At the heart of Jon Ostenson’s teaching is a passion not only for literature and writing, but also a love for teaching and connecting with the students at Brigham Young University. Ostenson finds success as a professor by focusing on the aims of a BYU education and building meaningful relationships with students. BYU awarded Ostenson the General Education (GE) Professorship for his exceptional service and long-term commitment to GE through his outstanding teaching and course development.
Photo by Shayli Green
As a professor with the BYU English Department, Ostenson teaches English courses and recently finished his term as the coordinator of University Writing where he provided oversight and direction to hundreds of general education writing classes each year. Additionally, Ostenson teaches University 101: BYU Foundations for Student Success and was involved in the design and early stages of the class.
Teaching general education English courses and UNIV 101 has changed the way Ostenson views his involvement at BYU and the way he approaches his teaching.
“[Teaching GE courses] opened my eyes to BYU as a place and as an ideal,” Ostenson said. “I find that really, really compelling. I love the idea of what we're trying to do here at BYU with spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, and lifelong learning. I've been invited to be part of this broader vision for BYU that has been really rewarding for me as a teacher, as a mentor, and as a disciple myself.”
To Ostenson, building relationships with students in his classes is just as important as the content of the course. He makes it a priority to establish positive relationships with his students by individually meeting with each of his students the first few weeks of school and learning his students’ names at the beginning of the semester. He strives to create a space where students and the professor can learn from each other and truly get to know one another.
“Students need to feel seen. They need to feel heard. They need to feel like their ideas matter in whatever conversations are going on in the class,” Ostenson said. “They need to feel empowered to learn, grow, and develop.”
Ostenson understands many students are often daunted by GE classes with subject matters that don’t traditionally relate to their chosen major. When asked what makes a good GE class, Ostenson responded with, “a professor who is passionate about the subject matter.” Ostenson believes a good GE class allows students to reflect on and be aware of how they are learning and growing throughout the class.
A general education experience for students goes beyond attending class and receiving a letter grade; it means learning how the subject matter connects to their world. Professors play a crucial role in guiding students to make these meaningful connections.
Ostenson used ECON 110, a subject matter different than the GE courses he teaches, as an example. Ostenson said ECON 110 was one of his most difficult classes from his undergraduate experience, yet he still remembers certain things he learned in the class because it helped him develop as a thinker and as a student. As in all GE classes, students need opportunities to see how the subject matter is changing their world view and how it can affect the actions they take after graduation.
“If we can come to appreciate the way different people see the world and the different ways we can see the world, then I think we're better people and better thinkers,” Ostenson said. “That's why I love teaching GE, not because I want to convert everybody to be literature majors, but because together we can have this experience with art that changes us.”
Ostenson wants students to “think deeply, ask questions, [and] search for answers to those questions” to enrich their classroom experience. In his English classes, he encourages students to ponder how literature reflects on broader society and culture and how it changes with time. He helps students have impactful experiences with inquiry, investigation, and study.
Teaching UNIV 101 has brought Ostenson closer to the aims of a BYU education. When teaching a class, Ostenson asks himself, how can I make this spiritually strengthening? He ponders how he fits, as a professor, into the aims and mission of BYU.
Photo by Jaren Wilkey
Ostenson enjoys interacting with college students who are experiencing formative years of their young adult lives.
“I love thinking about that stage of our lives. Because I feel like that's sort of what our whole mortal life is. If you think of the whole arc of the plan of salvation, we're all just a bunch of teenagers, trying to figure out what we're supposed to do and getting ready to go on to the next phase,” said Ostenson.
Ostenson sees agency as an important part of learning, just as agency is an essential part of our learning and progression in the plan of salvation. In recent years, Ostenson strives both as a teacher and as a scholar to find a balance between rules and agency in the classroom.
“How do I reconcile my belief about Heavenly Parents that care about our agency deeply and my work as a teacher? And how do I honor my students’ agency? How do I trust them?” Ostenson said. “For me, those are really exciting questions, but also really difficult questions to ask.”
For instance, in his English and writing classes, Ostenson gives his students freedom in their assignments, allowing them to choose topics for inquiry or research-based projects. Even when agency seems limited, for example, when there are specific required readings, he wants to facilitate agency by communicating his trust in students to experience and interpret literature in their individual ways. Ostenson wants his students to go beyond just reading the text to think about how they are reacting to the text.
At a religious university, Ostenson cherishes the opportunities to discuss questions of agency and other virtues of the gospel with his students.
“It opens up the classroom and the content I teach to more than just skills and facts and ideas, but about who we are and who we want to become,” Ostenson said.
In his young adult literature class, Ostenson focuses on how the young adult stage of life is interpreted and explored in literature and film. With his students, he studies the psychology of adolescence and the social constructs surrounding it.
“When I look at young adult literature, I'm interested in how authors treat choice, freedom, independence, and agency, how they represent those in their literature, and how they trust a reader,” Ostenson said. “Some books don't trust readers very much, and they want you think certain ways. Other writers are more trusting [with] readers.”
To Ostenson, information literacy is more than asking if a source is good or bad. It is learning how to navigate the swarm of information, considering how to ask questions, and considering where to find authority and expertise on a subject. It involves judging sources not just by credibility but by relevance and worth. Ostenson described information literacy as “training us to use our agency.”
Ostenson has been involved with starting an information literacy initiative on BYU campus. He has helped develop workshops focused on information literacy and implementing literacy lessons in Writing 150, religion courses, and other advanced writing courses. He is helping professors develop a shared vision across all disciplines, from Foundations of the Restoration to Biology, on how to implement principles of information literacy in their classes.
“Through his work on the Faculty General Education Council, as the coordinator for University Writing, for his work on GE redesign, for his help in developing and piloting UNIV 101, and most especially for his excellence in teaching, Jon has distinguished himself as a champion of a robust and powerful general education program that is transformative for students,” said Christopher Oscarson, GE associate dean. “He believes in the power that comes by fusing excellence in study with devoutness in faith. One of the best indications to me that he lives up to his aspirations as a teacher is the love that his students have for him, and his willingness every semester to, in turn, be changed by them.”
Photo by Shayli Green
To Ostenson, working with the BYU students and faculty is a privilege. The relationships he builds with students and faculty are his favorite part of being a professor. Even though these relationships don’t often last longer than one semester, Ostenson cherishes hearing how the students contemplate the course materials and Ostenson’s teachings and how students see the world.
“There are just so many good, good people on this campus. It's just really a privilege to be able to work with [the faculty] and students. Relationships, hands down, is the best part,” Ostenson said.
Ostenson feels grateful and humble for the recognition that comes with receiving the GE Professorship Award. He is excited to continue teaching and planning for his classes with the professorship, all while considering how to ensure GE courses make a real difference in students' lives, especially at BYU.
Ostenson understands the impact a GE class can have on a student when taught with love and passion. When Ostenson looks back at his time as an undergraduate at BYU, he feels some of his most formative classes were general education classes.
“Teaching GE has had the strongest impact on who I am as a professor here. It's caused me to think more broadly about the experiences students have in my classroom, how they're related to the mission of BYU. It has been one of the most important things for me as a professor here at BYU,” Ostenson said. “I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to teach. I love teaching GE.”
Ostenson completed his undergraduate degree at BYU with an English teaching certificate and holds a Doctor of Philosophy, Teaching and Learning and a Master of Education, Educational Psychology from the University of Utah. Ostenson’s education, paired with his love for teaching and his years of experience in the classroom have made Ostenson an influential educator who is committed to the success of faculty and students at BYU.