Teaching and Outreach

My approach to teaching has changed throughout the years as I experimented with different approaches. 

Over time, I have notices that in most fields, one needs fundamental knowledge in multiple domains, a good understanding of how these domains interact with each other, and the ability to build rational narratives that communicate their ideas clearly. As such, I emphasize core concepts, connect my content to courses and knowledge students have taken before, and create scenarios for students to think about how to better communicate their ideas.

I am also a proponent of an exploratory approach to teaching and learning, using projects and cases as guides that take students on a journey. As part of this approach, I try to build collaborative and active learning environments, by involving students in the unveiling of the course material and using tools like concept checking questions so that they would reach the answer to their own questions themselves. I have also integrated reflective learning techniques, whereby students analyze existing models of deliverables, or review the work of other students to learn new ways of approaching a problem and solving it. This really helps students feel central to the learning process; and in the end, it is all about the student! 

My best learning experiences have been hands-on and as such, I tend to include activities, small projects, a competition, a problem or reading. I tend to also integrate mentorship into these activities: students may have to provide a progress update on their project a few times during the term, something that has a grade associated with it but is credit-based and not rubric-based. These progress updates provide an opportunity to give students actionable feedback without requiring them to submit multiple reports, and reduces the overhead on me as the instructor.

I am also cognizant of the varying learning styles and needs. I try to use different methods to make this content appealing to the students with different learning styles, and use frameworks like VARK to ensure inclusion of a combination of visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic elements, alongside elements of pop-culture, multimedia, competitions or other interests in my lessons to connect better with my students and keep them engaged with the content. 

Real life problems are open ended while in the classroom we tend to focus more on questions with definite answers. Although important, these answer-based questions do not truly assess student knowledge and might lead to recipe-based learning. Inclusion of hands-on projects with open ended questions ensures that students get involved with the topic and really learn through doing. Obviously, such activities increase the workload on me as the instructor. However, the outcome is great for both me and the students. This is why, most my courses include project and case-based elements which try to encourage students to think about applications in groups and assess how the new knowledge they gained interfaces with other topics. In addition, in some cases I have organized extracurricular activities, including the lighter than air vehicle and water rocket competitions, to enable students to apply what they have learned.  

Overall, by connecting course content with real life experiences, assessing student progress and challenging students using open-ended hands-on problems, I believe that I will be able to make a lasting impression on students and help them learn new content effectively. As of 2025, this is how I put this philisophy in practice in most of my courses:

Read About It: Readings

I expect my students to read the material before class. This may be the textbook, or resources I prepare and share with them (in most cases with collaborative annotation enabled). In the case of annotations, there is some grade associated with these to encourage participation.

Play with It: Concept Checks

To help students assess their learning, I also include weekly content review quizzes which have to be completed either before or after class. These are simpler questions to help students see if they understand underlying concepts.

While these concept checks have a grade associated with them, they are usually open book and students scoring 90% in this component get 100% of the mark.

Untangle it: In-Class

My classes are designed to help students better understand key concepts and develop the basic skills they need. To achieve this, I usually do not just rely on lectures and slides. 

Instead, I run an active classroom with activities, polls and problems solved in class. Students are given time to solve these problems or activities, which are used to clarify core concepts. While I do use slides to show some concepts and the questions, I use the board or document camera to make sure core concepts are clarified without overloading students with content.

In-class activities are graded for completion, not correctness.  Students scoring 90% in this component get 100% of the mark, and students participating more are usually given bonus marks.

Challenge Yourself: Assignments and Quizzes

Course Assignments expect students to apply the concepts to a new problem and hopefully get you closer to mastering the material. In addition, a major focus is on developing relevant soft-skills such as the ability to clearly structure thoughts and communicate their results. Most of my courses are project-based (in the case of skill-focused courses), case-based (in the case of knowledge and analysis-focused courses) or problem-set based (in the case of skill-focused courses in physics). Clear rubrics are provided and students are given detailed feedback.  I also try to make sure that a course does not have more than 3 assignments: other elements such as progress reports are used to provide feedback to students during the term without overloading them by asking for multiple submissions every week. 

In some courses, I also hold quizzes and a final exam assess student understanding of key concepts. These usually take the form of a combination of multiple-choice questions (to assess understanding of concepts) and long answer questions (to assess the ability to analyze and communicate). The idea is to push students to review content regularly and help them with continuous assessment of learning so they can change their approach if needed.