TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY STATEMENT

I have been a teacher in various capacities ever since I can remember.  I am the oldest of five children, and when I was growing up it seemed like I was always explaining something or answering one of my younger siblings’ persistent questions.  Also, my mother is a teacher, and as kids we often played “school” together.  In these early experiences, I learned patience and gained an appreciation for the fundamental, simple questions that are often so meaningful.  Importantly, I also learned that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. 

I gained invaluable classroom/lab teaching experience as a TA for a general microbiology lab course here at Duke.  I was responsible for preparing and giving a short lecture before the lab, demonstrating and monitoring students’ technique and safety practices during the experiments, designing and grading quizzes, and grading exams and papers.  In preparing my lectures, I tried to present the material in the way that made the most sense to me in addition to a few other approaches that would appeal to different learning styles.  I tried to emphasize learning the material rather than quiz scores, so I designed quizzes that tested broad concepts and I always reviewed answers to quizzes immediately.  Finally, I tried to demonstrate enthusiasm and confidence for my students, and I made an effort to be approachable and to reach out to students who I felt were struggling.

One of the best opportunities I’ve had as a graduate student is working with undergraduates on independent research projects in my lab.  I have mentored three undergraduates through work-study, honors, and summer research programs.  In these situations I emphasized understanding concepts behind the experiments we performed, the ability to ask relevant and important questions, and gaining confidence in their lab work.  I asked students questions as I explained or demonstrated experiments to be sure that they understood. 

As a teacher, I believe it’s very important to know your audience and teach in the most effective manner for your particular students.  For this reason, I get student feedback about my teaching (See student and self evaluations). Also, I realize that students’ learning styles can differ wildly, and that varied approaches are needed to reach all students.  Although I have based my teaching methods on the learning styles that work best for me (reading/writing and hands-on), I am careful to include other methods and approach questions in a variety of ways in an effort to enable all students to learn.  I try to get student feedback whenever possible, which helps me understand my students’ needs and adjust my teaching approaches accordingly.  I like to focus on fundamental concepts and the process of learning itself. 

I try to show enthusiasm and integrate humor or personal interests into my teaching whenever possible.  For example, I created a collection of humorous and hands-on activities to introduce topics typically covered in an introductory biology course.  I also use pictures of my dog and examples that I think are interesting and relevant to students in lectures, such as the “Which Genes Go With This Coat?” activity about the genetics of coat color in labrador retrievers (slides 19-24 of Lecture on Mendelian Genetics), and news articles about current Nobel winners (slide 30 of Lecture on RNA Function and Structure).  I believe that this makes the learning experience more enjoyable for my students, as well as helps my students view me as approachable and truly committed to their learning.  In student evaluations, students often cite my enthusiasm for teaching and genuine desire that they understand the material. 

An adage that exemplifies my belief in the importance of both learning and teaching is: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”  I like the use of eating as a metaphor for learning because both are essential for survival yet can also be very enjoyable.  Both need to be done continually for a lifetime.  In addition, I like the description of the teacher’s long-lasting impact on his student.  Although the teacher in this proverb probably did not spend more than a few hours instructing the man to fish (which was certainly longer than it would have taken for the teacher to simply give the man a meal), his teaching benefits his student for a lifetime.

In the context of this metaphor, I think of myself as a friendly fisherwoman that students encounter as they try to catch their desired fish.  I share my knowledge and what I’ve learned from others’ experience, but ultimately I’m introducing students to the process.  Metaphorically speaking, I may do this with the most advanced, cutting-edge, “high-tech” fishing pole and bait available, or I can use “low-tech” alternatives.  In my teaching, I have used technology such as Power Point (as a guest lecturer) and Blackboard, but have also presented “chalk talks” (as a TA) and also relied on simple one-on-one discussions (as a mentor in my graduate lab).  My approach to using technology in teaching is that the technology should enhance the students’ learning, which means that both students and instructor can easily access and understand how to use the technology.  Technology should be used to facilitate learning, not simply to provide bells and whistles.

 
The Internet is an invaluable tool in teaching.  As all of my students have had computer and Internet access, I have communicated with students electronically (via Blackboard or email) and have guided students to resources online (discussed below).  As an instructor, the Internet has been a great resource for me as I have used images and activities available online in various lectures (discussed below). Of special interest to those in science is PubMed's online books, a resource I have used extensively.

Whether as a TA or guest lecturer, student feedback was an important part of my teaching experience.  In the past, I have designed student evaluations and reviewed them after the course or lecture. (See student and self evaluations.)   Although these evaluations are helpful, a disadvantage to collecting feedback in this manner is that it is not in real time, so I cannot immediately adjust to fit students’ needs.  In the future, I would like to use personal response systems to quiz students during class time to gage their understanding of and interest in the material.  Although I have never used personal response systems, I think they are a valuable way to get instant feedback from students, which the instructor could then use to tailor the style of pace of remaining class time.  I think this would be valuable for me, as the main criticism of my teaching has been the pace of the lecture.

I really like Power Point because I can design my own figures and it is easy to integrate figures and web links into lecture slides.  This is very important in the sciences, as we often use figures and diagrams to demonstrate concepts and examples.  I also like the animation feature.  In a recent guest lecture to senior biomedical engineering students at Duke, my presentation included figures that I made myself (slide 13, Lecture on RNA Function and Structure), slides that contained images publicly available (slide 9, Lecture on RNA Function and Structure), links to a news article about Nobel winners who had discovered a technique discussed in class (slide 30, Lecture on RNA Function and Structure), and a link to the website of a software program.  During the lecture, I went to the website and demonstrated how to use the software.  Then, the students used this website to complete the homework set I designed.   In a guest lecture to an introductory biology class at Meredith College last year, I used Power Point because it allowed me to integrate images from the students’ textbook, websites, as well as a picture of my dog for the “Which Genes Go With This Coat?” activity about the genetics of coat color in labrador retrievers (slides 19-24, Lecture on Mendelian Genetics).

Blackboard is also a very useful pedagogical tool.  It is attractive because is centralizes information for students and supports a variety of formats.  Blackboard facilitates communication between students and instructors (by discussion board, wiki, or email) and gives students easy access to course materials (lecture notes or other multimedia files of interest).  I believe that posting lecture notes before class is a great asset for students, as they can print out the information and then add notes in class as well as review the material after class.  Online lecture notes also allow the instructor to include information that may not be presented in class due to time constraints or because the information is for students’ personal interest.  I posted a recent guest lecture to the course Blackboard site, which included a slide with additional links that I mentioned briefly in class.  I have used Blackboard to post pdf files of background reading for labs, which was the easiest way for students to get the information because the articles were in journals not readily accessible to students but as a scientist I have subscriptions to these journals.  Blackboard has also been useful to email students to alert them to safety issues in upcoming labs.  Also I have learned how to design and implement tests in Blackboard.  Although I don’t think that major exams should be done on Blackboard, I think that quizzes given before or after lectures are good ways for an instructor to assess students’ learning and make adjustments accordingly.

Although I have not used iPods as an instructor, I can envision several ways in which iPods may be used in a biology course.  First, students can go to blackboard to download audio and video files such as lectures by the instructor, interviews with famous scientists, lectures from prominent meetings in the field, or demonstrations of experimental techniques or live data capturing.  This technology may be combined with the use of lecture notes or Power Point slides posted on blackboard, as students can listen to audio of lecture while looking at visual files simultaneously to review lectures.  Of course, a disadvantage of this approach is that students may use such a system as a crutch (i.e. not attend class).  To circumvent this, an instructor could design lecture slides so that students must print them out before class and fill in some information given during the lecture.

Second, iPods can also be used to take pictures or video of experimental data for use in lab reports, publications, or class projects.  Third, with the lecturer's permission, students or inxtructors can record the lecture of a visiting speaker to share with the rest of the class.  Finally, the video function can be used for students in preparation for presentation of their research.  Students may record themselves practice presentations of their research or class projects, then watch their presentations and make improvements before actually giving the presentation.  This would also be useful for students preparing to present talks or posters at scientific meetings or graduate or medical school interviews. 

Advantages of the iPod over other devices is that it is smaller and so more convenient (and less distracting) for recording a lecture or experiment.  The iPod is also very easy to use with a computer, whereas traditional recording devices require accessories and may not easily translate their data into digital files.  On the other hand, another advantage of the iPod is that it can be used without a computer.  For example, using the iPod photo AV cable, iPod files can be viewed on a TV, which would be useful for environments lacking computers (such as high schools or community colleges) or when a computer failure occurs.