UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 12, Page 5
November 16, 1995
Alan Fox: From music & magic to excellence in teaching

     This fall, Alan Fox, assistant professor of philosophy, marked
the fifth anniversary of his arrival on campus. Although he grew up in
Cherry Hill, N.J., and received his degrees from Temple and Johns
Hopkins universities, he was familiar with UD, in part because one of
his sisters-Roberta Scott-is a member of the class of 1980.
     In a recent conversation, Fox recalled a varied career, and
mentioned that he and his wife, Carole, who is from Philadelphia, used
to play in folk/rock bands.
     "It was usually in small bars-quiet stuff, all acoustic," Fox
said. "My wife plays guitar, piano and sings. I have played guitar
since I was 12 years old. We played professionally until about 10
years ago. It takes a lot of time."
     Fox also earned a martial arts black belt in Shotokan karate and
taught t'ai chi for three years. In fact, he and his wife met at a
martial arts class.
     Magic, tap dancing and juggling are three other skills that Fox
has learned over the years. To some degree, he said, all of these
avocations have been incorporated into his classes.
     "A lot of teaching is being a showman," he said. "I apply many of
these techniques to keep students alert. I try to confuse them and
surprise them.
     "Most of the performing arts skills have made me aware of how to
act in front of people. The magic allowed me to understand that what
you, as a teacher or performer, are seeing is different from what
members of the audience, or students, are seeing."
     Teaching Asian philosophy, Fox said, involves illusion and
sleight of hand.
     He said students often are distracted by the obvious and miss the
subtle. This, he explained, makes students easily manipulated by
skilled politicians and religious leaders. Students, and all of us,
should look beyond the obvious in order to understand the whole, which
leads to more honesty and freedom.
     His classroom emphasis is on the textual origins as found in the
primary texts of the founders of various Indian and Chinese
traditions.
     Later, students begin to understand developments, changes and
reformations that occurred and how they differ from or were affected
by the origins.
     "I'm trying to teach an appreciation of subtlety," Fox said.
     His courses, which focus on Asian philosophy and world religions,
are popular electives, he said, and they also satisfy the University's
multicultural requirements.
     Class participation, he said, is critical to a student gaining a
full appreciation of his course. Even when he has 100 students in a
class, Fox said, the "first tier," of approximately 20 eager students,
is certain to participate extensively.
     Those in the second tier, although not as involved, usually
respond positively.
     Often, they are pulled into the class activity and interaction
generated by the first-tier students.
     The third level, consisting of passive observers, he said, pick
up some of the content and principles by watching the others learn.
Fox said he can only hope they will recall and be able to apply some
of the concepts at some point in the future.
     "I find I work better in large groups," Fox said. "The showman in
me wants to do things in a big way. I like getting to a lot of people
at once.
     "I like performing, and I like the effect I have on students.
But," Fox added, "I don't believe in politics as a group force to
change the world. I do think that teaching does make a difference for
one person at a time."
     Having been nominated for the excellence-in-teaching award for
each of his first four years, Fox said he was aware of the honor and
the stature of those who had received it in years past.
     But, he said, the honor does not make him a better teacher.
     "I'm not any better as a teacher because I won it," he explained.
"I'm still doing the same things that I've been doing. There are a lot
of other faculty out there, who go to work every day and prepare
excellent classes and presentations, but who didn't get this award."
     Fox talks of teaching more in terms of coaching than strict
information sharing.
     "That's why class participation is so important," he said. "I try
to get them to think for themselves, to draw conclusions.
     "We're planting seeds to spark their interest, and when I see
that there's a realization of what's going on, it's really exciting.
You look through a barrier that seemed so thick, and you got through.
Then, you realize you did it in the right way. You're not trying to
get them to change their minds, but to see something, perhaps from a
different perspective."
     Ask Fox what he loves about life in the classroom and his answer
is immediate and definite.
     "I feel I make a difference," he said. "Not as big as others, but
it's important to me. I love it. I love teaching. I get very excited.
I can't wait to get to class."
                                                         -Ed Okonowicz

This story is part of a series of articles featuring the 1995
recipients of the University's excellence-in-teaching and excellence-
in-advising awards.