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Teaching

The first day of RELS-131 in September 2012
The first day of RELS-131 in September 2012

At Queen’s University, I teach a wide range of graudate and undergraduate courses in the area of religion and culture for both the School of Religion and the Chinese program of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

My style of teaching is basically interactive, and I try (though fail) to be hands-off.  Students are usually very satisfied with my classes, and I often receive the feedback that my classes are not the typical Queen’s experience. Plus I never have tests or exams. Here’s what two anonymous student reviewers wrote about one of my classes;

Most classes we are given the material and as students we are told to process it and then spit it back the exact same way, however this class did the exact opposite

I learnt for the first time that I can comfortably engage in class material when put in an interactive setting with a couple of peers, as opposed to lecture style courses where participation is only for the select few. This class taught me that what you learn in a class has little to do with the material and everything to do with the way the class is taught. I realized in this class that religion should have been my major.

You can learn more about my teaching philosophy here, and you can find out more about the courses here.

I am also an active supervisor of graduate students the School of Religion’s MA program in Religion and Modernity, and also MA and PhD students in the Cultural Studies program. I have also undertaken external supervision work at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, and supervised a visiting PhD student with a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council. In 2009 I was nominated for a graduate supervision award. Queen’s offers strong financial aid packages to qualified MA and PhD students. If you are interested in conducting research in the areas of Chinese religion and culture, religion and nature, or sustainability issues in China, please get in touch.