Final Reflection

During my pursuit of a Master of Science in Paper Engineering, I was tasked with teaching a Professional Engineering Skills course to undergraduate engineering students as part of my graduate assistantship. I took a course at Syracuse University the semester prior called Fundamentals of Teaching for Non-Majors to prepare myself for this task. After taking that class, I started to fall in love with teaching. Throughout my Master of Science in Paper Engineering and the beginning semester of my Doctor of Philosophy in Biomaterials Engineering, I taught the Professional Engineering Skills course twice. There were some things that went well, such as the use of interesting ways to make groups for in-class group work and the selection of some of the topics and assignments. However, they were my weakest semesters of teaching in my career. I was inexperienced, poor at classroom behavior and the management of reasonable workloads for my students for the class, and I worked from a place of arrogance as the "teacher who knew more than their students and knew what was good for them more than the students did" because I had "more experience teaching" and was encouraged to act that way from others around me. 

​

Participating in the Master of Science in Teaching and Curriculum Program at Syracuse University changed everything. 

​

I am so grateful that this concurrent program between Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF existed and that it was introduced to me during my first semester of my PhD work. When I learned of this opportunity in the Fall 2017 semester, I quickly applied for the program and was accepted. From this, I also joined the Future Professoriate Program at Syracuse University and worked toward a Certificate in Undergraduate Teaching as well. 

​

It was through the Teaching and Curriculum program that I learned everything I know about education, teaching techniques, curriculum, and instructional design. The work I completed in this program through my course materials and the concepts I applied to my own teaching made me a better teacher for my students and for myself. My work on the various course products that I have included in this portfolio made me realize that I have a true passion for teaching science at the college level. I yearned to be a professor someday and to change the way we educated young scientists and engineers in academia to prepare them for their future careers. 

​

Many of my realizations were the product of the core content and material that I learned and discussed in my course product. But it was also the result of difficult reflections inward and outward that were required of me in the Teaching and Curriculum program. I learned about the biases and oppressive structures many students have faced and continue to face in the educational system that needed to be changed. I reflected upon my role in those systems and learned how to better advocate for students, be a role model, and confront and dismantle these systems in different ways. While I cannot do everything, I can still do something, and that is better than nothing. I learned about different ways to teach and assess, and different tools and methods that I could utilize in the classroom that focused on the student instead of the instructor. I learned about classroom management and how to create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable and empowered to participate and contribute to knowledge generation. I learned how to promote the voice of the student and guide them towards learning instead of simply acting as an authority figure towards them. These lessons were priceless to me and would not have been possible without this Teaching and Curriculum degree program. 

​

I also reflected upon my own educational experiences from the perspective of both a student and an instructor. I realized that my arrogance in thinking I always knew what was best for the students was wrong. While it took time to get through my anxiety of reading student feedback, I made it a point to have open questions in class surveys, review student feedback and address their needs where I could the next time I taught the course. Each semester, I would show the students the general themes of the feedback from the semester prior (using my tools of thematic analysis that I learned during my Teaching and Curriculum studies) and explain to them what I was doing to change the course to meet their needs. There were things I could not change, of course, such as the time at which class occurred (though one semester I did try but was not successful). But the things that I could change - such as how much material I covered, the type of assessments, and the scheduling of the classes - I would work on adjusting to meet my students' needs. I would still challenge them and find new ways and methods to teach them (one of my favorite being the use of argumentation in one of our classes in lifelong learning). However, each semester I improved towards creating a better workload balance and enjoyable class for my students. 

​

I found that students were very receptive of this, and moreso, they were appreciative. They explained to me that they often felt their struggles and feedback to professors fell on deaf ears and change was never implemented in the courses the following semesters. But with my class and my willingness to listen and show empathy towards my students, they could physically see the changes and the attempts at improving the class and myself each semester. Feedback became less attacking of myself and more constructive with genuine ideas for improvement of the course. It even got to the point where the class transformed to one that students enjoyed and openly praised instead of disliked. If it were not for the reflection and introspection, and the constant exposure to new teaching tools and ideas and gentle hearts from my professors at Syracuse University, that was required of me during the Teaching and Curriculum program, I would not have developed into this responsive and supportive instructor. 

​

The reflection on my experiences as a student in the undergraduate engineering program brought many realizations about the quality of my education from a learning and teaching standpoint. I realized that much of my education was disjointed, with courses that were required but not well linked together. The format of my education and the ways in which many of my professors taught their courses resulted in a lot of self-teaching and surface-level learning as I crammed for exams to try and maintain a high grade point average, only to forget most of what I learned from poor learning techniques or lack of use in later courses. As I learned more about teaching techniques, Learning Theory, instructional design, student-centered learning, distributed learning and deep-level learning, and many other topics, I realized that many of my professors did not have proper training in this crucial aspect of their jobs. Rather, they simply lectured as content experts and taught the way they were taught when they were in college decades prior. What frustrated me more was that students in these courses years after the fact were still dealing with the same issues and stressors that I did when I was an undergraduate student. This only fueled my passion for wanting to be be a better professor for my future students. I wanted to transform the collegiate science and engineering classroom into a place of active learning, student ownership of knowledge, and equitable voices and opportunities. The courses, seminars, and other opportunities in the Teaching and Curriculum program made this apparent and possible for me. 

​

Thanks to the knowledge and skills I gained from the Teaching and Curriculum program, I feel confident that I can be a good science and engineering professor in the future. I have learned about a plethora of teaching techniques, and have also been given resources and skills in finding new tools in the literature to try and implement. I have developed social awareness and empathy for both myself and others through self-reflection and qualitative research skills that implore me to learn about the stories of others. I have gained experience in communicating science and engineering concepts in a variety of activities and narrative forms so that I may accommodate and work with students of all science backgrounds and walks of life. I have also practiced qualitative research and evaluation skills that will be necessary for me to perform research and implement new methods of teaching in the collegiate science classroom so that I can enact change in our educational practices. I have learned and implemented knowledge and skills in the instructional design process that have made my lessons, units, and courses stronger for my students. My instruction contains measurable objectives, understanding of the prior knowledge and skills of my audience, materials and activities that match the level of learning/taxonomy of the objective students are working towards, and opportunities for evaluation and reflection to constantly improve my instructional craft.

 

Comparing my perspectives, knowledge, skills, and work before and after enrolling in the Teaching and Curriculum program, I can wholeheartedly confirm that this degree has had a lasting impact on my professional development towards being a professor in the collegiate science classroom someday. I firmly believe that any and every student can learn science with enough support, guidance, and patience, and I feel confident that I can help uplift and teach students with everything that I have learned in the Teaching and Curriculum program. I have learned so much for this degree and will continue to learn thanks to the knowledge, skills, and guidance I received during my time in the program. Thank-you, Syracuse University, for helping me develop the crucial tools I needed to be a better professor and a better person.