Teaching Statement

Ambarish Pandey
October 2016
My Teaching Philosophy
Active learning, which enables students to critical thinking, solve problems, formulate and
answer questions, and debate during class is the foundation of my teaching philosophy.
Additionally, it is complemented by cooperative learning, where students work in teams on
projects under conditions that generate both positive interdependence and individual
accountability. I strongly believe that establishing rapport with students and creating an
atmosphere conducive to learning is as important as having command over the subject matter. I
teach courses on project management, knowledge management and research methods to
undergraduate and graduate students. My emphasis is the international dimension with
contextualization in Mongolian business scenario.
I am convinced with the fact that, learning about international issues cannot be accomplished by
merely memorizing the facts found in course readings. The teacher must spark the students
curiosity about how ideas are generated & refined, what & how knowledge be useful in
increasing efficiency, management practices and business organizations function around the
globe. To this end, I try to equip students with a set of conceptual tools to navigate through the
often contradictory and ambiguous mass of information about how international competition
takes place, to instigate an appreciation of the differences between multi-domestic and global
industries, to provide a set of criteria for evaluating exactly which global strategy will help
enhance the firms long-term profitability and value, and to show a clear understanding of how to
measure and interpret the effects of economic, cultural, financial, political, and social factors on
international management decisions. My ultimate goal in my teaching is to train competent
future managers and responsible citizens in an increasingly interdependent and global world.
Pedagogy
Drawing on the comparative method complemented with multiple other techniques depending on
the subject best describes my pedagogical style. For an instance, if the topic at hand is
knowledge management in an organization, we start by discussing what students know the most,

the knowledge & information. Then, we build from this knowledge to move further to discuss
the

benefits

of

knowledge

management

and

barriers

in

knowledge

sharing.

A key challenge for a teacher is to transmit the knowledge to students in an efficient and
stimulating manner. I rely on a variety of pedagogical techniques to achieve this goal. First, I
combine short lectures on different topics (e.g., data, information, knowledge and wisdom) with
case studies that allow students to apply the tools required for that topic to a particular real-life
case (e.g., Knowledge Management System in Australian Banks). This is supplemented with
hands-on discovery, in that students are responsible for (A) active class participation, (B) team
work, and (C) class presentations.
First, I seek active student discovery by asking all students to write short reaction papers to the
assigned readings. This allows me to incorporate their thoughts into my class. In addition,
students are encouraged to participate in an on-line forum that relates the course content to
current business events, and live in-class discussion with relevant information. Second, due to
the nature of the classes that I teach, I assign students into multi-functional knowledge teams to
work on an assigned course project. This gives students an opportunity to interact with
individuals with different cultural/functional backgrounds and experience the challenges and
advantages of these complex teams. Our reflections on how to make multi-functional knowledge
teams more effective, is incorporated into the course content. Finally, students are asked to put
together a short presentation on an international business or managerial issue which could have
been solved by implementing knowledge management system that is not formally covered in
class. Some of the presentations have involved e-governance in Mongolia, software Technology
Park in Mongolia etc.
In order to make my lessons more effective and to keep students engaged throughout my lessons,
I use state of art technology for audio-visual and simulation. Also, helping them outside of the
university to complete their assignments, I am in constant touch with them using social media or
university interactive portal.
Professional Development for Teaching Excellence
When I joined the faculty of the Royal International University, I was given some modules which
I had never taught. So, I took it as a personal challenge to become as good as a teacher as I could

be. I did several things to accomplish this goal. First, I sought guidance from my research
supervisors at Mongolian University of Science and Technology, in developing my syllabi for
different course levels as well as my teaching techniques. I worked very closely with several
staff members/ colleagues who provided extensive feedback. Second, also during my first
semester, I developed syllabi for various subjects and was awarded an Altan Geegee Award
(Golden Passport Award) for excellent work in academics. Finally, I continue to participate in
international seminars/ symposiums to keep myself abreast with the latest developments. Also,
discussion with my colleague new cases and teaching techniques that I am always eager to
incorporate in my class helps me in improving my teaching. This keeps my teaching alive and
exciting for me, and, hence, I hope some of my excitement inspires my students.