By Ryan Otteson | Reporter
Dr. Justin Adeyemi, lecturer in the department of health, human performance and recreation, received Baylor’s Gold Standard Award for most outstanding lecturer last fall.
The Gold Standard Award is an honor that faculty in the Robbins College receive if they have received the Pure Gold Award previously and are considered to be outstanding staff. Five are chosen from the Pure Gold Award recipients: outstanding staff, outstanding lecturer, outstanding clinical faculty, outstanding tenure-track faculty and outstanding tenured faculty. Adeyemi received the most outstanding lecturer this past semester.
He uses a flipped classroom, which he said he found benefits his students the most. Adeyemi assigns videos to watch before class along with guided notes, which –– in a way –– replaces the lecture.
“When they come to class I try to engage them by asking questions and then giving them case studies to help them connect the dots on that content –– so I have found that generally works well,” Adeyemi said.
One of his anatomy students, Crockett sophomore Aubrey Baker, said that he gives out supplemental instruction sheets and goes into more depth after students learn basic material outside of class.
“I feel really prepared in that way for his tests because I’m learning the material as I go and studying it as I go because of the flipped classroom,” Baker said.
The anatomy class is a larger one, which Adeyemi said is a little bit more challenging to manage and to get students involved. He said he has been trying to get a new software approved to help him moderate his larger class, but for now he uses tools like a random name generator to get students to participate in class.
Adeyemi said he also finds it important to incorporate his faith into his teaching. He teaches anatomy and kinesiology and said he feels as though science and God do not contradict each other. Before coming to Baylor, he said he actually considered working in a church and doing full time ministry. He also gives his classes optional devotionals to do for extra credit.
“[Adeyemi] talked about his faith on the first day of school, and he was just like ‘Oh, I’ll give you all these devotions, and they’re not actually assignments. They’re extra credit, and they’re yours if you want to do them,’” Baker said.
Adeyemi acknowledged that he knows even at Baylor, not everyone is a Christian, so he sees an opportunity to share the gospel through his teaching.
“I know a lot of students taking my human anatomy course,” he said. “A lot of them have taken some biology courses where they talk about evolution and things that maybe sometimes steer people away from the faith, and so the devotions I created in this class are meant to hopefully steer them back towards the faith.”
