Observation Report by Xiaoliang Hu
Describe the academic setting that you observed. Include the
professional's role in this setting. What were the goals for this class or
laboratory? Were the goals accomplished?
The course I observed is EBME 3##, taught by Prof. X and another professor.
The course has two parts in setting, including the lectures and 5 laboratory
sessions. The lectures are setup on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 10:30AM
to 11:20AM. I observed the lectures given by Prof. X, who took charge of
teaching the properties of Fourier Transform during that lecture. Prof. X also
organizes the whole course. For the students who have never learned Integral
Transforms before, Fourier Transform is a little tough to learn, especially
those properties of Fourier Transform. The goal of the lecture was to lead
students to connect the previously learned knowledge about Fourier Transform to
understand some important properties of Fourier Transform. From my observation,
that goal was achieved well.
Describe the instructional strategies that enhanced the class or
laboratory that you observed. Consider the degree of involvement and interaction
that the students had with each other and the professional.
In teaching, Prof. X uses three independent strategies, which were consistent
with each other. Three strategies, normal descriptions, figures and
demonstrations, and in-class competition, generated a very good learning
environment for students. After describing some properties of Fourier Transform,
he always gave an example to show its application or relationship in a
biomedical engineering research. Figures and demonstrations were also given to
student to understand an abstract concept better. From my observations, however,
the most effective strategy he used is the in-class competition/game at the end
of the lecture. Basically, the in-class competition requires two students
competing with each other while answering a question given by Prof. X. The
winner is the one answering the question quicker and correctly. The loser will
be replaced by a new challenger to compete with the winner for a new question.
The prize for a winner is candy, but the quantity may vary depending on how many
opponents he beat. Obviously, that in-class competition generated a great
atmosphere which induced a profound involvement and interactions of students in
the class.
Discuss what you have learned from this observation that you would like
to include in your own repertoire of instructional strategies.
How to activate students' interests is a very important concern for a
teaching practice. That is what I learned from that classroom observation. Such
as the method Prof. X used, in-class competition, it invokes the interests and
enthusiasms hidden in students' mind. They got some in-depth understanding and
thinking about abstract concepts, hard to get in a normal teaching environment.
However, such a form of teaching strategy needs more time. Therefore, how to
design a lecture and organize time well is critical. I will definitely introduce
those strategies used by Prof. X to my teaching practice in the future. I may
also consider to create some other methods to increase the interactions between
students and instructors in class.
Open-ended response - please use this question to add information not
covered in the other three questions.
Basically, students really want to learn those tough concepts. Without a good
teaching strategy, however, some of them may give up. It is not only a problem
of students themselves, but also of instructors. Instructors have the
responsibilities to lead students entering an interesting learning environment.
In many cases, interests can greatly help students spend more time and energy in
overcoming the difficulties met in learning procedures.