What is the Hybrid Professor? By Benjamin Todd Eller

Dr. Robert Williams or Dr. Bob as I call him is what I call a hybrid professor. He uses the term “synergy.” You most likely have noticed I have cited his work and teachings quite a bit in this book. I could tell you many things about Dr. Bob, who teaches the science of education at the University of Tennessee including:

• Received Ph.D. from the prestigious Vanderbilt University Peabody School

• Hundreds of articles and books published in the area of educational psychology

• Recipient of the John Tunstall Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching, Research, and Service

• Recipient of the Helen B. Watson Award for Outstanding Researcher in the College

• Two-time winner of the Award for Outstanding Dissertation

• Recipient of the Louie M. and Betty M. Phillips Faculty Support in Education Award

• Recipient of the Dr. Joe Johnson Lifetime Service Award

However, here is what I believe is his most amazing achievement. Dr. Bob has been teaching full time for his university for 43 years and shows no signs of wanting to retire. He, of course, could easily retire with full benefits and enjoy his tennis, his beautiful wife and the company of his most intelligent son, but simply loves to continue to challenge himself and others to improve education. For over forty years, Dr. Bob has taken the philosophy of being a hybrid professor, a grandmaster who utilizes different approaches to maximize his ability to enhance learning. What is a shame is that there very few writings or research on this multi-method approach. This is for two reasons. First, journal articles are very single minded. Journals want articles on only a specific approach as some journals are solely dedicated to behaviorism or cognitive approaches or other teaching methods. Second, professors themselves often get comfortable with their sole theory or approach and do not want to challenge themselves in other areas.

QUICK STORY

I had just been accepted to the UCLA Graduate School of Psychological Studies in Education. I was excited and proud. It was my first week of classes. A guest professor who was regarded as a top man in his field came to grace us with his presence and speak to us first-year PhD candidates. At one point in his speech, he said: If anyone studies anything else other than attribution theory, I am not interested in what you do. This professor, I suppose, had the right to specialize, but I remember thinking, this is a shame. I want to learn as much as I can in order to help as many students as I can, as well as companies due to my interest in industrial psychology. Dr. Bob taught me to learn behaviorism, cognitive approaches, Piaget, Vygotsky and other methods to give myself as many learning and teaching weapons as possible.

AN EXAMPLE

I remember Dr. Bob was speaking to us about the concept of Free Will and what BF Skinner thought about. He did the following:

1. Asked us if we agreed on BF Skinner’s viewpoint on Free Will.

2. Had us discuss it as a group

3. Had us debate about it when we disagreed

4. Dr. Bob did not choose sides on who was right or wrong, but merely reflected on our comments

5. After the discussion was over, Dr. Bob gave us some questions on what to think about in the future

6. We had a quiz on the facts about BF Skinner and Dr. Bob graded our quizzes during break and gave us immediate feedback

Dr. Bob in one lesson used multiple educational theories including:

• Piaget: Some of Dr. Bob’s comments were non-directive and more reflective. He also gave us topics that were appropriate to our development.

• Cooperative Learning – Dr. Bob allowed us to discuss the topic in groups and then share.

• Debate – Dr. Bob allowed us to debate each other and to disagree respectively with one another without him taking sides.

• Behaviorism – with our quiz, Dr. Bob gave us immediate feedback with our grades right after we took the quiz. Also, after the discussion was over, he praised us for our provocative discussion. Immediate feedback is more highly reinforcing than delayed feedback.

Dr. Bob believes that utilizing different approaches in order to enhance learning. Now, here is your challenge:

• Think of one topic in your subject area that you would like to teach

• Use at least four different learning theories you have learned from this book to teach it

• Write your plan of attack to use these learning theories in your classroom