TEACHING PHILOSOPHY & REFLECTION

As the Chinese proverb goes: tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand; I strive to deliver materials in a way that is easy to grasp and to involve students in a more active role in the learning process. Visualizing a concept is more effective than explaining it in words; demonstrating and asking questions encourage students to be more involved in class; giving homework assignments helps reinforce the materials presented in class and guides students in revising the materials on their own outside the class.

I also recognize that students have varying learning capability. While the weaker students might need additional help to keep up with the materials and also encouragement to seek help and work harder, some challenges need to be provided to retain the attention of the brighter ones. After a certain standard is achieved, I pride myself on how far I can help a student advance from their starting point considering their unique aptitude in learning.

I make an effort in my teaching to get students to see that what's learned in class would be useful in the future. Besides the ability to analyze problem in a methodical manner, many methods and skills learned in the classroom can be used to make decisions in their professional or everyday's life.

Tied to my teaching philosophy, explaining, demonstrating, and getting students involved have never been easier without technology. Visual aids can be generated and displayed in class more easily by using technology (Excel chart & graph, Visio diagram). For students, having a visual image of a graph or diagram, instead of just words, is often an easier way to understand and remember a concept. I also use the PC Classroom facility where each student can use a computer and during guided lab session they can master simple economic analyzer and use Excel formulas for Engineering Economy calculation. It's not a surprise that doing it once is more efficient than being told ten times how to do it.

Outside the classroom, 7 out of 10 feedback from the students mention ANGEL, especially its communication features (email, online chatroom) as the most helpful thing in their learning. Given the summer daily classes, often time communication outside class time is crucial since homework assignment might be due on the materials that was just discussed in the class the previous day. Of course, this requires additional effort from the instructor side, as online communication is 24/7 and usually the volume peaks the night before an assignment is due or before a quiz/test will be given in class the next day.

From the instructor perspective, I find that the ability to post an online quiz is very useful. This helps save limited class time to test them on concepts that can be examined by true/false, multiple choice, and short answer question. I also used discussion board to encourage discussions about the case study assignment as the problem is more open to interpretation. I found that in this instance, probably due to the small size of the class, they must be given extra incentive to use it. Many other ANGEL features that I used are shown in more detail in the 'Course Webspace' section.

However, there are always two sides on a coin. Online communication, probably the less intimidating way for students to communicate with their instructor, can never be as good as face-to-face meeting during office hour. Using technology also means that we have to keep up with it and able to choose the most suitable one to support the course or class specific needs.

 

Teaching Philosophy & Reflection | Course Description | Course Webspace |

Class Presentation with Technology | Communication | Class-related Links

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