Archana Rao

Assistant Professor

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

St Joseph Engineering College, Mangaluru - 575028

e-mail: archanar@sjec.ac.in, rao.archanaa@gmail.com

linked in: www.linkedin.com/in/archana-rao-146696b0

Teaching Philosophy Statement

“A good Teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.”

–Brad Henry

I have a great passion for teaching and it is very stimulating experience for me. I believe that teaching is nothing but a process of mutual learning. I also believe that a teacher’s purpose is not just to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image. My teaching philosophy is based on the foundation of my educational experience, which has given me important lessons that I would like to apply as an educator.

First, one important responsibility of an instructor is to provide students with the knowledge necessary for their future studies and career. Well-organized lecture notes with carefully selected sample questions may arouse the students’ interests and curiosity, and motivate them toward further studies. To explain complex concepts or solve challenging problems, I strive to use intuitive examples related to real world issues to illustrate the basic laws under them. I always encourage students to focus on fundamental principles and deductive reasoning instead of simply memorizing the results. I also assign homework and evaluate students’ performance regularly, which reﬂects whether or not the presented materials are well absorbed. Along with the subject, my lecture includes the discussion of current trends in the computer technology so that students can be aware of the ongoing trends.

Second, the interaction commitments between students and the instructor are very important to make teaching and learning an interesting, rich and rewarding experience for both parties. I like to stimulate the students through my enthusiasm for the course material since I believe enthusiasm is contagious in the class. I encourage students to actively participate in the teaching and learning process. By raising questions and arguments on a subject, I try to guide students on the right way to solve problems through in-class discussions and debates. To further facilitate students learning, I like to provide opportunities for reﬂection and feedback from students via after-class and ofﬁce hour discussions, peer-to-peer feedback on assignments and learning activities, formal and informal evaluations, etc. Students’ responses and inputs are very helpful for improving my teaching skills.

Third, but not less important, an educator should inspire students to challenge existing practices and encourage them for scientiﬁc inquiry and critical thinking. I would also like to recommend that students explore further by extra reading and searching for alternatives or better approaches. Only through the questioning and deep thinking, students can be empowered with self-conﬁdence that the knowledge has been well gained and can be applied for solving practical problems. The ultimate goal of successful teaching is to enable the students to master and to skill fully deploy the knowledge exposed to them.