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2010

Confessions of a converted lecturer, at CASTeL pre-service teacher Seminar, Dublin City University (Dublin, Ireland), Thursday, March 11, 2010:
talk_1538.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
Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at Cockrell School of Engineering Faculty Innovation Seminar, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX), Monday, March 8, 2010:
talk_1469.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is what is mostly done in large introductory courses -- instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available in printed form) and for students the main purpose of lectures is to take down as many notes as they can. Few students have the ability, motivation, and discipline to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important -- and most elusive -- aspect of education. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing... Read more about Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
Femtosecond laser micromachining, at Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX), Monday, March 8, 2010:
talk_1550.pdf
When femtosecond laser pulses are focused tightly into a transparent material, the intensity in the focal volume can become high enough to cause nonlinear absorption of laser energy. The absorption, in turn, can lead to permanent structural or chemical changes. Such changes can be used for micromachining bulk transparent materials. Applications include data storage and the writing of waveguides and waveguide splitters in bulk glass, fabrication of micromechanical devices in polymers, and subcellular photodisruption inside single cells.
Lectures and Learning: Pedagogies, Technologies, and Peer Learning for the 21st Century, at 2010 Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Event, Indiana University, Bloomington (Bloomington, IN), Friday, March 5, 2010:
talk_1555.pdf
Discussions of teaching and learning and even some publications abound with anecdotal evidence concerning our profession. And our intuition often supplants a systematic, scientific approach to finding out what works and what doesn't work in the classroom. Yet, research is increasingly demonstrating that our gut feelings about teaching and learning are often wrong. It has also been suggested that the lack of interaction in large lecture courses is to blame for the many problems facing these courses: declining enrollments, low attendance, poor evaluations, and disappointing retention. This... Read more about Lectures and Learning: Pedagogies, Technologies, and Peer Learning for the 21st Century
Peer Instruction: A hands-on workshop using clickers, at the Teaching and Learning Technology Center, Indiana University Bloomington (Bloomington, IN), Friday, March 5, 2010:
talk_1548.pdf
The basic goals of Peer Instruction are to encourage and make use of student interaction during lectures, while focusing students' attention on underlying concepts and techniques. The method has been assessed in many studies using standardized, diagnostic tests and shown to be considerably more effective than the conventional lecture approach to teaching. Peer Instruction is now used in a wide range of science and math courses at the college and secondary level. In this workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the “class” in which Peer Instruction is demonstrated,... Read more about Peer Instruction: A hands-on workshop using clickers
Wrapping light around a hair, at Physics Seminar, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN), Thursday, March 4, 2010:
talk_1560.pdf
Can light be guided by a fiber whose diameter is much smaller than the wavelength of the light? Can we mold the flow of light on the micrometer scale so it wraps, say, around a hair? Until recently the answer to these questions was ‘no’. We developed a technique for drawing long, free-standing silica wires with diameters down to 50 nm that have a surface smoothness at the atomic level and a high uniformity of diameter. Light can be launched into these silica nanowires by optical evanescent coupling and the wires allow low-loss single-mode operation. They can be bent sharply, making it... Read more about Wrapping light around a hair
Lectures and Learning: Pedagogies, Technologies, and Peer Learning for the 21st Century, at Edward C. Moore Symposium, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN), Thursday, March 4, 2010:
talk_1547.pdf
Discussions of teaching and learning and even some publications abound with anecdotal evidence concerning our profession. And our intuition often supplants a systematic, scientific approach to finding out what works and what doesn't work in the classroom. Yet, research is increasingly demonstrating that our gut feelings about teaching and learning are often wrong. It has also been suggested that the lack of interaction in large lecture courses is to blame for the many problems facing these courses: declining enrollments, low attendance, poor evaluations, and disappointing retention. This... Read more about Lectures and Learning: Pedagogies, Technologies, and Peer Learning for the 21st Century
Black silicon, at Konopinski Colloquium Series, Indiana University Bloomington (Bloomington, IN), Wednesday, March 3, 2010:
talk_1546.pdf
Shining intense, ultrashort laser pulses on the surface of a crystalline silicon wafer drastically changes the optical, material and electronic properties of the wafer. The resulting textured surface is highly absorbing and looks black to the eye. The properties of this 'black silicon' make it useful for a wide range of commercial devices. In particular, we have been able to fabricate highly-sensitive PIN photodetectors using this material. The sensitivity extends to wavelengths of 1600 nm making them particularly useful for applications in communications and remote sensing.
Turning lectures into learning, at 6th Annual Conference on Advancing Teaching and Learning, Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX), Friday, February 26, 2010:
talk_1534.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet transferring information is what is mostly done in the standard lecture -- instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available online or in printed form) and students take down as many notes as they can. There is little opportunity for the students to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important -- and most elusive -- aspect of education. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing information greatly improves... Read more about Turning lectures into learning
Peer Instruction workshop, at 6th Annual Conference on Advancing Teaching and Learning, Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX), Friday, February 26, 2010:
talk_1535.pdf
The basic goals of Peer Instruction are to encourage and make use of student interaction during lectures, while focusing students' attention on underlying concepts and techniques. The method has been assessed in many studies using standardized, diagnostic tests and shown to be considerably more effective than the conventional lecture approach to teaching. Peer Instruction is now used in a wide range of science, math, and other courses at the college and secondary level. In this workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the “class” in which Peer Instruction is... Read more about Peer Instruction workshop

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