Franklin D. Turner, Ph.D.

I believe teaching is my opportunity to empower students and positively influence their lives.  My mission as a teacher is to enhance student learning, challenge students to reach their fullest potential, and find the most effective pedagogy to facilitate the learning of my individual students and classes.  I believe one of the principal challenges a teacher faces is how to help students generalize the information they learn in the context of a classroom to the greater world.  If teachers do not aid in providing these connections for students then they have failed at what I believe is our most important task.

Learning will occur most effectively when students are at the center of instruction; this is accomplished by creating an environment where students feel they have ownership over their learning experience.  I believe giving students this power increases their intrinsic motivation and their learning becomes more meaningful.  A student-centered atmosphere allows students the opportunity to view course material as directly relevant to their own lives.  Working diligently to become aware of the diverse learning styles and personal experiences of my students is vital to engaging them in the learning process. Spending time with students in different venues provides me additional opportunities to learn more about them and their academic needs.  I believe it is crucial for teachers to cultivate learning partnerships with students.  Recently, I asked several students to remain after class to provide me with critiques of my class sessions.

I have taught numerous classes during my eight years of teaching on the college level such as General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Child Development, Learning Theories & Applications, Experimental Psychology, Tests and Measurements, Psychology of Learning, Advanced Social Psychology, Introduction to Educational Research and Organizational Psychology.  In addition, I have supervised numerous graduate theses.  Experimental Psychology is my primary class of instruction.