity and foster critical analysis has been by bringing in “real world” examples. In management and public policy courses, I have drawn upon my past work as both an engineer and as a strategy consultant. In conservation and environmental studies courses, I drew upon my work in the field. For example, in the Conservation Biology course that I taught, the class discussed challenges in balancing conservation and development agendas. I used cases of the regional impacts of climate change in southern Africa that formed part of my doctoral fieldwork to insert some “reality” into the discussion. I have also had collaborative projects for SOS 321 where students advised the Arizona State Land Department and a local NGO, the Sonoran Institute. My current section of the class is linking with the Solutions Workshop to have teams working with graduate students on real-world applications. Finally, while it is often easiest to structure classes around topical areas, I have tended to build mine around theoretical approaches with practical applications. This has worked in each of the diverse classes that I have taught, regardless of the level of students or the material. Instead of simply providing them with an overview, students interact through a variety of theoretical lenses and then try to apply them in real-world settings. Depending on the class, I have focused on institutional analysis, the policy sciences, and resilience theory. Because many students learn in different ways, I rely on multiple teaching techniques. With some material, lecturing is the best approach. In other cases, classroom discussions work better. I have also used debates, laboratory experiments drawing on cutting-edge research, interactive games based on game theory, team “consulting” presentations, Capstone Projects, and practitioner guest lectures.

While at this stage of my career, my teaching has been limited to the few select courses mentioned above, I feel confident in teaching a wide breadth of courses in environmental policy, institutional analysis, public policy, or complex adaptive systems. My own training encompasses multiple disciplines, and I feel comfortable across a range of subjects, several of which are listed in the following sections. I would especially enjoy the opportunity to craft new courses or build on existing courses in focused theoretical areas such as on international environmental policy, institutional analysis, the policy sciences, complexity science and social-ecological resilience, or the policy process. Likewise, I would like topical courses covering the role of conservation in the developing world, community-based natural resource management, research design, and transboundary governance and sustainability.

Overview of Classes Taught

My first formal teaching engagement was in Spring 2006 when I taught for Indiana’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. I was the instructor for V-241, Management Foundations and Approaches. This class drew upon my business background and was comprised of 62 students, from freshman to senior but primarily juniors, with an interest in public, private, or non-profit management. The challenge was to teach to a wide range of interests in a more generalist course. The course description is below and the syllabus is at the back of the document.

V-241, Management Foundations and Approaches

This course examines core functions of management and the political socio-economic context within which organizations operate in different sectors of employment. It is organized into five main parts: what management entails; approaches to the study of management; contextual factors; core issues; and management functions. Course concludes with a capstone exercise.

My second teaching assignment, in Spring 2008, enabled me to teach in my current field of human-environment systems. This class was an introductory class with 65 students. The syllabus is again attached.

E-162, People and the Environment

This course provides an interdisciplinary examination of the problems of population, pollution, and natural resources and their implications for the sustainability of society.

I also guest lectured on protected areas in a doctoral level Conservation Biology class at Indiana University. This course and my fieldwork in Southern Africa created an opportunity to teach the social science module of a Masters-level Conservation Biology class at the University of Cape Town, which could provide an opportunity to build a field school in southern Africa for sustainability students. This module-based course had 11 MSc students from 7 countries throughout Africa and around the world and was structured as an intensive one year, module-based format. Seminars lasted 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. The module that I taught ran two weeks and covered the social sciences in conservation, debates between conservation and development, resilience and complexity, and the policy sciences.

MSc – level, Conservation Biology

Ecological principles associated with rare species and with biodiversity, laws and statutes used to conserve biodiversity, and land and species management practices. Our aim is to understand scientific and political complexities of conservation biology, and to study different methods used to conserve living resources and resolve conflicts associated with conservation.

My most current teaching assignment, in Spring 2011 and again in Spring 2012, was the first to draw on my main area of research in environmental policy and governance. This class was for undergraduate sustainability students with 60 enrolled. The syllabus is again attached.

SOS-321, Policy and Governance in Sustainable Systems

This course explores the wide array of political questions that are raised when we view the Earth's environment as an integrated, global system. The first part examines domestic US public policy and includes a locally based practicum project working with local NGOs and state government officials. The second half of the semester focuses on global environmental governance.

Sample of Additional Undergraduate Courses Prepared to Teach

SOS 320 – Society and Sustainability

Current course description: Establishes an understanding of the human, social, and cultural dimensions of sustainability from multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives and at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. – Very similar to the People and Environment course that I taught at Indiana University.

SOS 322 – International Development and Sustainability

Current course description: Historical roots of the idea of development; economic theories of growth and their implications for sustainability; interrelationship among population growth, food security, poverty, inequality, urbanization, technological change, international trade, and environmental change at local, regional and global scale

Fundamentals of Complex Adaptive Systems Science

This course approaches science from a complex systems paradigm, using computational thinking and quantitative methods to forge a new and holistic understanding of life and society. A complex adaptive system is comprised of a heterogeneous network of interacting and independent actors that learns and adapts over time. In short, the macro-level behavior of the system is more than the sum of the micro-level.

African Politics, the Environment and Sustainability

While not glossing over the depth and recurrence of crises in Africa, this course seeks to uncover our commonly held assumptions and go beyond simple stereotypes. The course is organized around four main sets of issues: 1) the legacies of the past for African politics today; 2) the economic challenges continuing to face Africa; 3) the prospects for democracy in Africa; and, 4) Africa’s relationship with other countries, donors, and NGOs. All of these are as they relate to the pressing environmental challenges facing the continent.

Institutional Analysis and Development – Introductory Ostromology

This course provides a brief primer of the literature focusing on the analysis of individual behavior within various types of institutional arrangements. We will undertake a micro-analysis of how combinations of rules, the structure of the goods and technology involved, and culture interact to affect the incentives facing individuals and resulting patterns of interactions adopted by individuals in one or a set of closely related situations.

The Policy Sciences

This course provides an overview of the Lasswellian tradition. In this course, we will cover the Social Process and Decision Process, theories of adaptive governance, and the policy process as a whole. The Capstone for this course will require an in-depth analysis of a local environmental dilemma and will include interviews with stakeholders, a current assessment of solutions, and a discussion of ways forward.

A Social Science View of Conservation Biology

This course studies conservation biology, the study of biodiversity conservation, with a variety of rigorous social science techniques. The course focuses on the social, political, and economic forces that impact conservation outcomes and are in turn influenced by them. Approaches include theories of the commons, the policy sciences, game theory, experimental research design, and political ecology.

Theories of the Policy Process

This course is an evaluation of the theoretical and empirical literature on public policy processes. The findings of policy research are evaluated. An integrative paper is required.

Note: Many of these courses could have an equivalent graduate seminar.

Sample of Additional Graduate Courses Prepared to Teach

SOS 510 – Perspectives on Sustainability

Current course: University-wide course covering basic perspectives on sustainability. Uses case studies; faculty and students from engineering, architecture, social sciences, and natural sciences exchange ideas on the major challenges faced in forming a sustainable future at the local, national, and global levels.

SOS 514 – Human Dimensions of Sustainability

Current course: Concepts and definitions of the human dimensions of sustainability; the role of attitudes and values in shaping sustainability goals, practices, and programs; the diversity of values and socio-cultural contexts relating to sustainability; bottom-up and top-down sustainable policy development, social data collection methodologies.

SOS 530 – International Development and Sustainability

Current course: Historical roots of the idea of development; economic theories of growth and their implications for sustainability; interrelationship among population growth, food security, poverty, inequality, urbanization, technological change, international trade, and environmental change at local, regional and global scale.

Solutions Workshop

As stated earlier, I am currently working to combine a collaborative project in the SOS 321 – Policy course with the current graduate Solutions Workshop course to provide real-world problem-solving experience at the undergraduate level.

Institutional Analysis and Development

During the first semester of this year-long course, we provide a brief overview of the literature focusing on the analysis of individual behavior within various types of institutional arrangements from family to local “community” to formal government. We will draw on game theory, experimentation, and case studies to understand how actors craft rules to resolve collective action dilemmas.

Transboundary Environmental Dilemmas

This seminar-style course explores a broad range of questions and debates surrounding efforts to protect natural resources. It begins by looking at large-scale conservation efforts and then works into issue areas such as global fisheries, transboundary pollution and climate change, with a special interest in the conundrums posed by growing human demands for increasingly depleted and threatened natural resources and the challenges of governance across borders.

Policy Analysis

This course highlights the basic techniques of policy analysis. In this case, policy analysis is the practical application of various analytical methods for exploring the “nuts and bolts” of environmental policy. In particular, we will focus on how formal policy interacts and engages with informal rules, norms, and strategies.

International Environmental Policy

This course examines the forces in society alternately promoting and impeding cooperation in the environmental realm. Our inquiry is guided by four, interrelated course units: (1) international environmental law; (2) international political order; (3) the environment and global markets; and (4) sustainable development.

Note: Many of these courses could have an equivalent undergraduate seminar.

Teaching Evaluations

Below are both quantitative and qualitative assessments of my teaching proficiency. I have quantitative results for the two formal, full-length courses that I have taught at Indiana University. I also have the quantitative results from Arizona State University available upon request in PDF. I have qualitative comments from students for the last three courses that I have taught – the undergraduate Policy and Governance in Sustainable Systems (Spring, 2011), the undergraduate People and the Environment course at Indiana (Spring, 2008) and the master’s course at the University of Cape Town (Fall, 2009).

Select comments from the MSc. Conservation Biology class:

“His ability to draw on examples from his own and others’ field experience makes his teaching extremely effective, as well as interesting for those of us in the classroom with him.”

“I really enjoyed the whole module, especially the classes on commons theory and game theory. Overall the module was a perfect rounding off of the course, and it made me rethink my opinion of the social sciences and their usefulness at guiding many conservation problems!”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of the social module because it enabled us to step out of a purely ecological realm and explore conservation in a real world context.”

Select comments from the “People and the Environment” class:

“I loved this course. It inspired me to become a SPEA major. Mike Schoon is a passionate and involved instructor and made every class interesting and extremely educational.”

“This class applied to real life issues. What a great instructor!! I would like to have Mike for another course.”

“I never knew how interesting the environment is. The assignments were a lot of fun, especially the water usage, the carbon cycle, and our ecological footprint. I had never thought about these things before.”