An instructor can change a boring classroom into an interesting thinking room, where everyone can enjoy understanding new ideas by interacting in the learning process. Students must have the opportunity to freely express their opinions about lesson topics and criticize concepts based on their knowledge. A successful giant project is always the result of organized teamwork, and I believe students can learn and feel the successful outcomes of good collaboration during a course. I believe that all students can be creative, and I aim to provide a course syllabus through which they can express their unique creativity.
When I was a high-school student, I found out that my classmates admire the way I was answering their questions regarding the topics related to math and physics. But why were they eager to ask their questions from me and not from the instructor? The answer to this question is simple: As a student, I was unintentionally involved in a friendly teaching process through which I did not try to provide my classmates with just a solution. It was indeed a step-by-step process to assist them in thinking and recognizing the reasons for their failure in solving the problem. I recall their appreciation with happy faces and my unlimited joy at the end of the discussion. I was helping them assess themselves by giving them the right feedback, in a friendly environment, without being aware of what I was doing! Today, with that simple but valuable experience, I always follow one rule in teaching: “Help students learn self-assessment.” The result of thinking deeply about a concept is enduring knowledge. Students with strong thinking skills can assess their weak points and improve intelligently.
Short discussions starting with open-ended questions assist the students in thinking, discussing, and understanding the importance of learning. Watching short, attractive videos or graphical animations related to the course subject makes students more eager to go through the lesson topics. I use these facilities in my lectures, as technology is an inevitable part of modern education. At the end of each course subject, I allow students to demonstrate what they have learned through any creative activity such as a short video, music, talk, animation, painting, or even a handcraft. The goal is to foster the creativity of students in their unique way.
The instructor plays a crucial role in motivating the students to work in teams and as teams. Most of the students prefer to work with their friends or people of their nationality. But in the real world, people have to work together, having different nations and cultural backgrounds. To this aim, students in my class are typically divided into groups of various nationalities, where they interactively assist in the progress of their course projects. As a result, students engage in finding some connecting bridges to develop the project and experience a new form of a teaching-learning process.
As a current Ph.D. candidate and a prospective faculty member, I believe that students must have enough opportunity to express their opinions about the course material and my teaching style while receiving feedback on their learning performance. Students can individually (or as a group) meet with me during the semester to reflect on their thoughts. Each student will receive two performance records each half-term illustrating how well they are improving. These records will, in turn, help students to detect and consequently work on their weak points.
A deep understanding of the course content leads to a more profound level of learning. To achieve this level of performance, I aim to create an environment where students are motivated to think, assess and criticize the course concepts based on scientific principles. Working as a team helps them prepare for real-world scenarios, where they have to work in groups of experts with diversities in their gender, culture, and background. Students must have the opportunity to show their creativity through the course based on their unique skills and talents. As a facilitating instructor, I help my students create their particular problem-solving tools, add them to their tool-bags of knowledge and experience, and be well prepared to utilize them whenever needed.