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  Above: Mia Lustria with doctoral student, Junga Lee

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  Mentoring

  "My teaching has evolved beyond the classroom, and I’ve been very fortunate to have developed mentor-mentee relationships with students in a variety of settings: Honors in the Major Program; the STARS Alliance (to help broaden participation in computing); research experiences for undergrads, and research collaborations with graduate students. These opportunities have enabled me to share my research and personal philosophies with students and hopefully inspire them to continue to pursue their own dreams. More importantly, it is through these connections that I find continued inspiration for teaching."

Scholarship of Engagement Through Teaching

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

William A. Ward

Preceding my appointment at Florida State University, I had more than 10 years of experience teaching at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Earlier in my academic career, I tended to focus on the “method”-- how to apply good instructional design and sound pedagogy to transfer knowledge. I spent a lot of time preparing for the classroom: fine-tuning my lesson plans; formulating learning objectives; preparing various teaching aids; developing appropriate assessments, I became proficient at implementing the “methods” of teaching. Over time, however, I’ve realized that you cannot fully control what students will take away from the classroom no matter how well prepared or structured you are. I believe that learning occurs best when students are able to make meaningful connections between what they learn in the classroom and their own worlds. My role, therefore, is to help students make those connections by helping design meaningful learning experiences that allow them to link theory to practice.