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On Research and Education #6
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(For new reader and those who request 好友请求, please read my 公告栏 first).
Three years ago, an education research project at Harvard interviewed me for my
experience of teaching and research at Harvard. I wrote down my answer in the
following piece which was done in 2004. (This is a verbatim copy I only added a
couple of explanatory notes for the benefit of Science Net readers)
On Teaching and Research
By
Yu-Chi Ho
1. At graduate level, I found relatively little conflict between these two endeavors.
2. I regularly teach one service course and one research course (for students about to
do PhD. research in the area) per year.
3. The service course requires separate effort from my research. However, in order
to make it efficient, I invest a lot of time in preparing material for the course.
These include: video and audio lecture tapes accompanied by transparency slides,
homework exercises with answers, a best selling text book, computer
experiments, and numerous handouts for updating purposes. The setup cost is
large but once done, the maintenance cost yearly is relatively modest. The
investments in setup also make the course well thought out and rich in content.
This course was mostly taken by first year graduate student and smart seniors and
juniors.
4. It is my belief that every good idea must be inherently simple once you
thoroughly understood it. Thus for my research course, my aim is to teach
"advanced material from an elementary viewpoint (深入浅出)" This is not easy
but the effort deepens my own understanding of the research topic. Thus, my own
research also benefits. And I don't regard this effort of teaching distracts from my
research. They are totally complementary.
5. I also teach the research course in the style of the Harvard Business School case
study method (HBS regularly conducts a course for teachers who want to teach
using this method). Basically, you give out plenty of course material every week
(see #3 above for example of materials handout and posted on the website).
Students are told that they are responsible for these materials and that I'll quiz and
grade them during the class. They are encouraged to study in groups if they
prefer. During the regular class hours, I no longer lectures but essentially conduct
an oral exam on each student in the guise of guiding student discussions.
6. This method of teaching also requires a lot of the teacher AND the students and is
only practical for class less than 20 students. However, the advantages are many"
a. I get to know the students' strength and weakness very well individually –
much better than couple of quizzes and a final.
b. No chance of any plagiarism or cheating
c. For student who stuck it out, they invariably tell me that they really
learned and some even say that it was the best course they ever taken.
d. There are very little complaints about grades, which I give out every two
week to inform student of their progress.
e. Questions and answers with one student often illuminate a point for the
whole class
f. Students occasionally inspire me with unanticipated question which helps
my own research.
7. The most demanding and less interesting part of my job is administration. This
include contract finance, proposal writing, committee work both inside the
university and outside professionally, professional evaluation and
recommendation letters for various people.
8. Supervising and mentoring graduate students, however, is part of the joy of
teaching. One is rewarded many folds in return when you least expected. At my
retirement, all of my 50 PhD. students organized a two-day symposium, published
a book in my honor and came from all five continents to celebrate with me. Three
years later when I turned 70 (in 2004) they organized again a totally surprise
birthday party as well as a symposium/lecture trip in China for me. What more
can a teacher ask?
9. Roughly speaking this is how my times are spent:
a. 15% for maintaining and teaching the service course
b. 60% on research which include teaching the research course and
supervising PhD. students
c. 25% on department and contract administration and professional activities.
In retirement as a research professor, I no longer need to do items "a" and "c". I still do
item "b" which I love regardless whether Harvard or TIAA-CREF (note: this is the
retirement pension management corporation for most university teachers in the US) or
my research contracts or nobody pays me to do it.
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-3859.html
上一篇：The Interstate Highway System of the US
下一篇：关于学术论文的文献引用及相关的科研道德问题
Three years ago, an education research project at Harvard interviewed me for my
experience of teaching and research at Harvard. I wrote down my answer in the
following piece which was done in 2004. (This is a verbatim copy I only added a
couple of explanatory notes for the benefit of Science Net readers)
On Teaching and Research
By
Yu-Chi Ho
1. At graduate level, I found relatively little conflict between these two endeavors.
2. I regularly teach one service course and one research course (for students about to
do PhD. research in the area) per year.
3. The service course requires separate effort from my research. However, in order
to make it efficient, I invest a lot of time in preparing material for the course.
These include: video and audio lecture tapes accompanied by transparency slides,
homework exercises with answers, a best selling text book, computer
experiments, and numerous handouts for updating purposes. The setup cost is
large but once done, the maintenance cost yearly is relatively modest. The
investments in setup also make the course well thought out and rich in content.
This course was mostly taken by first year graduate student and smart seniors and
juniors.
4. It is my belief that every good idea must be inherently simple once you
thoroughly understood it. Thus for my research course, my aim is to teach
"advanced material from an elementary viewpoint (深入浅出)" This is not easy
but the effort deepens my own understanding of the research topic. Thus, my own
research also benefits. And I don't regard this effort of teaching distracts from my
research. They are totally complementary.
5. I also teach the research course in the style of the Harvard Business School case
study method (HBS regularly conducts a course for teachers who want to teach
using this method). Basically, you give out plenty of course material every week
(see #3 above for example of materials handout and posted on the website).
Students are told that they are responsible for these materials and that I'll quiz and
grade them during the class. They are encouraged to study in groups if they
prefer. During the regular class hours, I no longer lectures but essentially conduct
an oral exam on each student in the guise of guiding student discussions.
6. This method of teaching also requires a lot of the teacher AND the students and is
only practical for class less than 20 students. However, the advantages are many"
a. I get to know the students' strength and weakness very well individually –
much better than couple of quizzes and a final.
b. No chance of any plagiarism or cheating
c. For student who stuck it out, they invariably tell me that they really
learned and some even say that it was the best course they ever taken.
d. There are very little complaints about grades, which I give out every two
week to inform student of their progress.
e. Questions and answers with one student often illuminate a point for the
whole class
f. Students occasionally inspire me with unanticipated question which helps
my own research.
7. The most demanding and less interesting part of my job is administration. This
include contract finance, proposal writing, committee work both inside the
university and outside professionally, professional evaluation and
recommendation letters for various people.
8. Supervising and mentoring graduate students, however, is part of the joy of
teaching. One is rewarded many folds in return when you least expected. At my
retirement, all of my 50 PhD. students organized a two-day symposium, published
a book in my honor and came from all five continents to celebrate with me. Three
years later when I turned 70 (in 2004) they organized again a totally surprise
birthday party as well as a symposium/lecture trip in China for me. What more
can a teacher ask?
9. Roughly speaking this is how my times are spent:
a. 15% for maintaining and teaching the service course
b. 60% on research which include teaching the research course and
supervising PhD. students
c. 25% on department and contract administration and professional activities.
In retirement as a research professor, I no longer need to do items "a" and "c". I still do
item "b" which I love regardless whether Harvard or TIAA-CREF (note: this is the
retirement pension management corporation for most university teachers in the US) or
my research contracts or nobody pays me to do it.
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-3859.html
上一篇：The Interstate Highway System of the US
下一篇：关于学术论文的文献引用及相关的科研道德问题
