Teaching
This section is divided into three segments describing my teaching philosophy and teaching experiences. In the segments below you will find a description of some of the course I have taught.
Teaching Philosophy
To succeed in their academic endeavours students must strive for discovery and excellence. Both result from the combination of interest, motivation, knowledge acquisition, and critical thinking. First, interest and motivation arise from students’ acknowledgment of the relationship between what is being taught and their daily lives. This is also essential to engage them in the learning process. Second, knowledge acquisition is crucial to equip students with the conceptual definitions and previous discoveries within any given field. This empowers students to analyze issues encountered in their professional careers and personal lives. Finally, the most important characteristic of successful students is critical thinking. Critical thinking emerges from the combination of all previously mentioned aspects added to one’s broad lived experience.
The teaching methods I use are based on the humanistic principles by Carl Rogers and the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire that describe education as a tool to promote change and autonomy. This entails a student-centered, active, and critically driven approach. I teach my courses connecting the material to students’ interests, using examples they relate to, and encouraging questioning of theoretical perspectives and current issues. I use problem-based constructivist teaching strategies including discussions of current events related to the topics being studied. These pedagogical strategies highlight important aspects of students’ success. First, they foster critical thinking and the understanding of multiple perspectives to interpreting a phenomenon. Most importantly, they make the learning experience relevant, interesting, and more enjoyable. In Paulo Freire’s own words:
“… teaching and learning are not possible without the search … and without joy.”
Teaching Experience
McGill University
- Sport in Society
Champlain College, Saint-Lambert
- Quantitative Methods
- Human Relations
- Social Psychology
- Introduction to Methodology
HEC Montreal
- The Universe of Sport
Concordia University
- Sport Psychology
Student Supervision
Pascale Tremblay
Master’s project title: untitled
Institution: HEC Montreal, Department of Management
My role: Assistant supervisor with Dr. Sébastien Arcand
Allyson Gillard
Master’s project title: Life skills learning in Sport-études: An evaluation of students-athletes needs
Institution: Laval University, Department of Physical Education
My role: Assistant supervisor with Dr. Christiane Trottier
Pierre Lepage
Master’s project title: Development and acquisition of knowledge of youth sport coaches in disability sport
Institution: McGill University, Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education
My role: Collaborator with Dr. Gordon Bloom
Matthieu Boisvert
Independant project title: Sport Psychology for coaches: What do coaches think?
Institution: Concordia University, Department of Psychology
My role: Co-supervisor with Dr. Theresa Bianco
Siri Johnston
Undergradute honours project title: Cohesion in Paralympic sport: Perspective of the coach
Institution: McGill University, Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education
My role: Co-supervisor with Dr. Gordon Bloom
This course is concerned with sociocultural and socio-psychological aspects associated with sport and physical activity research in North American society. The course will consider theory and evidence on selected topics related to the broad theme of development within the sociocultural and socio-psychological aspects in sport and physical activity.
The course explores the influence of North American society on participation in physical activities and sports. Students analyze the influence of individual and social factors, the media, and politics in sport in society. Special attention is given to the effects of gender, race, violence, deviance, economy, and socio-economic status on sport participation. Lectures and class discussions are supported by video documentaries and students’ experiences to foster understanding and critical thinking of the impact of society on sport. By the end of the course students are expected to recognize and discuss the terminology, prominent theories, research designs, and pertinent literature of sport within the North American social context.
General Objectives of the Course
At the completion of this course, the student should be able to:
1. Describe, understand, and evaluate sport as a microcosm of society.
2. Describe, analyze and debate gender equity issues in sport.
3. Describe, analyze and debate the history of discrimination and racism in sport.
4. Describe, analyze, and evaluate youth sport participation.
5. Describe, analyze and debate social expectations in high school and university sport.
6. Compare and contrast Canadian and U.S. interscholastic sports.
7. Describe, analyze and evaluate forms of sport deviance.
8. Describe, analyze and evaluate violence in sport.
9. Analyze and evaluate economic and career opportunities in sport.
10. Describe, understand, analyze, and evaluate media influence in sport.
11. Identify, understand, analyze, and evaluate the influences of politics in sports.
Recommended Readings
Coakley, J., & Donnelly, P. (2016). Sports in society: Issues and controversies (12th ed.). Toronto, ON: McGraw-Hill.
Crossman, J, & Scherer, J. (2015). Social dimensions of Canadian sport and physical activity. Toronto, ON: Pearson.
In this course students examine the entire research process in the Social Sciences. They see what the scientific method is, the difficulties involved in doing research with humans, and ethical considerations of researches’ work. Students learn which research techniques are used in the different research designs. They use their knowledge of quantitative methods and research techniques to evaluate studies and create, implement, and report on a research project of their own.
General Objectives of the Course
Be the end of the course students are expected to be able to:
1. Explain the characteristics of the scientific approach used in Social Science.
2. Identify and correctly formulate research questions.
3. Select and justify a research method and techniques that correspond to the question identified.
4. Select an appropriate population and sample.
5. Produce data collection instrument based on the research method and technique selected.
6. Collect data systematically using the instrument produced.
7. Analyze the data using appropriate statistics.
8. Interpret the research results as they relate to the question identified.
9. Produce several comprehensive research reports.
Recommended Readings
Del Balso, M., & Lewis, A. D. (2005). First Steps: A guide to social research (3rd ed.). Toronto, ON: Nelson.
American Psychological Association (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychogical
Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Introduction to Statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are the first statistics courses students should take.
The Introduction to Statistics course offered in different departments and universities cover similar topics. This course starts with elementary statistics, such as frequency distribution, average, standard deviation, and variance. It goes through correlation, regression, and probability. And it ends with z-score, normal curve, sampling distribution, hypothesis testing, t-test, f-test, and chi-square. This course is a prerequisite for most statistics courses, such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
ANOVA is usually taught in the second statistics course offered at the undergraduate level. The course’s title varies between departments and universities, but its contents are essentially the same. The course focuses on one-, two-, and three-way ANOVAs; independent, repeated, and mixed measures; and post-hoc tests, planned comparisons and orthogonal tests. Occasionally professors extend the course content to include nonparametric tests, multiple regression, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).
Recommended Readings
Ferguson, G. A. & Takane, Y. (1989). Statistical analysis in psychology and education (6th ed.).
New York: McGraw Hill.
Gravetter, F. J. & Wallnau, L. B. (2008). Essentials of statistics for the behavioural sciences
(8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Olsen, C. L. (1987). Making sense of data. Dubuque, IA: WC Brown.
