Yuting W.

Chen

Teaching Philosophy Statement

I was often asked the question “why did you choose to study engineering?” As a female
working in a generally perceived “masculine” profession, I belong to a small group of
women who pursued this field and stayed in this field. My aspiration to be an engineer
came from a picture-perfect image of a person who has incredible skills to build and fix
things. It was long after I embarked on the journey that I realized it takes a great deal of
hard work and resilience to become that amazing person.

Reflecting on my early experience as a student, my parents and teachers have always

encouraged me to do my best. Even when I failed the first few times, they still believed
that I will eventually succeed if I persevere. Being in this supportive environment has
helped me develop a sense of confidence that I can learn anything if I put my mind to it.
Setbacks and failures are part of the life of an engineer. Throughout my career, there
were times that I questioned whether I am making the right choice of choosing
engineering. The inner voice that says, “I can do it” always wins out at the end. As an
educator, I strive to create a similar environment for my students, in which they will gain
the confidence of embracing failures and learn to appreciate the value of
perseverance.

After I became an educator, I thought about some of the best teachers that I had and tried
to understand what makes them the best. One common trait I found is that they make
learning memorable. When taking a course with these teachers, I didn’t have to spend
extra time outside of class to re-learn what’s being taught in class. As a result, I had time
to dig deeper into related topics that I found interesting. That in turn sparked my
excitement in the class and I became more and more engaged.

In my teaching, I believe that students can master a subject if they figure out what helps
them to learn, and they stay persistent throughout the learning process. My role as a
teacher is to engage them in the subject and encourage them to overcome challenges.

First of all, I think it’s important to make learning stick. Some students prefer taking
notes, others prefer seeing things in action. Using different types of media to deliver
lecture materials increase the chance of successful knowledge transfer from the teacher
to the students. For small classes (less than fifty students), a blackboard is sufficient for
teaching. For larger classes, I find using a tablet to project is much more effective. A tablet
is also a great tool when I am teaching programming classes because I can show and
run code in class. And fill-in-the-blank worksheets work well to give an outline of the
lectures without giving out too much information to spoil the fun of learning. For example,
when I cover the topic of activation records on the run-time stack, I would show and run
a small program that demonstrate the order of evaluation of function arguments in C.
Students are so intrigued by the unexpected result that their faces light up immediately. I
will then explain the cause of the “unexpected” result – function arguments are evaluated
from right to left. Once the explanation is given, students will fill out the worksheet, which
has a blank at the end of the sentence: Function arguments are evaluated from ____ to
____.

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Yuting W. Chen

To make learning visible, a method I use is to have students work on small exercises
throughout lectures and invite volunteers to show their step-by-step solutions on the
board or on my tablet. For instance, after explaining the concept of recursion and showing
an example of implementing a recursive running sum function in C, I will give a few
minutes to let the students implement a recursive function to calculate factorial of a
number. I often ask for volunteers to show his/her solution after the time is up, without
knowing whether the solution is correct. Students tend to stay in their comfort zone and
wait for the teacher to tell them the correct answer. Therefore, the number of volunteers
usually starts out quite small at the beginning of the semester. As students gain
confidence, more and more are willing to stand in front of the class and show their work.

Having volunteers solve small exercises is effective to engage a group of students, but
the rest of the class could still remain relatively passive. To promote collaborative
learning, students in my class are given opportunities to cast their votes to either approve
or disapprove their peer’s solution and each side will take turns to present their supporting
arguments. If a volunteer’s solution is incorrect, I will lead the discussion of finding out
where the errors lie. This interactive process allows me to facilitate conversations in which
students need to articulate their understanding of a subject and explain it to their peers.
At the same time, they are also exposed to different ways of solving a problem other than
their own and they must see it from the other side in order to evaluate whether the given
solution is correct.

Students join the program with different educational backgrounds and skills, some are
less prepared to take on the rigorous curriculum in electrical and computer engineering. I
usually have several struggling students in my class each semester, and helping these
underperforming students to achieve a sense of mastery becomes a critical part of my
job as a teacher. The result of the first major assessment, such as an exam, is a reliable
indicator of individuals in need of help. I would reach out to these students privately and
urge them to meet with me one-on-one to discuss their study plan. Typically, either due
to ineffective learning habits or other personal reasons, these students have not yet found
a routine that works for them to excel academically. Sometimes, they are also
discouraged by their own poor performance and are at the verge of giving up. By
suggesting possible improvement in their study routine, directing them to use proper
resources, and reassuring them that conquering challenges is part of the learning process,
these students often improve in subsequent assessments. From time to time, I run into
some of these students after they completed my course. Although they didn’t receive the
best grade at the end, they found that the materials mastered and the good habits learned
in my course prepared them well for the rest of their program.