Teaching Philosophy

The teaching philosophy is a living document, especially for someone like myself, since I am in the early stages of my teaching career. In order to give you an idea of this evolution, I have included the first teaching philosophy I wrote before my PTP experience (Spring 2011) my current teaching philosophy which was revised after completing the PTP program (Spring 2012).

After Completing the PTP Program (Spring 2012):

My interest in teaching has its roots in my love for football. I knew I would not play at a professional level, but became a volunteer coach for a local high school football team during college. I realized I had a talent and a passion for coaching. In graduate school, I succeeded in my classes and eventually became a tutor for the College of Engineering at NCSU where I quickly realized that coaching and teaching are very similar. Both teaching and coaching require me to spread my unique knowledge to someone that has a different level of skill and understanding on the subject matter than I do. Although coaching deals with the physical aspect of learning and teaching is a mental exercise, they both involve patience as students or players learn to work together to achieve their goals. Given these similarities, my enthusiasm for teaching was born.

Learning how to work with others and effectively communicate ideas is a major goal I have for the students I teach. Students need to be able to communicate problem solving methodologies and results to other people that may not be experts in their field. I require students to submit assignments as they would to their boss in a working environment. It is important for them to learn how to use what they are learning after graduation. I actually take off letter grades for lateness and sloppiness in their submitted assignments. Having said that, I understand that different students learn in varied ways, and it is important to me to try to reach the greatest number of students simultaneously. This can be a challenging task. The simulation software that I teach is complicated and mostly involves the students trying to learn the computer software along with me. There are usually two types of student learning in my class—those that sit back and watch as I go through the steps and those that try to do all of the steps right along with me. Both of these methods are inherently flawed. If a student is simply watching me do everything, he or she is bound to forget a step. If a student does everything along with me, they’re bound to miss something trying to perform every click I do.

In order to counteract these flaws, the teacher must identify how they believe students in their field learn, and design teaching materials based upon those beliefs. I believe students learn to solve engineering problems by being introduced to a concept, exposed to examples that reinforce the concept, attempting to solve problems on their own, and then asking questions when they don’t understand or make a mistake. This same set of steps relates to coaching as well. In coaching, drawing the play on the board is the equivalent of introducing the concept in teaching. In terms of examples, we will walk players through the defense and show them film of other players and teams attempting the play. We let players run the play on their own, just as students in the classroom setting are left to solve problems on their own. Of course they will make mistakes, but that is part of the process. I want students to understand the method engineers approach problems with and learn to think for themselves and apply their knowledge to real-world problems after leaving the classroom

Teaching students to think for themselves is a challenge. To facilitate this, I attempt to follow a structured format when presenting material. First, I introduce the concept and explain its importance. I follow with a description of how the concept is applied, which could include equations or a problem solving algorithm. I reinforce this by demonstrating how to solve an example problem, and pointing out assumptions that could limit the applicability of the answer. Before moving to the next concept, I ask the students to attempt to solve a similar example problem, possibly with some extension to make them think, such as a graded in-class lab or an informal partner exercise. Homework and exams are also important assessment materials. I encourage students to work with a partner on homework assignments. In my experience, I usually learned something from my partner that I might not have had I worked on my own. Contrasting this, exams are a way of assessing each student’s individual learning. They are composed of problems similar to those worked on in class and problems that require students to apply and possibly extend the knowledge they have acquired. Grading is another important teaching tool that I use to constructively inform students of mistakes and to assess whether or not they have mastered the concepts. For each homework assignment, I give a detailed description of each mistake made and why points were lost and return this to each student using an online course management system. This type of feedback is also given on exams. If most of the students seem to miss a concept, I often give them the opportunity to rework the problem to get points back. This not only lets them improve their grade, but also reinforces the concept being taught. This supports my overall belief that making mistakes is a part of learning any given concept. Students should know that their model will often be wrong the first time and they will have to go through a few iterations to get it right. This is often the same concept regardless of the discipline.

Students should be provided a positive environment where they are encouraged to ask questions. Some students feel more comfortable learning from other peoples’ mistakes, but it is important to encourage them to first try to work problems on their own, and seek help after making an effort. I learn best by making my own mistakes and in my teaching and tutoring experience, others learn this way as well. To facilitate this, using my online course management system I set up forums where students can post homework and conceptual questions for the class. Students that answer questions get a small amount of extra credit as incentive to answer the questions on the forum. Students that answer questions usually know the concepts very well and it’s always good for the other students to have things explained in a different way.

I make it a point to call attention to mistakes I might make in a lecture to the class or in writing an equation on the board. It is important for students to understand that everyone, including me, makes mistakes, and the key is to learn from them. This encourages students not to worry about making a mistake when working on a problem and helps them explore other possible solutions. I understand that certain students are very uncomfortable coming to the front of the class to answer a question, but I do ask partners who work together on in-class assignments to present their work to the class. It is important for students to see one another’s mistakes. This can either reinforce the concept in their mind, or allow them to relate to that student’s mistake and learn from it. Throughout my years in college, I would often watch a student make a mistake while solving a problem and think to myself “I would have made that exact same mistake.” As I mentioned earlier, this concept of mistakes relates to coaching also. In coaching, when introducing a new offensive play or defensive strategy, the first several times the play is run there are usually several mistakes, missed blocks, backs going to the wrong aiming point, whatever the case. The play only works if all 11 players do their assignment correctly, and it typically takes several attempts before the play is executed smoothly. Similarly, a simulation or engineering model is only reliable if the input, logic, and output analysis are all completed correctly. In addition, building a simulation model is an iterative task. Simplifying assumptions are made and then later expanded upon, and this usually involves creating logic, running the model, scanning for errors in mode logic and results, attempting to address the errors, and repeating this process until the model is producing the desired results.

I am in the early stages of my teaching career and have had a limited number of opportunities to formally teach. Through a fellowship program, in my final year at NCSU I was given the opportunity to teach an undergraduate course in computer simulation for two semesters. Much of my updated teaching philosophy is a result of that experience. I plan to implement my current teaching philosophy, assess what works and what does not, and adapt my philosophy as I gain experience. In future teaching experiences, I will implement my current teaching philosophy, but will still adapt as I gain experience. Everything evolves, including technology, students, and the classroom experience. It is important to for my philosophy on teaching to evolve with them.

Before Completing the PTP Program (Spring 2011):

All students learn differently, and it is important to me to reach the greatest number of students simultaneously, which can be a challenging task. First, a teacher should identify how they believe students in their field learn, and design teaching materials based upon those beliefs. I believe students learn to solve engineering problems by being introduced to a concept, exposed to examples that reinforce that concept, attempting to solve problems on their own, and then asking questions. I want students to understand the problem solving approach used by engineers, to learn to think for themselves, and learn to apply their knowledge to real-world problems after leaving college. Upon leaving school, engineers often work in groups and need to be able to communicate their ideas effectively. I prepare students for this environment by having them work in partners on certain assignments, and occasionally present problem solutions in class.

Teaching students to think for themselves is a challenge. To facilitate this, I attempt to follow a structured format when presenting material. I first introduce the concept and explain its importance, followed by a description of how the concept is applied, which could include equations or a problem solving algorithm. I reinforce the concept by demonstrating how to solve an example problem, and pointing out assumptions which could limit the applicability of the solution. Before moving on, I ask students to attempt to solve a similar example problem in the form of a graded in-class lab or an informal partner exercise. Homework and exams are also important assessment materials. I encourage students to work with a partner on homework assignments. In my experience, students also learn from their peers, and I have always found the input of others valuable to my learning. In contrast, exams are a way of assessing each student’s individual learning. They should be composed of problems similar to those worked on in class and problems which require students to apply and possibly extend the knowledge they have acquired. I use grading as a teaching tool to constructively inform students of mistakes and direct their future study, and to help assess whether students have mastered the concepts.

Students should be provided a positive environment where they are encouraged to ask questions. Some students feel more comfortable learning from other peoples’ mistakes, but it is important to encourage them to first try to work problems on their own, and seek help after making an effort. I learn best by making my own mistakes and in my teaching and tutoring experience, others learn this way as well. I make it a point to call attention to mistakes I might make in a lecture to the class or in writing an equation on the board. It is important for them to understand that everyone, including me, makes mistakes, and the key is to learn from them. This encourages students to not worry about making a mistake when working on a problem and helps them explore other possible solutions. I understand that certain students are very uncomfortable coming to the front of the class to answer a question, but I do ask partners who work together on in-class assignments to present their work to the class. It is important for students to see one another’s mistakes. This can either reinforce the concept in their mind, or allow them to relate to that student’s mistake and learn from it. Throughout my years in college, I would often watch a student make a mistake while solving a problem and think to myself “I would have made that exact same mistake.”

I am in the early stages of my teaching career and have had a limited number of opportunities to formally teach. I plan to implement my current teaching philosophy, assess what works and what does not, and adapt my philosophy as I gain experience. Everything evolves, including technology, students, and the classroom experience. It is important for my philosophy on teaching to evolve with them.