Teaching Philosophy
More than anything, I love to learn new things. This love drives me to teaching. I want to immerse myself in an environment based around learning and do whatever I can to help create a love of learning for others. Pursuing a career in education seems the most promising path for me to help as many people as possible experience this happiness.
I do not approach teaching haphazardly. I strive to teach with purpose and finesse. To do so, I have adopted the four principles below to guide my teaching.
-
Be Active
The evidence supporting active teaching is too strong to ignore. Whether it is a discussion, hands-on examples, or some other kind of non-lecture activity, it is nearly always more effective to spend class time with an active learning technique than a traditional “information dump” lecture. There are, of course, some exceptions where synchronous lectures are still effective and should be used accordingly, but I believe that active teaching techniques should be an item in any instructor’s repertoire of techniques.
-
Embrace Remote
Remote learning was our only option in 2020, but the shift towards remote learning began long ago with the advent of online tutorials and MOOCs. Tools that enable remote and asynchronous interaction with material (e.g., CodeWorkout) will be critical going forward. Increasing the availability of content (e.g., providing video lectures) will also be critical going forward. Being mindful of the societal shift towards more remote and asynchronous learning will help foster student independence and help courses work for students that need more flexibility.
-
Focus on Fundamentals
In the time of countless online tutorials, college classes must carve out a purpose and identity that has value not provided elsewhere. I think this identity should be rooted in training students on the fundamentals of a field. An understanding of fundamentals allows one to understand the full picture of a problem, which enables one to transfer their understanding to similar problems and/or evaluate different approaches to solve a problem.
-
Be Relevant
Computer Science is a fast-moving field. The problems we can solve today are much harder than those of only 15 years ago, and the approaches we use today are much different as well. It is a teacher’s duty to stay up to date on the field and make sure that their class is covering relevant material for students.
I want people to be better than I am. I’m not content with just having a new generation being just as good as its predecessor. I think each new generation should be better: more knowledgeable, more efficient, more open-minded, and more creative. Teaching is the best avenue to reach out to the next generation of computer science students and help them to become the best that they can be.
Courses
ITCS 4151: Intelligent Robotics
ITCS 4150: Mobile Robotics
ITCS 3153: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
ITSC 1213: Introduction to Computer Science II
Service
- Chair - Computer Science Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 20-21 and 21-22 academic years.
- Member - Computer Science Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 18-19 and 19-20 academic years.
- President - CCI Grads, 2015-2016 Academic Year
- Vice Chair for Judging and Awards - UNC-Charlotte Graduate Research Symposium, 2015
- General Volunteer - UNC-Charlotte Graduate Research Symposium, 2015
- Transcript Editor - Robotics History Project (http://roboticshistory.indiana.edu/)
- S.T.A.R.S. Outreach Program, 2010-2013
You can see my full Teaching Portfolio here.