I have extensive experience serving as a leader in the university classroom. My teaching focuses on exploring the intersections between American politics, media, and social identities. Informed by the goals of fostering an inclusive and equitable learning environment, I use active learning methods to challenge students to think critically about difficult topics and engage in productive discourse. My courses prioritize and emphasize the importance of inclusive pedagogy and engaging students meaningfully. Ultimately, my goal is to push students to examine their beliefs, reveal potential biases and misconceptions, and to embrace discomfort as a part of the learning process. At the Naval Academy, I teach courses on American constitutional development, politics and media, and race, class, gender, and sexuality in American politics.
Research on Teaching and Learning
I also conduct research on teaching and pedagogy, which focuses on teaching race and strategies for inclusive and equitable teaching. I authored two teaching guides on managing student stress and promoting gender inclusivity titled "Keeping Stress From Evolving Into Distress: A Guide on Managing Stress Through Course Design" and "Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom." My peer reviewed research on teaching and pedagogy is listed below.
Peer-Reviewed Scholarship
Bandy, J. and Harbin, M.B. 2023. "Class Matters: Teaching about Class in U.S Higher Education." Currents in Teaching and Learning. 15(1): 7-223.
Teaching about class in U.S. higher education is challenging because of the many ways American society insulates class experiences and undermines, obscures, or delegitimizes class consciousness. Yet, educators have developed innovative strategies to empower students to understand historical and social structures of class as it manifests in everyday life. We explore here the challenges of and strategies for teaching class using methods that include a faculty survey, participant observations from an instructor learning community on class in the university classroom, as well as insights from the research on teaching and learning. Based on this, we identify and discuss the primary challenges and opportunities of teaching class. We find that, although there are many critical pedagogies supporting student class consciousness, educators frequently favor cognitive strategies, which focus on students’ conceptual gaps, over affective strategies that engage their emotional and interpersonal growth, limiting transformations in our students and in our society.
Harbin, M.B. 2022. "It's About Power but also Norms: A Pedagogical Approach to Teaching About the American Presidency." PS: Political Science and Politics 55(1): 407-412.
Introductory undergraduate courses in American politics often center the Constitution and focus on fundamental principles, structures, and processes. Unfortunately, this focus allows less space to discuss the role that norms play in supporting formal rules and institutions in the American political system. As a political science professor teaching an introductory course on American politics in 2019 and 2020, I became acutely aware of the limitations of this course design. This context showcased the ways in which many of these norms are taken for granted by many, including American politics scholars. Moreover, it sparked conversations among my colleagues about whether we should adapt to the moment and update our instruction to place greater emphasis on norms to contextualize the present political moment for our students. My answer was yes. However, doing so requires instructors to be attentive to issues of objectivity, authority, and partisanship. This article shares strategies that I plan to implement when I teach this course again. In particular, I discuss three guiding pedagogical principles when teaching about presidential norms. I then provide discussion questions that instructors can use to spark conversations about the relationship between adherence to presidential norms and the stability of American political institutions.
Bandy, J., Harbin, M.B., & Thurber, A. 2021. "Teaching Race: Developing Students' Cognitive and Affective Understanding of Race." Teaching and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal 9(1): 117-137.
Effectively addressing both cognitive and affective dimensions of learning is one of the greatest obstacles to teaching race and racial justice in higher education. In this article, we first explore the need to integrate attention to cognitive and affective development, along with evidence-based strategies for doing so. We then provide a case study of an undergraduate sociology course on environmental justice in which the instructor intentionally adopted holistic pedagogical principles of teaching race. Analyzing student responses from a pre- and post- course survey, course assignments, and instructor observations of student participation, we find that both white students and students of color experienced significant growth in their cognitive and affective understanding of the complexities of race and work toward racial justice. However, results also how how challenging it can be to create the conditions for productive multiracial dialogues that produce extensive affective development, particularly interpersonal skills of racial reconciliation. Reflecting on the limitations of the case, we conclude that more holistic teaching approaches are necessary to develop both students’ cognitive and affective abilities to navigate race and work against racism, and we make suggestions for faculty development and administrative support.
Harbin, M.B. 2020. “Collaborative Note Taking: A Tool for Creating a More Inclusive College Classroom.” College Teaching 68(4): 214-220.
Collaborative note-taking is a pedagogical technique that asks students to rotate note-taking responsibilities during class meetings in a shared document. Implementing this technique helped me, as an instructor, better leverage my students’ strengths and weaknesses in an introductory American government class—though the benefits should extend to a wide range of disciplinary contexts. In particular, collaborative note-taking helped level the playing field for students entering my classroom with wide-ranging levels of prior preparation. It also provided a consistent access point for evaluating student comprehension and learning and improved the quality of classroom discussion. As a result, implementing this pedagogical approach can help foster a more collaborative, inclusive, and equitable learning environment in university classrooms.
Harbin, M.B., Thurber, A., & Bandy, J. 2019. “Teaching Race, Racism, and Racial Justice: Pedagogical Principles and Classroom Strategies for Course Instructors.” Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice Vol. 4: No. 1, Article 1.
Teaching on topics of race and racism presents unique challenges to leaders in the university classroom setting. Despite an increasing number of instructors bringing a critical analysis of racial in/justice to their curriculum, many report challenges in teaching this content effectively. In this article, we address these challenges. We define common challenges in teaching racial content and articulate four principles for course planning around topics of race, racism, and racial justice. Then, drawing on a systematic review of scholarship examining issues of difference within a diverse range of disciplinary settings, we introduce a set of five pedagogical strategies, and supporting classroom practices, that will help instructors effectively manage everyday classroom interactions. This article contributes to the vast literature on teaching race and anti-racist education by synthesizing guiding pedagogical principles for course planning and classroom management that are applicable in a wide array of disciplinary contexts and providing concrete strategies that committed instructors, at varying levels of experience, can implement in their courses.
Research on Teaching and Learning
I also conduct research on teaching and pedagogy, which focuses on teaching race and strategies for inclusive and equitable teaching. I authored two teaching guides on managing student stress and promoting gender inclusivity titled "Keeping Stress From Evolving Into Distress: A Guide on Managing Stress Through Course Design" and "Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom." My peer reviewed research on teaching and pedagogy is listed below.
Peer-Reviewed Scholarship
Bandy, J. and Harbin, M.B. 2023. "Class Matters: Teaching about Class in U.S Higher Education." Currents in Teaching and Learning. 15(1): 7-223.
Teaching about class in U.S. higher education is challenging because of the many ways American society insulates class experiences and undermines, obscures, or delegitimizes class consciousness. Yet, educators have developed innovative strategies to empower students to understand historical and social structures of class as it manifests in everyday life. We explore here the challenges of and strategies for teaching class using methods that include a faculty survey, participant observations from an instructor learning community on class in the university classroom, as well as insights from the research on teaching and learning. Based on this, we identify and discuss the primary challenges and opportunities of teaching class. We find that, although there are many critical pedagogies supporting student class consciousness, educators frequently favor cognitive strategies, which focus on students’ conceptual gaps, over affective strategies that engage their emotional and interpersonal growth, limiting transformations in our students and in our society.
Harbin, M.B. 2022. "It's About Power but also Norms: A Pedagogical Approach to Teaching About the American Presidency." PS: Political Science and Politics 55(1): 407-412.
Introductory undergraduate courses in American politics often center the Constitution and focus on fundamental principles, structures, and processes. Unfortunately, this focus allows less space to discuss the role that norms play in supporting formal rules and institutions in the American political system. As a political science professor teaching an introductory course on American politics in 2019 and 2020, I became acutely aware of the limitations of this course design. This context showcased the ways in which many of these norms are taken for granted by many, including American politics scholars. Moreover, it sparked conversations among my colleagues about whether we should adapt to the moment and update our instruction to place greater emphasis on norms to contextualize the present political moment for our students. My answer was yes. However, doing so requires instructors to be attentive to issues of objectivity, authority, and partisanship. This article shares strategies that I plan to implement when I teach this course again. In particular, I discuss three guiding pedagogical principles when teaching about presidential norms. I then provide discussion questions that instructors can use to spark conversations about the relationship between adherence to presidential norms and the stability of American political institutions.
Bandy, J., Harbin, M.B., & Thurber, A. 2021. "Teaching Race: Developing Students' Cognitive and Affective Understanding of Race." Teaching and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal 9(1): 117-137.
Effectively addressing both cognitive and affective dimensions of learning is one of the greatest obstacles to teaching race and racial justice in higher education. In this article, we first explore the need to integrate attention to cognitive and affective development, along with evidence-based strategies for doing so. We then provide a case study of an undergraduate sociology course on environmental justice in which the instructor intentionally adopted holistic pedagogical principles of teaching race. Analyzing student responses from a pre- and post- course survey, course assignments, and instructor observations of student participation, we find that both white students and students of color experienced significant growth in their cognitive and affective understanding of the complexities of race and work toward racial justice. However, results also how how challenging it can be to create the conditions for productive multiracial dialogues that produce extensive affective development, particularly interpersonal skills of racial reconciliation. Reflecting on the limitations of the case, we conclude that more holistic teaching approaches are necessary to develop both students’ cognitive and affective abilities to navigate race and work against racism, and we make suggestions for faculty development and administrative support.
Harbin, M.B. 2020. “Collaborative Note Taking: A Tool for Creating a More Inclusive College Classroom.” College Teaching 68(4): 214-220.
Collaborative note-taking is a pedagogical technique that asks students to rotate note-taking responsibilities during class meetings in a shared document. Implementing this technique helped me, as an instructor, better leverage my students’ strengths and weaknesses in an introductory American government class—though the benefits should extend to a wide range of disciplinary contexts. In particular, collaborative note-taking helped level the playing field for students entering my classroom with wide-ranging levels of prior preparation. It also provided a consistent access point for evaluating student comprehension and learning and improved the quality of classroom discussion. As a result, implementing this pedagogical approach can help foster a more collaborative, inclusive, and equitable learning environment in university classrooms.
Harbin, M.B., Thurber, A., & Bandy, J. 2019. “Teaching Race, Racism, and Racial Justice: Pedagogical Principles and Classroom Strategies for Course Instructors.” Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice Vol. 4: No. 1, Article 1.
Teaching on topics of race and racism presents unique challenges to leaders in the university classroom setting. Despite an increasing number of instructors bringing a critical analysis of racial in/justice to their curriculum, many report challenges in teaching this content effectively. In this article, we address these challenges. We define common challenges in teaching racial content and articulate four principles for course planning around topics of race, racism, and racial justice. Then, drawing on a systematic review of scholarship examining issues of difference within a diverse range of disciplinary settings, we introduce a set of five pedagogical strategies, and supporting classroom practices, that will help instructors effectively manage everyday classroom interactions. This article contributes to the vast literature on teaching race and anti-racist education by synthesizing guiding pedagogical principles for course planning and classroom management that are applicable in a wide array of disciplinary contexts and providing concrete strategies that committed instructors, at varying levels of experience, can implement in their courses.