This is how I teach

What do you like most about teaching in your discipline? 

I am passionate about the many improvements Computer Science brings to our daily lives in so many forms. I believe we can teach students that Computer Science is interesting, fun, and relevant for the current times and I am privileged to have access to many examples to showcase this.  Computer Science is also discipline that changes rapidly: one of the aspects I like teaching are fundamental design principles and the many trade-offs that anyone needs to make when building software and computer systems.  

How would you describe your approach to teaching/your teaching philosophy? 

I strongly believe that students learn best when they are challenged in a scaffolded environment, where failures are safe, and genuine reflections allow for improved learning. I rely on evidence-based approaches published in computing education literature as well as my own education research to inform my practice. I want students to be actively reflecting about their own personal learning process, and as such I frequently discuss the pedagogical rationale for course and assessment design with my students, and use their ongoing feedback to improve the course as it is running.  I engage with student’s initial coding for their first assignment, and, with each student, discuss how they’re going and what they would need to succeed. While this is a lot of initial work, it pays off in the end because it helps set my expectations for the student’s specific implementation, and also builds relationships with each student.  

What is your favourite way to use technology to enhance learning? 

I love using technology in many ways to enhance learning, from various demos, to visual simulations for various processes, to augmented reality and interactive tools to allow students to contribute in many ways. I record mini podcasts for key elements of each week and high level descriptive reels for each assignment. Broadly expanding from technology to props, I like to bring in physical things that students can play with and experience, including bringing in mini (but powerful) computer clusters in a small purse, to scratchies for quizzes, and various props for demonstrating and experimenting with various protocols.

How does you teaching help prepare students for their future? 

I like to engage students in reflections about their practice in developing large-scale, complex code, and focus on various aspects of design, implementation, and testing.  Beyond the foundational knowledge we teach in our courses, I believe it is critical that our students become life long learners. To help in the preparation for this, I like to challenge students to think about and solve open ended questions, with roots in computer science problems that are easily accessible.