Samples of work
My co-teaching experience was in OPTI205: Optics of Photography and Videography, with Professor Lars Furenlid. In this section, I show selected slides from selected lectures and explain the teaching techniques that were utilized for the lecture. The slides are based on Professor Furenlid's notes.
The following slides are from the lecture "Principles of image formation and the nature of light". The nature of light might be a very abstract concept for students that haven't had much exposure to the topic. Electromagnetism concepts might seem intimidating and could make students give up on paying attention in the lecture since they may think these concepts will not help them to take better pictures. However, these concepts are very important to build on topics that are coming in the following classes that will have practical uses in photography. For these reasons, a formal definition of light is given, followed by real-life examples of some electromagnetism concepts, which makes the math less intimidating and keeps the students engaged. The technique of being aware of students' prior knowledge is explained in the CIRTL course "An introduction to evidence-based undergraduate STEM teaching".
The following two slides are from the lecture "Light in optical systems". Here, the question is in a color box so that the students know that a question is coming and are better prepared for it, as recommended in the CIRTL workshop "Bring an inclusive mindset to your teaching". Also representing the physical definitions with real-life examples serves as hints for the answer and helps the students predict the answer even if it's their first exposure to this topic. The benefits of the predicting technique is explained in the book Small Teaching by James M. Lang.
The following slides are from Part 2 of the lecture "Light in optical systems". In the first part, the concepts of refraction and thin lenses were explained. Part 2 of the lecture starts with a review of refraction and thin lenses, which also serves as a summary. Reviewing also helps in structuring the lectures, so that it is clear for the students that it is the same topic as the previous lecture.
The following slides are from the lecture "The hyperfocal distance". In the first slide, the students are shown two images and they are asked two questions, the f/# they would use to take them, and where would they focus. With the first question, they retrieve information from previous lectures, where the concept of f/# was explained. However, for the second question, they need to know about the hyperfocal distance, which they haven't studied. The students are not expected to give the right answer, but to notice differences between the first and the second picture, and to realize that they don't know the answer to this question. Thus, the second question is part of the predicting technique. The benefits of the predicting and retrieving techniques are explained in the book Small Teaching by James M. Lang. The hyperfocal distance concept is then explained in a very visual way, with the mathematical derivation done on the whiteboard in parallel, in a way that the students are able to see a very clear explanation of the geometry at any time during the mathematical derivation. Lastly, the hyperfocal distance geometry is exemplified graphically with one of the initial pictures. At this point, the students should realize that they can now answer the two initial questions.
