Teaching Philosophy

As a student and teacher, I have had the opportunity to experience first-hand diverse education systems in the UK, US, France, Scandinavia and Greece exploring different progressive pedagogical approaches. Having also acted as a professional dance instructor and performer provides me with a rich understanding of the performative, experiential, embodied qualities that teaching and learning requires. This exposure has helped me to develop my own teaching philosophy integrating elements from different scientific disciplines, education systems and learning approaches, which are mainly based upon the ontological, epistemological and axiological commitments of social constructivism. More specifically, I work within this paradigm adopting a critical pedagogy approach and employing radical learning methods inspired, amongst others, by the French philosopher Jacques Ranciere and his stimulating work The Ignorant Schoolmaster (1991).

Radical pedagogy is based on the theoretical principle of the equality of intelligence, which proposes that all humans are equally capable of learning themselves through speculation, experience, attention, observation, comparison, analysis, combination, adjustment, repetition and verification. According to Ranciere (1991), every person can take the role of the “ignorant” schoolmaster continually posing questions to “ignoramus” students enabling them to discover knowledge themselves, using their own intellectual capabilities. In this spirit, my teaching philosophy supports practices of self-exploration rather than a transfer of expert knowledge and ready-made explanations from my side. I view my students as active learners that can comprehend through experience forming their own understandings and critically interpreting multi-layered meanings, sophisticated concepts and contemporary phenomena.

Therefore, I try to develop friendly but independent relationships with learners encouraging them to embark on their own intellectual adventures. Showing deep trust to human intelligence, I appreciate learning as a dialogical but autonomous exercise that allows individuals to find their very own path to knowledge based on their prior experiences and future visions.

Academic Courses, Masterclasses & Workshops

I teach courses in Marketing, Arts Marketing, Marketing Strategy and Innovation, Creative Marketing Strategy, Branding, Consumer Behaviour, Consumer Research, Research Methods, Arts Fundraising, Audience Development for the Creative Industries, Creative Social Entrepreneurship and Theories of Aesthetics.

At the University of Leicester, School of Business, I mainly teach in our MSc Marketing/Creative Marketing programmes and I lead our MSc Marketing Strategy and Innovation for the Creative Industries Module. More specifically, I teach for the ULSB UG, PG and MBA programmes the modules of: Consumption, Brands and Communications (PG); Consumption in the Creative Industries (PG); Strategies for Creative Marketing and Innovation (PG); Research Methods for Marketing (PG); Marketing Strategy and Innovation (PG); Dissertations and Business Projects (UG, PG, MBA). I also supervise four wonderful PhD students.

In the past, I have taught the courses of Digital Economies and Audiences; Digital Representations of Cultural Heritage; Management in the Digital Domain; Critical Approaches to Research; Creative Industries: The Experience; Research Methods; Global Marketing; Digital Marketing; Cultural Management; Principles of Entrepreneurship for the Creative Industries; Events Management/Marketing; Production and Project Management for the Creative Industry.

I have also independent teaching experience in delivering masterclasses, workshops, intensive business bootcamps and seminars for partnering creative companies, cultural organisations, social enterprises, business professionals and artists. Moreover, I have worked with pupils and students from disadvantaged backgrounds in different settings offering arts classes, academic mentorship and community educational support (e.g. King’s High School Mentoring Programme, Birmingham Royal Ballet Learning Activities).

Pedagogical Methods

Building on this equality-centred and hierarchy-free philosophical premise, my aspiration as a teacher is to inspire each and every student to be curious about the world, reach their potential and move beyond my own limited knowledge. Having spent significant time reflecting upon and experimenting with these philosophical ideas in real education settings, I have adopted some radical pedagogical methods that motivate self-development. This is primarily achieved by acting more as a facilitator or a student myself, and less as an expert in my field. Hence, I develop common reference points that enable learners and myself to dialogue on certain subjects and independently learn without transferring solid ready-made explanations to each other.

Broadly speaking, I apply a creative, research-based and practice-oriented approach using, as reference points, academic material, real-life case studies and arts-infused resources. More specifically, I use classic books (the old thick monographs), pieces of art, new research and top-tier journal publications, common lived experiences (trips, interactive activities, industry visits), movies, archives, press, media and online resources to expose my students to different multi-sensory stimuli and motivate them to wander around, explore, think, seek, guess, interpret and synthesise their own meanings.

To inspire students’ active engagement to learning, I also use a range of dialogical processes, collaborative practices, participatory exercises and improvisation techniques. My own research on participatory art has provided me with deep theoretical and practical insights about creative participatory learning methods and peer-assessment techniques. Socratic-inspired methods and role-playing techniques also enable students to act as the experts in an area, share their knowledge and lead parts of the course. Additionally, digital tools, virtual learning technologies and online teaching platforms have helped me to engage students in more interactive ways enabling them to learn outside the classroom.

Academic Experience

For the last nine years, I have been teaching in HE Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) programmes at Universities in the UK, USA and Greece. Currently, I am a Lecturer in Marketing at the School of Business at the University of Leicester (ULSB). Prior to joining ULSB, I taught at King’s College London in the UK for the Department of Culture, Media and Cultural Studies and for the Digital Humanities Department, at the University of Arkansas in the USA for the Walton Business School and at the University of Peloponnese in Greece for the School of Theatre Studies.

Throughout these years, I have acted as a Module Leader, Lecturer, Seminar Facilitator/Tutor, Teaching Assistant, Marker, Student Awards Assessor, Dissertation and Placement Supervisor, Academic Mentor and Personal Tutor. My most recent teaching role involves supervising PhD students and experienced MBA executives for their research and business projects. Since last year, I also act as a UG/PG Assignments/Exams Assessor, I participate actively in the moderation process, I attend exam boards and I take part in PhD exam panels.

My teaching experience so far expands from the design, development and delivery of course material/activities for a) large-scale lectures (50-200 students) using traditional techniques as well as innovative in-classroom puzzles, quizzes and games; b) smaller group seminars, tutorials and experiential workshops; c) arts-stimulated exercises, simulation games, guest lectures, cultural/market tours, field trips, improvisation-based activities and industry visits.

I am a HEA Associate Fellow and aiming to obtain the HEA Fellowship Accreditation in 2020.