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Distilled, Guy Nasmyth’s teaching framework is this: we’ll all learn together, we’ll have fun doing it and we’ll make the world better while we’re at it.
An associate faculty member in leadership studies, Professional and Continuing Studies, and executive education at Royal Roads University, Nasmyth builds his classes around these principles. And they’ve had a powerful impact — his students nominated him for the Kelly Outstanding Teacher Award and he was named co-winner with Moira McDonald.
The nomination committee noted his focus on co-creation of knowledge among students and instructors, and that’s a critical part of his philosophy, he says, noting he came to understand its importance early in his teaching career (he has worked at RRU since 1999).
“I had noticed that classes that I taught formed community really, really well. They just did what it takes to make a group of people work and I didn’t tell them how to do it. [I thought] maybe it’s just something we’re doing all together,” says Nasmyth, who, as the son of a mother who was a mathematician and Cold War codebreaker and a father who was a physicist, grew up thinking he wasn’t smart enough for academia.
He adds: “Teaching is really not that important — it’s learning that’s important. So, it’s people choosing to learn working together.”
It goes further: “My belief about leadership — and, therefore, I have to extend it to myself — is that it’s something we do together… So, when I walk into a classroom, I want to be part of a community of people who are trying to make the world a better place. That’s all we’re there for: we’re there to push the world towards being a more welcoming place for everyone.”
Which doesn’t mean they can’t have fun doing it, even if his classes often are comprised of people with extensive experience as leaders and managers. The nomination committee also remarked on Nasmyth’s use of “wonder” as a lever for learning, although he has another explanation: “I try to make whatever it is that I’m teaching understandable and light and fun, and I think people remember it better that way. When something’s fun, it sticks.”
Thus, when a class is learning about systems, he might have students assemble in a circle — a human system — and throw around a ball, each one keeping track of who’s throwing to them and whom they’re throwing to. He’ll add more balls to the mix, maybe even a toy frog. At some point, he’ll pull someone out of the circle and add someone new, and because everyone is so focused on their individual throws and catches rather than the group, and the newcomer doesn’t know who they’re supposed to connect with, the system breaks down.
“So, now we see the connection between what one person does to the whole system,” he says. “And that’s why I see leadership as a shared construct.”
He also points out the importance of challenging students’ thinking, forcing them to look at the world and their work differently than they have, even if, as mid-career learners, they’ve enjoyed success. “The world changes around us,” he explains, “and, after a while, we’re doing the wrong thing.”
Nasmyth also credits the importance of diversity of experience in RRU classes and cohorts in co-creation of knowledge, saying: “They mix together and create something new.”
The Kelly Outstanding Teaching Awards are open to all Royal Roads University faculty members who are actively engaged in teaching for-credit or non-credit courses at RRU. A call for nominations is sent out each spring to faculty, staff, and students. Learn more about the awards and see past recipients.
Learn more about programs in the Professional and Continuing Studies or request more information.