TEACHING

Amanda's teaching philosophy consists of an adaptive equity-oriented approach to guide her curriculum development, class exercises and overall culture in her courses. Her teaching goals are that students leave her courses with enhanced critical thinking and appraisal skills as well as the recognition that learning is a life-long process.

In her classroom, Amanda strives to:

offer opportunities for students to deliberately practice critical thinking strategies individually and in small groups with ongoing, low-stakes feedback
diversifies her course materials and readings with a variety of mediums to adequately appeal to differing learning styles
utilize her students’ & peers’ feedback to refine her classroom style, modify the curriculum & assignments as needed and her instruction to meet the ongoing needs of her current & future students

Amanda is specifically interested in providing education to global health students on the unintended consequences of global health work, the importance of incorporating local knowledge into research design & analysis and the use of different sociological lenses to conduct more robust public health research.

“The imbalances within global health research partnerships will persist for as long as the culture of consciously unknowing what is known continues unchallenged ... Within this context, more equitable and transformative partnerships are vital to overcome the Northern influence on many partnerships that often provides a breeding-ground for inequality. On a more positive note, initiatives that involve cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary training, as well as training in global health ethics, are becoming increasingly visible, especially those involving young researchers.” (Gautier et al., 2018)