The higher education landscape has been dramatically changed over the past decade. Rapid rise of technology such as online programs and social media are transforming pedagogy and forcing huge changes in higher education systems. The number of students growing and student population is remarkably divers in ethic, race, gender, socio-economic and learning style today’s. Moreover, employers have higher expectation today and students should be truly prepared for the demand and complexities of the modern workplace [1]. Whit this in mind, I have three primary goals in teaching undergraduate and graduate students: first to create an environment that facilitate learning fundamental theories and applications, second, to prepare my students mind for
…show more content…
For this reason, I conduct a design project. During the project students 1) define and analyze a problem, 2) find a solution or make recommendations, 3) deliver the solution or report to end-user, and 4) discuss their solution and recommendation in the class with other students. For instance, in the senior-level course “Rock Engineering” I provide my students a real tunnel design project and state the problem which is typically stability analysis and determining the optimum tunnel support. I usually divide the students to a number of groups to work on the problem. During the project, groups will analyze the problem, find the appropriate tools, follow the required steps for solving the problem, find the solution and prepare a report. At the end, I assig all groups the important task of criticizing other groups’ idea, solution or recommendation. Holding office hours during the project is very important to development of students’ critical thinking skill. In office hours, students that seek more direction on how approach a problem can get individual attention while explaining their though process. In addition to projects, students use their both conceptual and critical thinking skills on two or three assignment in a semester.
To achieve my third goal of teaching, I incorporate my research
For this reason, I conduct a design project. During the project students 1) define and analyze a problem, 2) find a solution or make recommendations, 3) deliver the solution or report to end-user, and 4) discuss their solution and recommendation in the class with other students. For instance, in the senior-level course “Rock Engineering” I provide my students a real tunnel design project and state the problem which is typically stability analysis and determining the optimum tunnel support. I usually divide the students to a number of groups to work on the problem. During the project, groups will analyze the problem, find the appropriate tools, follow the required steps for solving the problem, find the solution and prepare a report. At the end, I assig all groups the important task of criticizing other groups’ idea, solution or recommendation. Holding office hours during the project is very important to development of students’ critical thinking skill. In office hours, students that seek more direction on how approach a problem can get individual attention while explaining their though process. In addition to projects, students use their both conceptual and critical thinking skills on two or three assignment in a semester.
To achieve my third goal of teaching, I incorporate my research