Religious Studies Chair Earns Award For Innovative Teaching

For innovative teaching methods that extend well beyond a traditional classroom setting, Joanne Maguire Robinson, UNC Charlotte Religious Studies chair and professor, has received the 2016 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award.

Since joining the UNC Charlotte faculty in 1996, Robinson has focused on how students engage with the classroom environment. She sees the job of a teacher as creating an environment that helps students leave as more informed, more reflective, and more capable and resourceful thinkers.

“I now see that classrooms are a space for learning how to take chances, for testing out new knowledge, and for playing with ideas.” Robinson said in her teaching statement for the award.

“When I crafted my first undergraduate courses, I taught as I had most recently been taught,” she said. “I lectured, students took notes, and I tested them for acquired knowledge. After a few semesters, I came to appreciate the triangular structure of the classroom consisting of the course content, the students, and the teacher. It was only when I understood how most college students view the triangle, with themselves and their interests as primary – that I learned how to teach in a more meaningful and constructive manner.”

In 2011, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded her funding to develop a new course called “Ordering the World.” The course, while focused on the foundational concept of order and how it affects human systems, also provided her with a chance to apply and refine her new teaching dynamic.

Robinson wanted students to gain not only religious literacy, but also a passion for intellectual exploration, resulting in skills and knowledge they could use in their future lives. Class projects included creating collaborative websites, conducting fieldwork, and staging debates on controversial topics.

Engaging students proved the key to the development of more complex views of the abstract ideas studied. She considered students’ commitments, how prepared they were for the rigors of college work, and their drive in courses that not connected to their academic majors.

“Over the years I have tried and failed in the classroom as often as I have tried and succeeded, and all along I’ve let students know my reasons and goals,” she said. “I have learned along with them, sometimes about the subject but more often about our mutual teaching and learning.”

This award is but one of the honors Robinson has received for her effective teaching. Robinson in 2012 received the Bank of America Award of Teaching Excellence, the highest teaching honor given by UNC Charlotte, and also received a 2013 UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence.

Robinson has continued to develop new courses to approach what she describes as topics that tend to provoke incivility in the public sphere. These new courses attempt to place students into challenging territory to provide them with the skills, tools and confidence to handle new ideas and situations. “I am drawn to teaching the conflicts because the conflicts help launch students into uncomfortable territory that is full of potential for growth,” she said.

Robinson will receive the award on November 20, 2016, during the annual national meeting in San Antonio, Texas. She will be a featured speaker during the event. The award comes with a $1,000 cash prize.

Words: Adam Austin | Image: Lynn Roberson