Title: Adjunct Lecturer
Department: Psychology
Years teaching: 9+
Courses taught: Financial Psychology, First-Year Seminar, Psychology of Motivation & Learning, General Psychology, Performance Management (graduate course), Organizational Development (graduate course), and Organizational Behavior (graduate course).
Teaching modality: In recent years, I’ve been mostly teaching asynchronous courses but I have extensive experience teaching traditional in-person courses.
Typical class size: 10-30 (Although, I have taught a jumbo course with 116 students before)
Why do you embed career readiness into your course(s)?
I genuinely believe it’s our duty as faculty to prepare students for their lives after college, in addition to exposing them to the course content. Additionally, I’m tired of society perceiving psychology degrees and courses as useless.
How are you currently embedding career readiness into your course(s)?
The career-focused pedagogical approaches I currently employ include:
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- A course skills objective (i.e. , highlighting the workplace skills students are developing in my courses on the syllabus and each assignment). By highlighting the skills students are developing in my courses—and how they’re developing them—students are better equipped to articulate these skills in both academic and professional contexts.
- An individual presentation in which students are required to interview a professional (i.e., informational interview) whose occupation aligns with the course material. This assignment allows students to gain real-world insights, while understanding the practical applications of the course content.
- A group project in which students apply course content to a macro-level issue (e.g., addressing the student loan debt crisis from a financial psychology perspective). In addition to the development of critical thinking, research skills, and communication skills, this assignment places an added emphasis on teamwork by requiring groups to actively engage in the teaming process.
- Extra credit in the form of course relevant asynchronous job simulations. Job simulations, like those provided by the Forage, allow students to connect course content to real-world applications.
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How would you best describe your teaching style?
Student-centered, career-focused, and evidence-based. Regarding my evidence-based approach, I usually conduct a pre-/post-course analyses to evaluate the impact of my teaching on students. I then use the findings to make adjustments to the course content, assignments, etc.
What’s the best advice about teaching you’ve ever received?
If you want better student engagement, connect the course content with what students find meaningful or personally valuable.
What teaching tools and/or resources do you recommend faculty utilize when embedding career readiness into their curriculum?
I’m obviously biased, since I developed this resource, but I encourage all Baruch undergraduate faculty to leverage Starr’s award winning Career-Focused Pedagogy Brightspace Site. In addition to addressing common barriers faculty face (e.g., lack of know-how, lack of time, lack of resources) when considering taking a career-focused pedagogical approach, the Site offers curated resources, tips, and strategies regardless of academic discipline. Plus, you can earn several certificates to enhance your own resume/CV!
What advice would you give to a faculty member who is hesitant to take a career-focused pedagogical approach to their teaching?
Taking a career-focused pedagogical approach can be as simple (e.g., sharing resources, creating a “course skills objective”) or as dynamic (e.g., re-envisioning your current assignments, bringing in guest speakers) as you want it to be. Regardless of your approach, the Starr Career Development Center is here to assist you!
Are you interested in sharing your teaching wisdom, strategies, or tips on our “This is How I Embed Career Readiness” Faculty Blog Series? We’d love to hear from you—and so would your peers! To get started, simply complete this form.
Do you want to learn more about career-focused pedagogy? Join on our award-winning Brightspace site. Click here to learn more.