Goenitz
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Introduction
Currently, I am in my final year of PhD at Birmingham City University (BCU). During this role, I had an opportunity to teach MSc students about research activities. Before joining BCU, I had taught various engineering modules to BSc students in Pakistan. It was my first job related to teaching. I also had some industrial experience of computer-aided design (CAD) using 'Unigraphics'.
Since my graduation, I had a passion for doing research. The main reason is that in research, one can keep learning and grow in his field. Typically industrial jobs are set of routine tasks where a worker keeps doing his, one or more, given duties. He learns and gains expertise in that field, besides learning a few more things down the line, but it is not as dynamic and progressive as the research filed.
Pursuing research lead me towards academics, especially to higher education (HE). A teacher has to learn more about a subject so that he can effectively teach and engage students. Teaching is not an easy job, as it not only requires enormous effort to prepare session, examination, student activities but also it is an art, which has to be learnt and practised. It is an art to communicate, engage, and nourish students of various backgrounds to learn, analyse, apply, assess, and most importantly, enjoy the subject.
My teaching philosophy
In my opinion, a teacher must have the ability to create passion for a subject in his students. From personal experience, I learned mostly in those modules where the environment was friendly and it was easy to ask the teacher questions. Richard Feynman said, "I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned".
Open communication created my enthusiasm in every session of that module. There are many ways to build an individual's interest, such as by Skinner's positive reinforcement technique (Mahoney, 1991). A study suggests respecting students' emotional needs motivates them to put more effort into studies (Delpit, 2006).
Figure 1: Alphabets based on tic tac toe
Humans generally learn through experiences described by Kolb in his famous experiential learning theory (ELT) (Akella, 2010). A simple test of tic tac toe based alphabets[1] can reveal how difficult it is to remember new alphabets symbols (Figure 1) compared to knowing how to generate these (Table 1).
.............................................................................
Richard Feynman said, "I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something"[2]. Traditionally pedagogical approach is sought even in HE, where teacher mostly delivers the lecture with little or no student activity. In the end, students will know and apply the concepts learned in that subject, as some summative assessment pushes them to do so. Dr Shabaz taught mathematics to students who were weak at the subject. In 7 year span (1956-1963), 103 of his students completed a master, and a third of them completed PhD, in mathematics, from the best US universities. His approach was to make the student understand the concept rather than merely teaching them mathematical operations (Delpit, 2006). So overall, a tilt towards a constructive approach is suitable for engineering students in HE. It is because students learn when they apply the knowledge and then explore it themselves. One other thing is not to overwhelm the students, or they get afraid.
Higher education is not about just job opportunities. It is about raising the collective consciousness of a society. Both Murry (1957) and Zook (1947) reports suggest that to create a democratic, intellectual and spiritual society; higher education is necessary (Currie, 1958) (Heller and And Heller, 2010).
Like every profession, teaching is continuously evolving in its methods due to the teacher's professional development. It is said reflective teachers are effective teachers and effective teachers had ineffective sessions. It is clear that students learn the most from what they do in a class.
Students also think that learning occurs through the teacher only, when he delivers the lecture. They must change their mentality and put their highest effort in studying. Paying tuition fees, and then putting all bets on the educator is plain wrong. Both have to play their own part. A teacher must make them realise that.
In conclusion, I believe that HE is necessary for every citizen who is pursuing it. It is passed best by engaging students in sessions and letting them to explore, by developing passion in them. Any session should not baffle students. An educator must know that students learn by what they do in class, and not by what the teacher does. Overall, student's participation in class is extremely important. It can be achieved by creatively designing class activities and assessments.
[1] https://clubpenguin.fandom.com/wiki/Tic_Tac_Code
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1429989.Richard_P_Feynman
References
Akella, D. (2010) 'Learning together: Kolb's experiential theory and its application', Journal of Management and Organization, 16(1), pp. 100–112. doi: 10.5172/jmo.16.1.100.
Bligh, D. A. (1998) What's the Use of Lectures?, Intellect Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/What_s_the_Use_of_Lectures.html?id=l-xxxqZXUU8C&redir_esc=y (Accessed: 10 August 2020).
Currie, G. A. (1958) The Report of the Committee on Australian Universities, Australian Journal of Education. doi: 10.1177/000494415800200105.
Delpit, L. (2006) 'Lessons from teachers', Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), pp. 220–231. doi: 10.1177/0022487105285966.
Heller, D. and And Heller, G. (2010) The Truman Commission and its Impact on Federal Higher Education Policy.
Hofmeyer, A. et al. (2015) Leadership In Learning And Teaching In Higher Education: Perspectives Of Academics In Non-Formal Leadership Roles, Contemporary Issues in Education Research. Available at: http://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/son_nurs_facpubshttp://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/son_nurs_facpubs/175 (Accessed: 10 August 2020).
Mahoney, M. J. (1991) 'B. F. Skinner: A collective tribute.', Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne. American Psychological Association (APA), 32(4), pp. 628–635. doi: 10.1037/h0084641.
I will add details about technical terms later
Currently, I am in my final year of PhD at Birmingham City University (BCU). During this role, I had an opportunity to teach MSc students about research activities. Before joining BCU, I had taught various engineering modules to BSc students in Pakistan. It was my first job related to teaching. I also had some industrial experience of computer-aided design (CAD) using 'Unigraphics'.
Since my graduation, I had a passion for doing research. The main reason is that in research, one can keep learning and grow in his field. Typically industrial jobs are set of routine tasks where a worker keeps doing his, one or more, given duties. He learns and gains expertise in that field, besides learning a few more things down the line, but it is not as dynamic and progressive as the research filed.
Pursuing research lead me towards academics, especially to higher education (HE). A teacher has to learn more about a subject so that he can effectively teach and engage students. Teaching is not an easy job, as it not only requires enormous effort to prepare session, examination, student activities but also it is an art, which has to be learnt and practised. It is an art to communicate, engage, and nourish students of various backgrounds to learn, analyse, apply, assess, and most importantly, enjoy the subject.
My teaching philosophy
In my opinion, a teacher must have the ability to create passion for a subject in his students. From personal experience, I learned mostly in those modules where the environment was friendly and it was easy to ask the teacher questions. Richard Feynman said, "I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned".
Open communication created my enthusiasm in every session of that module. There are many ways to build an individual's interest, such as by Skinner's positive reinforcement technique (Mahoney, 1991). A study suggests respecting students' emotional needs motivates them to put more effort into studies (Delpit, 2006).
Figure 1: Alphabets based on tic tac toe
Humans generally learn through experiences described by Kolb in his famous experiential learning theory (ELT) (Akella, 2010). A simple test of tic tac toe based alphabets[1] can reveal how difficult it is to remember new alphabets symbols (Figure 1) compared to knowing how to generate these (Table 1).
.............................................................................
Table 1: Conversion of alphabets from tic tac toe (cross and circle are added for extension)
Most people are familiar with tic tac toe, so any new information, based on previous information, can easily be digested. This simple test shows that students cannot comprehend even a good lecture, with all details and new tools, if the session is not built coherently and step-wise.
Richard Feynman said, "I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something"[2]. Traditionally pedagogical approach is sought even in HE, where teacher mostly delivers the lecture with little or no student activity. In the end, students will know and apply the concepts learned in that subject, as some summative assessment pushes them to do so. Dr Shabaz taught mathematics to students who were weak at the subject. In 7 year span (1956-1963), 103 of his students completed a master, and a third of them completed PhD, in mathematics, from the best US universities. His approach was to make the student understand the concept rather than merely teaching them mathematical operations (Delpit, 2006). So overall, a tilt towards a constructive approach is suitable for engineering students in HE. It is because students learn when they apply the knowledge and then explore it themselves. One other thing is not to overwhelm the students, or they get afraid.
Higher education is not about just job opportunities. It is about raising the collective consciousness of a society. Both Murry (1957) and Zook (1947) reports suggest that to create a democratic, intellectual and spiritual society; higher education is necessary (Currie, 1958) (Heller and And Heller, 2010).
Like every profession, teaching is continuously evolving in its methods due to the teacher's professional development. It is said reflective teachers are effective teachers and effective teachers had ineffective sessions. It is clear that students learn the most from what they do in a class.
Students also think that learning occurs through the teacher only, when he delivers the lecture. They must change their mentality and put their highest effort in studying. Paying tuition fees, and then putting all bets on the educator is plain wrong. Both have to play their own part. A teacher must make them realise that.
In conclusion, I believe that HE is necessary for every citizen who is pursuing it. It is passed best by engaging students in sessions and letting them to explore, by developing passion in them. Any session should not baffle students. An educator must know that students learn by what they do in class, and not by what the teacher does. Overall, student's participation in class is extremely important. It can be achieved by creatively designing class activities and assessments.
[1] https://clubpenguin.fandom.com/wiki/Tic_Tac_Code
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1429989.Richard_P_Feynman
References
Akella, D. (2010) 'Learning together: Kolb's experiential theory and its application', Journal of Management and Organization, 16(1), pp. 100–112. doi: 10.5172/jmo.16.1.100.
Bligh, D. A. (1998) What's the Use of Lectures?, Intellect Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/What_s_the_Use_of_Lectures.html?id=l-xxxqZXUU8C&redir_esc=y (Accessed: 10 August 2020).
Currie, G. A. (1958) The Report of the Committee on Australian Universities, Australian Journal of Education. doi: 10.1177/000494415800200105.
Delpit, L. (2006) 'Lessons from teachers', Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), pp. 220–231. doi: 10.1177/0022487105285966.
Heller, D. and And Heller, G. (2010) The Truman Commission and its Impact on Federal Higher Education Policy.
Hofmeyer, A. et al. (2015) Leadership In Learning And Teaching In Higher Education: Perspectives Of Academics In Non-Formal Leadership Roles, Contemporary Issues in Education Research. Available at: http://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/son_nurs_facpubshttp://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/son_nurs_facpubs/175 (Accessed: 10 August 2020).
Mahoney, M. J. (1991) 'B. F. Skinner: A collective tribute.', Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne. American Psychological Association (APA), 32(4), pp. 628–635. doi: 10.1037/h0084641.
I will add details about technical terms later
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