TEACHING APPROACH
Since 2017, I've taught courses related to the carceral system, victimization, research methods, and gender both in-person and online. I consistently seek out inclusive and effective teaching approaches backed by scholarship on teaching and learning. I've participated in numerous trainings to improve my pedagogy, including a semester-long course and year-long certificate program as a doctoral student at UNLV and six week courses specifically on online teaching since becoming an assistant professor. I also love reading about new approaches and have an entire library of books on teaching and higher education. I consider myself a lifelong learner and strive to always have a growth mindset to my teaching.
Every term, I ask students for anonymous feedback and to describe my teaching style in 1-2 words. Below is a summary of SHSU students' descriptions. The most common words they used to describe my teaching were "fun" and "creative."
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My mission as an educator is to build students’ critical thinking and social awareness, facilitate hands-on projects in which students create their own content to share beyond the course, and support underserved students, particularly those with personal experiences related to the courses I teach. I challenge traditional teaching approaches and aim to use updated engaging active learning methods founded in more recent research.
The foundations of my teaching are
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Interactive Classroom
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Inclusive Learning Community
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Developmental Learning
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Experiental Learning
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Project-based Finales
These immersive and transformative techniques aim to cultivate empathy, critical thinking, and long-term engagement. In all of my courses, students apply core concepts to issues facing the community. My reflective and project-based assignments build students’ social consciousness and career goals. My courses challenge students' preconceptions about controversial issues by exposing them to the latest research and perspectives of those directly impacted. Students leave my courses prepared to interact within an increasingly diverse workforce and clientele.
Please contact me if you'd like to see my full teaching philosophy!
Service-Learning Examples
Students in my Women, Crime, and Criminal Justice course volunteer at a local shelter for domestic violence and human trafficking survivors. We also created a campus survey on perceptions of safety and disseminated the results with recommendations for community stakeholders. In the following spring, we partnered with Wichita State's CARE team to develop and analyze student client testimonials. Graduate students then created an infographic flyer for CARE to disseminate and build awareness and self-referrals.
In my transformative justice course, students had a open final project format in which they chose their final product and created their own rubrics with self-assessment. Students created flyers, children's books, videos, poems, and short stories to build awareness about issues in the criminal legal system and transformative justice alternatives.
In Violence Against Women, students can volunteer with Women's Storybook Project, a nonprofit organization that helps women incarcerated in Texas prisons record themselves reading books to their children.
A coloring book for children of incarcerated parents
Dr. Boppre and Honors Students volunteering for Women's Storybook Project
Finale Projects Examples
INFOGRAPHICS
"SMART TANK"
Intro to Research Methods
Smart Tank Winners: Team Harambe
Topic: Understanding the increase in methamphetamine-related crime in Wichita
Smart Tank Community Judges
Connie Nichols and Monica Harris,
Sedgwick County Division of Corrections
E-PORTFOLIOS
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS
Courses Taught: Wichita State University
Corrections (CJ 391) Liquid Syllabus
Introduction to Research Methods (CJ 407) Liquid Syllabus
Women, Crime, and Criminal Justice (CJ 581A) Liquid Syllabus
Courses Taught: Sam Houston State University
Violence Against Women (VCST 4390)
Family Violence (VCST 4383/5383)
Transformative Justice (CRIJ 4377)
Research Methods (CRIJ 6334)
Course Sites
Summary of Student Evaluations
Sam Houston State University: 4.9/5.0
Wichita State University: 4.7/5.0
Teaching Articles and Commentary
Belisle, L., Boppre, B., Keen, J., & Salisbury, E. J. (2020) Bringing Course Material to Life Through Experiential Learning: Impacts on Students’ Learning and Perceptions in a Corrections Course. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2, 161-186.
Boppre, B. (Accepted). Using Experiential Learning to Humanize Course Content and Connect with Students. In J. Neuhaus (Ed.), Picture a Professor: Intersectional Teaching Strategies for Interrupting Bias about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning. West Virginia University Press.
Boppre, B. & Clevenger, S. (2022). “Getting to Know our Students in Online Courses.” In ASC Division on Women and Crime Newsletter.
Boppre, B. (2021). “Using Discord to Build Instructor and Social Presence.” In ASC Division of Victimology Newsletter.
Boppre, B. (2021). “Teaching Note: Humanizing Courses with Web-Based Syllabi and Sites.” In ASC Division on Women and Crime Newsletter (p. 38-40).
Reed, S. M., Boppre, B., O’Neal, E. N., & Antunes, J. L. (2021). “Challenging False Standards of ‘Professionalism’ through the Humanization of our Discipline: A Call to Action. In Division of Victimology Newsletter.
Boppre, B. (2020). “Teaching Note: Creating an Interactive and Engaging Syllabus: The Liquid Syllabus Format.” In C. Scott-Hayward (Ed.), Division on Corrections and Sentencing Spring Newsletter (p. 6-7).
Pinchevsky, G., & Boppre, B. (2020). “Engaging Students through Infographics: A Creative Alternative to Traditional Research Assignments.” In Division of Victimology Newsletter.
Boppre, B. (2020). “Teaching Note: Infographics as Alternatives to Traditional Research Assignments.” In C. Scott-Hayward (Ed.), Division on Corrections and Sentencing Spring Newsletter (p. 10-11).