Sharing a love of teaching

Anne Marie Ryan (centre) poses with two of her students, Matt Vaughn and Jessica Wilson. (Danny Abriel Photo)

Earth Sciences Professor Anne Marie Ryan has a new mountain to climb.

She’s recently been seconded to Dalhousie’s Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) to share her teaching expertise with other faculty members.

“Anne Marie has an established reputation as an excellent teacher and a very good colleague,” says CLT Director Lynn Taylor. “We’re very pleased that Anne Marie has accepted our invitation to be CLT’s first faculty associate.”

As faculty associate, Dr. Ryan will be available to faculty and graduate students to work on teaching and learning issues.

“I’ll be another pair of eyes, another pair of ears,” says Dr. Ryan, who started teaching part-time at Dalhousie a decade ago. “I’ll be available to consult on a range of issues related to the learning environment.”

Along with her research focus in environmental geology, Dr. Ryan has pursued an interest in learning and teaching. She is interested in encouraging “divergent thinking,” problem solving and developing effective questioning strategies. Additional and ongoing interests include developing fair, effective evaluation methodologies and encouraging scientific literacy.

She clearly loves being in the classroom. Even with the new appointment, she’ll continue to work with students. This term, she’s teaching a second-year geochemistry class (ERTH 2380).

“I do love everything about it… but most of all, I enjoy sharing the joy and excitement of learning,” she explains. “Teaching is very dynamic — an opportunity to move beyond yourself and see students grow in their understanding.”

Besides being available for confidential consultations with faculty, Dr. Ryan will present at professional development workshops (“Finding Our Way Through Questions: The fine art of asking good questions” is scheduled for Tuesday, March. 27); monthly lunch-and-learn sessions at the CLT in the Killam Library; and the upcoming conference on university teaching and learning,  “Assessing Student Learning: Where Motivation, Learning and Evaluation Intersect,” scheduled for April 30 to May 1.

Faculty interested in meeting with Dr. Ryan can e-mail her at AMRyan@dal.ca.