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Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at Science Week Lecture, University of Texas Arlington (Arlington, TX), Tuesday, November 1, 2016:
talk_2666.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The silent killer of learning
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at Enhancing Teaching Effectiveness, Nyack College (Nyack, NY), Friday, October 21, 2016:
talk_2657.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The silent killer of learning
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at Enhancing Teaching Effectiveness, Nyack College (Nyack, NY), Friday, October 21, 2016:
talk_2656.pdf
I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at College of Science Distinguished Speaker, Rochester Institute to Technology (Rochester, NY), Monday, October 17, 2016:
talk_2652.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The silent killer of learning
Less is More: Extreme Optics with Zero Refractive Index, at National University of Singapore (Singapore), Wednesday, August 24, 2016:
talk_2606.pdf
Nanotechnology has enabled the development of nanostructured composite materials (metamaterials) with exotic optical properties not found in nature. In the most extreme case, we can create materials which support light waves that propagate with infinite phase velocity, corresponding to a refractive index of zero. This zero index can only be achieved by simultaneously controlling the electric and magnetic resonances of the nanostructure. We present an in-plane metamaterial design consisting of silicon pillar arrays, embedded within a polymer matrix and sandwiched between gold layers. Using an... Read more about Less is More: Extreme Optics with Zero Refractive Index
Flat space, deep learning, at Yale-NUS College (Singapore), Tuesday, August 23, 2016:
talk_2608.pdf
The teaching of physics to engineering students has remained stagnant for close to a century. In this novel team-based, project-based approach, we break the mold by giving students ownership of their learning. This new course has no standard lectures or exams, yet students’ conceptual gains are significantly greater than those obtained in traditional courses. The course blends six best practices to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop important skills, including communication, estimation, problem solving, and team skills, in addition to a solid conceptual understanding... Read more about Flat space, deep learning
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at Yale-NUS College (Singapore), Monday, August 22, 2016:
talk_2607.pdf
I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly
Teaching with technology in the 21st century, at Monash College and Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia), Friday, August 19, 2016:
talk_2649.pdf
Over the past decades there has been a concerted push away from passive lecturing to active engagement in the classroom. A successful implementation of the so-called flipped classroom requires students to come to class prepared, either by reading the textbook or watching a pre-recorded video. A variety approaches have been devised to get students to take responsibility for this information transfer, but none manage to get all students to participate, compromising the in-class activities. I will present a new approach to get every student to prepare for every class using a new social learning... Read more about Teaching with technology in the 21st century
Flat space, deep learning, at Monash University and Monash College (Melbourne, Australia), Thursday, August 18, 2016:
talk_2647.pdf
The teaching of physics to engineering students has remained stagnant for close to a century. In this novel team-based, project-based approach, we break the mold by giving students ownership of their learning. This new course has no standard lectures or exams, yet students’ conceptual gains are significantly greater than those obtained in traditional courses. The course blends six best practices to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop important skills, including communication, estimation, problem solving, and team skills, in addition to a solid conceptual understanding... Read more about Flat space, deep learning
Laser doping and texturing of silicon for advanced optoelectronic devices, at Tsing Hua University (Hsinchu, Taiwan), Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
talk_2644.pdf
Irradiating a semiconductor sample with intense laser pulses in the presence of dopants drastically changes the optical, material and electronic properties of the sample. The properties of these processed semiconductors make them useful for photodetectors and, potentially, intermediate band solar cells. This talk discusses the processes that lead to doping and surface texturing, which both increase the optical absorption of the material. We will discuss the properties of the resulting material including the formation of an intermediate band. We have developed laser-processed silicon... Read more about Laser doping and texturing of silicon for advanced optoelectronic devices

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