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My Teaching and Learning Philosophy
By Boakai Karnley, MSNMed, MPH, BSN, RN
Department of Nursing, Bomi Community College
Tubmanburg, Bomi County Liberia
All humans, including my students, are a bio-cultural and social being. Every teacher and
student, as a biological being grew up with family with cultural beliefs and values that influence
social interactions, and the learning process. It is, therefore, a must that every teacher has a
unique teaching philosophy.
It is most likely that many nursing educators’ transit directly from the clinical setting
into the classroom without the requisite training and experience. This move could be motivated
by varying factors including the desire to help and support students, income or parents influence.
As for me, I developed a passion for teaching when I was in a secondary school; I enjoyed
tutoring my classmates to improve their performance. Fortunately, after obtaining a bachelor of
nursing science, I was hired to teach at an accredited nursing institution. Today, I am reading my
master of nursing education empowering me to ensure the development and practice of my own
philosophy.
I consider teaching and learning as an agreement signed between the teacher and the
learners with the learners agreeing to be active participants, respectful and self-directed, while
the teacher agrees to facilitate, be learner-centered, guide and respect the learners. In my class, I
realized that learners come from different cultural backgrounds and learn differently. Therefore, I
focused on learner-centered teaching, disassociating from the traditional teacher-centered form
of teaching. Learner-centered teaching may likely empower a student to be independent, lifelong
learner, critical thinker, and good decision maker. Work of theorists like John Dewey, Jean

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Piaget, Carl Rogers, and Lev Vygotsky influenced the constructivist theories of learning, which
focused on how students learn and the move to student-centered learning.
I believe that education facilitates critical thinking, reflection, and acquisition of skills
and power of judgment that will positively impact society. Teaching my students provides
adequate opportunities for them to learn, develop the capacity of critical thinking, and perform
tasks with maximum efficacy.
My style of teaching depends on the subject matter, the unit of the course and other
factors. I vary my style of teaching that could be influenced by the determinants of learning. I
understand that andragogy is based on active participation and critical thinking while pedagogy
is based on the content of a course. I used both theories during teaching; however, my choice
depends on my students' needs` assessment findings. I provide the course syllabus including
required references and a list of supplementary readings, deadlines, objectives and ask for
student feedback regarding the syllabus. Lev Vygotsky revealed that learning is oriented toward
developmental levels that had been reached but ineffective from the learner overall perspective,
thereby requiring the facilitator`s guidance.
I enjoy students’ discussion, realizing that it promotes learning through interaction as I
stimulate them with a provocative question, not allowing one student to dominate the discussions
and encourage the unspoken student to talk. My students are empowered through designed tasks
they work on independently or in a small group.
I integrate visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles of the students during teaching
to make the course accessible to all students and responsive to individuals with difficulty in

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integrating new materials. I believe using only one teaching method to teach introduces
unnecessary limitations that might negatively affect the learning outcome.
I evaluate my student’s knowledge, skills and values employing a more formative process
then summative process. The formative process is usually focused on qualitative feedback
relating to both content and performance involving quizzes, a summary of units, and
presentations. As for the summative process, my focus is on comparing the course objectives
with the outcome, involving final paper, final exam and so on. Teachers must be evaluated
constantly to ensure that students learning needs are met. Teacher evaluation can be done in
many different ways including student’s evaluation, peer evaluation, and others. During my
teaching, I was evaluated at the end of every semester. The evaluation was based on the learning
objectives, learning, teaching activities and student’s assessment methods. The results of the
evaluation were used by the administration to retain or cancel staff contracts. I believe that
assessment helps to identify gaps that could be corrected. For the teacher, it could help
administration to undertake staff development, but for the student, it helps the teacher to re-
examine teaching and assessment methods used.
Predicated on my beliefs and values, my personal philosophy of teaching and learning is
to “nurture and guide students to develop critical thinking skills, access and integrate evidence
and apply the acquired knowledge and skills in solving real-world problems”.