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2016

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
Robot’s won’t replace me... will they?, at Controversies: Robots won't replace teachers... will they?, Victoria State Library (Melbourne, Australia), Thursday, August 18, 2016:
talk_2648.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
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
Creating the ultimate flipped classroom (and never looking back), at BLC 2016 (Boston, MA), Wednesday, July 20, 2016:
talk_2646.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 flipped my classroom and never looked back.
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at 22nd Annual Cottrell Scholar Conference, Research Corporation (Tucson, AZ), Friday, July 15, 2016:
talk_2645.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
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
Creating the ultimate flipped classroom - A step by step guide for Peer Instruction, at Conference on Teaching and Learning, National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan), Tuesday, June 28, 2016:
talk_2558.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 90-minute workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the "class" in which Peer Instruction is... Read more about Creating the ultimate flipped classroom - A step by step guide for Peer Instruction
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at 2016 International Symposium on Excellence in Teaching and Learning, National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan), Monday, June 27, 2016:
talk_2557.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
Interactive Learning: Technology in the Classroom, at IAP Symposium on the Convergence of Education & Technology in the 21st Century, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Monday, June 20, 2016:
talk_2642.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
Peer Instruction, at Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop (College Park, MD), Monday, June 20, 2016:
talk_2643.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 Peer Instruction

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