Larry Baden

Position

Associate Professor; Program Facilitator, Media Communications; Program Facilitator, Media Law and Ethics

Department

Communications and Journalism

Home Campus

St. Louis (Webster Groves)

Courses Taught

MEDC 2200 Ethics in the Media; MEDC 4100 The Law and the Media; MEDC 5000 Media Communications; JOUR 4170 Investigative Reporting

Education

PhD candidate, Composition and Rhetoric, University of Nevada; MEd, University of Nevada; BJourn, University of Missouri

Professional Experience

University of Kansas, assistant professor; and, University of Nevada, lecturer

Teaching Philosophy

"I don't have a teaching philosophy as much as I have a learning philosophy. I realize differentiating between teaching and learning can be viewed as a semantic, perhaps even a rhetorical device. Yet, I believe the differentiation is critical.

Think of the two words, thinking and learning, just in a grammatical sense. Teaching implies students being acted upon; it implies passivity. Learning, however, is inherently active.

I believe from my own experiences as a student and from studying how my students have been conditioned, that education has become more teacher-driven than learner-driven. The teacher is the dominant figure in most classrooms. Teachers dispense knowledge that students way too often merely absorb, following John Locke's contention that our students come to us as blank slates. Such a philosophy assumes sameness and, eventually, has the potential to undervalue curiosity, creativity, originality and individuality.

Yes, teacher is one of the roles I play in the classroom and in my students' lives. Sometimes I teach, but mostly I view what I do as creating an environment in which my students can learn. When this environment transcends the classroom walls and embeds itself into the mindset of my students, then I've become more than a teacher."

About

Larry Baden has had the good fortune of having spent the past 15 years in classrooms with students. Yet, mostly, he considers himself a student of teaching and learning.

At the University of Kansas, Baden was named the university's distinguished professor by the Order of Omega and Golden Key honor societies. He has three times earned inclusion in Who's Who Among America's Teachers.

Prior to teaching, Baden spent 10 years as a newspaper reporter in Missouri, Colorado and Nevada.

Media

Webster Today
Communications Students Shine in "Best of the Midwest" Awards
Teaching Festival 'Kemper Award Winners Panel' Feb 20
Feb. 20 Teaching Festival Highlights
Campus Snapshots: Gorlok Gathering Cinco de Mayo Gathering
Webster Welcomes Future Journalists to Campus
Kick Off Black History Month with African-American Read-In Feb.1
Changing Realities in the Arab Spring: Migrants and a Voyage to Europe

Webster World
The Rational Voter

Press Release
Webster University: School of Communications Takes Top Honors

Contact Information

Office phone 314-246-7616
E-mail