Course Developed: Health, Culture, and Power; Introduction to Health Communication (cross-listed between the Department of Communication Studies and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department) Applied Communication Research Methods; Organizing and Communicating Environment and Health
Courses Taught (courses inherited and modified): Introduction to Public Speaking, Fundamentals of Oral Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Communication Theory, Health Communication
Teaching Assistant for: Organizational Communication, Introduction to Communication
Teaching Philosophy – Parameswari Mukherjee
As an educator my primary goal is to work with students to transform the classroom into a conversational space that fosters critical thinkers, where students become active agents of their education. It is within this classroom space that students become “critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher” (Freire, 1970, p. 81).” My dialogic teaching philosophy is intricately related to my research identity as a critical health and organizational communication scholar exploring issues of power and inequalities.
I enter the classroom space believing/acknowledging that students with varied intersectional identities bring to the table their varied lived experience and knowledge. As a teacher, I strive to create an open discussion space within which learning occurs in small group settings as we co-work on the course content. Typically, in my classes, after a mini-lecture, students work in small groups and are given time to discuss relevant questions from the chapter we read for that specific day. I circulate round the classroom and join in the group conversations, learn from these discussions, and offer feedback when necessary. I strongly encourage the groups to share materials pertinent to our class topic that day. This strategy not only democratizes the classroom space but also provides students with an opportunity to connect communication theories to their day-to-day lives.
Positive reports around the pedagogical practice of small group work suggest that this learning method helps students to refine critical thinking, develop peer relationships, helps in team conflict management and resolution, and nurtures personal leadership skills that are essential ingredients in future workplaces (Gillespie, Rosamond & Thomas, 2006; Sollitto, Johnson & Myers, 2013; Kalaian et al., 2018). Co-working with students from diverse backgrounds has the potential to transform the students into “public intellectuals” (Giroux & Shannon 1997; Fassett & Rudick, 2016) who are able “to advocate alongside marginalized people” (Fassett & Rudick, 2016, p. 588). Group learning also helps in fostering collective responsibility and creating a sense of community.
When I am performing the role of a teacher and a co-learner, we often have class discussions on social justice issues related to social class, inequities, and injustices in the contemporary globalized world. I try to offer opportunities where there is mutual involvement as I and my students try to push the boundaries of knowledge frames. We become intellectually generous critical thinkers by challenging ourselves, accepting intellectual diversity, and developing an empathic orientation towards relevant social issues, thus facilitating “new understandings of the world and possibilities for transformation” (Huber, 2020, p.2). As a critical communication scholar, I grapple with the issues of power, erasures from mainstream discourses and inequality in health and organizational contexts.
I am also committed to meeting students’ learning requirements and helping them to achieve their academic/career goals. I have tried to be a resource for my students both inside and outside the classroom. For instance, I have written reference letters for students applying for jobs and/or higher education. In one of their thank you emails (dated 1/9/2023), one of my students wrote:
“I wanted to thank you for your time and your letter of recommendation! I was accepted into the program and today is my first day as a Graduate student. I am very appreciative and grateful for your assistance. I am the first in my family to graduate college and enter into a graduate program and I am overwhelmed with joy. “
Drawing upon the teaching philosophy presented here, I look forward to continuing to improve as an educator and mentor for my students.
Teaching Experience
Health Communication
The goal of this survey course is to introduce students to a breadth of issues in health communication. Example topics covered include the following: patient-provider interactions, culture and health, health inequality, social support, media representations of health, healthcare organizations and teams, health campaigns, technology, and health care policy. This course employs a variety of instructional strategies including the following: textbook and additional readings, videos and podcasts, discussion boards, exams, individual assignments, and group assignments.
In one of their assignments, students create art that demonstrates their conceptualization of health and illness. First, they create a piece of art, which depicts how they define and think about health. Example visuals may include an object/artifact, a painting, a sculpture, an infographic, a video, etc. Second, they share that artwork with the class and write one paragraph stating their definition of health and explaining how their artwork exemplifies their conceptualization of health. In another assignment in this class, students work together in groups of 4 to solve a student wellness issue on a university campus. In this class students also analyze case studies to suggest more effective health communication practices and develop and apply patient empowered and team-based communication skills to enhance one’s healthcare experiences and outcomes. By the end of the semester, students are able to define health communication and explain foundational theories, models, and concepts for communicating in a variety of healthcare contexts. They are also able to identify and investigate the levels of health communication including individual, interpersonal, cultural, organizational, media, and policy.
Interpersonal Communication
This course is meant to provide an overview of introductory concepts and theories in interpersonal communication. I designed and implemented course assignments in a way that enables students to apply course concepts to their life experiences and the relational experiences of others. One of the major assignments for this class is a three-page group reaction paper that students need to submit thrice throughout the semester.
Many of my students in my interpersonal communication classes are from varied disciplinary backgrounds and are sometimes not familiar with writing reaction papers to demonstrate the understanding of the readings. To make learning more effective in this situation, we workshop the assignment with the help of our reaction paper workshop forms. In six steps, they first select which chapter they want to write their reaction paper on, followed by five concepts from the chapter that the group found interesting and then circling the one they choose for their reaction paper. In the next step, they write down their working thesis and then briefly describe the concept. In the fifth step, they offer a critique of the concept or extend its argument or provide an example that relates to the concept they read in the chapter. As a last step, they are asked to provide at least two sources (in APA 7 style) for their reaction paper. These short reaction papers help students to step out of their comfort zones as they demonstrate their ability to employ the theoretical frameworks presented in class.
Introduction to Public Speaking
This course focuses on the nature and basic principles of human communication, emphasizing on improving speaking and listening skills common to all forms of oral communication through a variety of experiences in public discourse. The primary purpose of assignments, readings, and activities in Introduction to Public Speaking is to help students develop basic skills and confidence in the art of public speaking. Those skills, and that confidence, rest on understanding communication contexts, audiences, arguments, language, and social influence, as both a speaker and a listener, an understanding that can only be achieved through creative inquiry and issues and critical thinking about communication pragmatics. There are three major assignments for this class including informative speech delivery, persuasive speech delivery and ceremonial speech delivery.
While teaching this course, I remind my students that there is no one way of doing public speaking and that I am not going to deduct points for missed eye-contacts or using ‘ums’ in their speeches. However, I encourage my students to read and understand mainstream public speaking techniques and what values are embedded in mainstream organization and delivery of speeches. I also encourage my students to focus more on the kinds of arguments they are making, what sources they are citing and the examples they are using to support those arguments in their speeches.
I have also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant under the supervision of Dr. Mahuya Pal and Dr. Laurel Friedman for Organizational Communication and Introduction to Communication courses respectively. I pay close attention to my teaching evaluations every semester so that I can improve as a teacher. My students’ written comments (please refer to p. 2 of the Evidence of teaching effectiveness file) have been very helpful as well. They confirm my ability to make our classes interactive and to create a supportive communication climate within the classroom.
References
Fassett, D. L., & Rudick, C. K. (2016). 23 Critical Communication Pedagogy. In Communication and Learning (pp. 573-598). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502446-024
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.). (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York: Continuum. (Original work published 1970).
Gillespie, D., Rosamond, S., & Thomas, E. (2006). Grouped out? Undergraduates’ default strategiesfor participating in multiple small groups. The Journal of General Education, 81-102.
Giroux, H., & Shannon, P. (1997). Cultural studies and education towards a performative practice. New York und London: Routledge.
Huber, A. A. (2020). Wunderkammer as critical communication pedagogy: Collaboratively documenting pedagogical labor in a cabinet of curiosities. Communication Teacher, 34(3), 216-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2019.1673455
Kalaian, S. A., Kasim, R. M., & Nims, J. K. (2018). Effectiveness of Small-Group Learning Pedagogies in Engineering and Technology Education: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Technology Education, 29(2), 20-35.
Sollitto, M., Johnson, Z. D., & Myers, S. A. (2013). Students’ perceptions of college classroom connectedness, assimilation, and peer relationships. Communication Education, 62(3), 318-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2013.788726
Students’ Qualitative Comments
SPC 2601, USF, Spring 2020, Sec 009
“Parameswari was very helpful in and out of class. Her teaching strategy was very conversational, which continued to spark my interest in the course.”
SPC 2601, USF, Spring 2020, Sec 009
“Ms. Mukherjee was very engaging and really expressed an interest in Public Speaking. She made the course really interactive and made sure to make her students feel comfortable. Public speaking is a hard class for most people, however, Ms. Mukherjee made sure to find ways to help her students feel confident about the assignment by answering questions and modifying it to where she believed would best allow her students to succeed. She was very kind and made sure to thoroughly listen to our input and questions.”
SPC 2601, USF, Fall 2020, Sec 014
“Always gave feedback on assignments and responded to emails promptly!”
SPC 2601, USF, Spring 2021, Sec 010
“I enjoyed this class. You can tell that the instructor wants to see her students succeed.”
SPC 3301, USF, Fall 2021, Sec 004
“I would highly recommend this course to anyone in any major. It teaches you a lot about how to communicate better in not only personal relationships, but also professional so this could be helpful to anyone going out into the job field.”
COMM 4022, USF, Spring 2022, Sec 003
“The instructor was very detailed in her explanations and was very timely in her responses. I cannot ask for anything else, she provides all students with the access to succeed.”
SPC 3301, USF, Fall 2022, Sec 009
“Interpersonal Communication was a very fun and interactive class to be in. Learning about how we communicate is crucial for us to understand each other and communicate more effectively when we go into the real world and get jobs that require us to have sharp communication skills to understand other people’s issues.”
Teaching Observation Letter
Parameswari Mukherjee, Ph.D 