Category: 2. Teaching
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Good Use of Ancient SD Cards
I finally was able to find a good for of those old (ancient!) SD cards I have flying around. The ministry of education in Bavaria requires that I send exam questions to them before use, by mail (the one without an e-). I can burn the questions to a CD, or put them onto a…
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How I Work With Industry Guest Speakers
I bring in guest speakers from industry into my courses, a lot. The benefits of doing so are are mostly that (1) industry speakers can cover some topics better than me and (2) the change of pace in teaching keeps students interested. In general, I don’t save time, though, because engaging industry in my teaching…
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How Not to Organize Written Exams
Das bayrische Kultusministerium
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Why Soft is Hard v2 (in Teaching)
I previously discussed why “soft” research (qualitative research) is so much harder than “hard” research (quantitative research). The main reason is that there is less and later feedback, which can be incredibly frustrating for the impatient researcher. A similar argument applies to teaching “soft” skills, which is much harder than teaching “hard” skills.
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Dear Ministry of Paper-based Exams
Dear ministry: Ten days ago I received a pile of written exams to grade. Yesterday you sent me a note asking me to finish up already. In the future, I recommend you send the dunning notice together with the exams.
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The Downside of College Teaching
“Teaching young minds is great and keeps you young!” There is some truth to this made-up quote. Growing older, you might get set in your ways, but younger people will most certainly challenge you to rethink those. While there is a lot of positive things to say, I want to discuss two difficult but critical…