Teaching the Course

1
Teaching the Course

• Jamil A. Khan, Ph.D., P.E.
• Associate Professor
• Mechanical Engineering

2
Teaching the Course

• WHAT IS MY GOAL WHEN I AM TEACHING?
• DESSIMINATE KNOWLWDGE!!
• Creating lifelong learners
• Creating Critical thinkers
• Let me make two statements
• You can not teach all the students in your
  class
• You can teach a majority of the students in your
  class
• My biggest shock came after I gave the first test
  in the first lecture-class I ever taught!!!

3
Teaching the Class

• You have prepared for the class!!
• Now comes the task of actual teaching, this is
  where the rubber hits the road.
• Remember that learning is a process of continuous
  improvement

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Teaching the Class

• Developing a Personal Style
• Modeling Critical Thinking
• Effective Learning or Other Method of Presenting
  Materials
• Creating or Maintaining Discussion
• Creating a Balance within the class room
• Reading the audience and your-self

5
Teaching the Class

• What are the traits of a good Teacher?
• Enthusiastic (Passion to teach, passion for the
  course material)
• Well Prepared and organized
• Concern and respect for the student

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Teaching the Class

• Developing a personal style
• Actor?
• Add humor? (remember worst joke award? Or
  remember the professor who always told the same
  joke!!)
• Entertain?
• Raise a storm?
• I think the best style is the style that you are
  most comfortable with. A style that suits your
  personality

7
Some Logistics for Teaching the Class

• Be prepared and organized
• It is a good idea to write down or verbally say
  what you are going to cover (do it at the
  beginning of the period)
• Some instructors ask students, at the end of the
  period, to write a sentence about the most
  important topic they learnt during the period
• Use of Chalk Board
• If you use power point or slide--- slow down!!
• Consider giving hand-outs (students may be busy
  copying the slide!)

8
Some Logistics for Teaching the Class (contd.)

• Diversity in education
• Be sensitive to the diverse group you are
  teaching
• (hail-mary pass, huddle)

9
Creating and Maintaining Discussion

• Try to engage students, at the same time try not
  to put them on the spot
• Ask questions (but not questions that have yes
  or no as answers
• If you do ask question, give some time for the
  students think about the answer

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Some Methods for Delivering the Course Contents

• Lecture
• Make illustrations and examples more diverse
  without losing their relevance
• Examples hot-water heaters
• Inter-active discussions
• Ask the students to lead the discussion and you
  act as a moderator
• Co-operative learning (team building)
• Industry is looking for team-players
• Good communicator with inter-personal skills (Can
  you teach this?

Co-operative learning
11
Modeling Critical Thinking

• Assign open ended-problem
• Solution should meet some constraint but is not
  unique
• Brain storm ideas
• Encourage out-of-the-box thinking
• Let me hear your ideas

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Effective teaching

• Spotting students who are having unusual
  difficulty and directing them to USC resources
  for help
• How to gauge your impact on students
• Reading signs, seek feed back
• Ask questions outside the class (one on one)
• Is the end of the semester student evaluation
  sufficient? Isnt it end-of-the-pipe inspection?
• How to know when to make changes in teaching the
  class
• Syllabus
• Other changes
• Taylor your teaching at the level of your
  students
• Honors class teaching
• Balancing your own research, class schedule with
  teaching schedule