Teaching

My teaching philosophy revolves around the concept of increasing the “signal-to-noise” ratio in students’ learning. As a student, I struggled to extract the signal (information actually useful to my learning) from the noise (extraneous information) during lectures. In my teaching, I emulate my most effective teachers by emphasizing key points, anticipating potential sources of confusion, addressing them specifically and preemptively, and engaging students in the learning process.

I am always cognizant that not every student comes to the classroom with the same processing capacity, which is determined by previous coursework, quality of prior instruction, level of engagement, and natural ability. I strive to teach with an equitable approach.

In my lectures, I explicitly build on concepts previously covered and push students to do the same through class discussions and cumulative quizzes and exams. I believe a critical part of learning comes from peers and from verbalizing thoughts, so I encourage and incentivize class participation and group discussion.

My approach to projects is based on my own experiences as an undergraduate student. I provide detailed guidelines and milestone deadlines to help students develop a roadmap, course-correct early, and receive feedback before final submission. I take seriously the lessons learned from each cohort and use them to improve guidance in following semesters.