Narrative
My experience as teaching assistant started in Spring 2015 for EEL4471 Electromagnetics . Since then I have been TA for EEL4471 in Spring 2016 and Spring 2017, EEL6426 RF and Microwave Circuits 1 in Fall 2015 and Fall 2016 (a graduate level course). My responsibilities included teaching problem solving / recitation sessions and preparing homework assignments. I am currently TA for EEL3472C- EE Science - II, which has replaced EEL4471 in the electrical engineering curriculum. In this web page, I present my experience and contributions as a teaching assistant.
I have been involved with the development of the laboratory component of EEL3472C - EE Science II - Electromagnetics since Summer 2017. My responsibilities include designing experiments, preparing lab manuals and pre-laboratory exercises, setting up test benches and teaching the lab sections. I'm currently working on improving the laboratory based on student feedback from last semester. Developing a laboratory course was a new and enriching experience for me and I have devoted an entire sub-page to share this experience and my contributions.
EEL3472C - EE Science II - Electromagnetics (formerly known as EEL4471) is generally considered to be among the more difficult courses in electrical engineering. However, despite being a difficult course, electromagnetics happens to be one of the fundamental courses. Therefore a strong foundation in the course would definitely help students become better engineers. Students face difficulties in this course because the topics are mathematically intensive and some students are often not able to visualize the topics covered in the subject. I have tried to help students using the following approaches:
- Interactive animations for teaching:
I am a strong proponent of interactive visual learning tools when it comes to explaining physical phenomena. Computer applications can be accessed easily by students any time and therefore should be used extensively to supplement the process of teaching. This sub-page lists all the animations I have created for EEL4471 and EEL3472C along with notes on gaps in student knowledge and how the animations help bridge that gap. I developed these animations out of my own interest and student feedback has been very positive for the same so far.
- Problem solving tips and group discussions:
A sample lesson plan from a recitation session I taught for EEL3472C can be found here. While planning problem solving lectures, I devote time for tips on how to set up problems and then give time for students to discuss the problem among themselves, use these tips and solve the problem. I then solve the problem on the board by prompting students to lead me through the steps. I also discuss common mistakes made while solving such problems.
- Software to visualize homework answers:
For EEL4471, I provided software codes that helped visualize answers to homework problems. The key issue was that the answers are simply a mathematical expressions of how a certain physical quantity is distributed in space and some students were unable visualize the answer and draw relevant conclusions. Two examples of such software codes can be found in the document here. The first example is on the gradient operator in mathematics; the code allows students to enter any mathematical function and view the function and its gradient as a plot. The second example plots the electric field and potential due to a certain charge distribution specified in a homework problem to help students visualize the same.
In-class demonstrations are also extremely important for providing motivation and stimulating learning. Over the past few semesters, I have developed demonstrations - both in the form hands-on experiments and interactive animations- for the courses I taught. During in-class demonstrations in EEL4471 and EEL6426, I provided students with handouts that state the objectives of the demonstration and provide a brief overview on how the demonstration will be conducted. Students are encouraged to note down measurements as the experiment is demonstrated and reflect on the results after they leave class by answering questions at the end of the handout. This helps them cement the concepts in their minds. The handout for an in-class demonstration on the concept of standing waves is available here (EEL4471 - Spring 2017). This experiment was "upgraded" into a full-fledged lab for EEL3472C. For in-class experiments in the graduate level course EEL6426 RF and Microwave Circuits 1, I tried to make the activity more challenging by including a design experiment where students are given a design flow. At the end of the design process, I usually ask students to comment on the mechanism behind the working of their design and it's quality. An example of one such design activity was an in-class assignment where students were instructed to design a 4:1 microstrip power divider. Once the design was completed, students were asked to create an animation of the current distribution in the power divider (to "see" how it works) and correlate it with what they learned in class . A sample answer for this in-class activity is shown in below.
