Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Some basic ideas about teaching

Over the past few decades, I have taught a wide range of courses in diverse contexts. Perhaps I have been slow to learn how to be a better teacher. Since I began teaching things have changed dramatically. Our goals and the content of most curricula have changed little, and should not. However, advances in technology provide new opportunities but also challenges and potential distractions. The social context has changed significantly in terms of the expectations of both students and institutions.

Here are a few of the ideas that I think are important to keep in mind.  Some seem obvious, particularly in hindsight. On the other hand, practical implementations are a challenge. I think keeping the ideas in mind is also important for maintaining your sanity and motivation.
The ideas are listed in no particular order and many are interconnected.

The amount of learning that happens is correlated with the level of student engagement.
Engagement happens at many levels and in many ways: through attendance, listening carefully, taking notes, asking questions, reading texts, talking to classmates about content, working on problems, watching relevant videos, thinking about content, ...
Consequently, a good teacher explores strategies to increase student engagement. However, there is a limit to what you can do. This is why I despair of the situation in most beginning undergraduate classes in Australia. For example, in the last course that I taught there were about 100 students enrolled. Only about 30 actually showed up for class, and only about 20 used clickers in class to engage. Videos of the lectures are available (because of mandatory university policy), increasing the temptation of students to not attend. But most videos have viewed a handful of times. This is quite representative. It sadly contrasts to some different contexts I have taught where there is a very high level of student engagement.

The curriculum should be your servant not your master.
Textbooks get thicker and thicker with time. More and more content gets crammed into curricula. This increases the pressure to "cover material", even if students learn little. I recently had the opportunity to teach a whole course and took the liberty to reduce content and focus on depth of understanding. I think the outcomes were much better.

Accept and work with the hand of cards you that have been dealt.
We all have fantasies of teaching a class with students that are all gifted, well prepared, highly engaged, highly motivated, and appreciative. However, it never happens! We need to accept who they are, where they are at and adapt our expectations, strategies and academic level.

Flip, blend and mix the classroom.
On the one hand, there is a lot of hype about the value of "flipping the classroom",  online courses, and peer instruction. On the other hand, I am told (and I have my own anecdotal experience) that there is significant research that does show that a "blended" class [i.e. a combination of online and face-to-face] instruction is effective. I find that regular online quizzes and reflections do increase student engagement and give me helpful feedback about learning progress. But, expect some student resistance and complaints. If you reduce traditional lecturing a few students will complain that you aren't "teaching them" or that they are ``not getting their money's worth''!
Different students have different learning styles. Furthermore, today's students are more video oriented than text-oriented and have shorter attention spans. Hence, in a single class hour, there is value in a mixture of traditional lecture, short video clips, small group discussion, ...

Be mindful of the undercurrent of complex social and psychological dynamics in the classroom.
Students are human! They come to class with a lot of emotional and intellectual "baggage",  both good and bad: aspirations, gifts, expectations, insecurities, prejudices, excitement, preconceived ideas, fears, hopes, ...
Furthermore, they are not just individuals but a social unit. Your students have a relationship with you and with one another: positive, negative, ambivalent, or non-existent.
All this complex dynamics has the potential to enhance or to hinder learning. Unfortunately, much of it we have no control over. On the other hand, if we can discern some of the dynamics and respond appropriately it can enhance learning significantly.

Learning is enhanced through personal relationships.
Even extreme introverts are wired to be relational and yearn for meaningful relationships. They just want a few select relationships.

Accept that you will never make everyone happy.
It never ceases to amaze me how polarised student feedback and teaching evaluations are. You are the best/worst teacher they have ever had. This is the best/worse course they have taken. The course is too hard/easy... This is all for the same course and teacher! Don't take the feedback so personally.

What do you think?
Any other things that you think are important.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Advice for beginning bloggers

A friend asked me for any advice I have before he launches a blog. What mistakes have I made? How do I manage comments? What is the best platform?
So here are my rough thoughts.

Just do it!
This applies to both starting, persevering, and what you write. Blogging is not for perfectionists and procrastinators. A major strength (and weakness) of the medium is that one can float tentative and controversial ideas and not worry about endless editing and polishing. It can be an incredibly enriching experience, for both yourself and others.

The biggest impact of your blog may be on you not on your audience.
This is really true in my case. Blogging has clarified my thinking on a wide range of issues, from science to politics to religion.

Blogging saves time rather than taking time.

Don't be driven by metrics.
It is easy to keep track of page views and an abundance of other data. It is not clear how accurate or helpful it is. Furthermore, this can easily lead to feelings of insecurity and a temptation to write "click bait". I think the only really meaningful "metrics" are whether a post generates some useful discussion, someone learns something, or even changes their mind.

Go for the long haul.
Many people start blogs but quickly give up because they don't get much feedback. After about four years I was really wondering whether many people were reading this blog or whether it was having much impact. Then on an international trip, I kept meeting people who read it and thanked me for it. This provided motivation to keep going.

Most readers enjoy a diverse range of subjects.
That is the feedback I received from many readers, as I traverse from the technicalities of constructing diabatic states to mental health to teaching philosophy to ranting about metrics .... Obviously, some posts will be of more interest to some readers than to others. Don't worry about it.

Find ways to stimulate discussion in the comments section
This is probably my only regret. I was too slow to ask readers questions, to engage in discussion with commenters and to allow anonymous comments. On the one hand, I have not attracted as many comments as I would like. I am quite "jealous" of some of the discussions that people like Peter Woit, John Quiggin, and Peter Enns [there is an interesting mix of three people!] can generate. On the other hand, I have been blessed by the absence of trolls or the inane comments or abusive debates that seem so common on many blogs, youtube, and newspaper websites. The only comments I have felt the need to delete are spam advertising. But maybe I am not controversial enough to generate heated debate. One thing I do have to discipline myself is to not "name and shame" scientists and administrators that I think are charlatans. There are also certain topics I just avoid because it tragically seems almost impossible to have a civil online discussion and I am too scared of getting "condemned" for life for exploring some nuanced view that is "offensive", whether to people on the left or on the right.

Keep the software and formatting simple
There are endless possibilities for flashy formats. I am sticking with the most basic format. There are plenty of popular and valuable blogs (e.g. John Quiggin and Peter Woit) that also use rudimentary formats. I suspect wordpress may be better than because it does give more reliable and wider statistics.

Do readers or bloggers have other suggestions for someone about to start out?

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Key ideas in solid state physics

I have had some interesting discussions with an editor at Oxford University Press about the Very Short Introductions series. The upshot is that I have been asked to write a VSI Condensed Matter Physics. I find it amazing and concerning that after 500 titles there wasn't one about CMP. There are excellent ones on Magnetism, Superconductivity, Complexity, and Crystallography.
I am very happy about this and will post more about it later. At first, we discussed a VSI on Solid State Physics. Here is my outline for that.

1. Introduction
    Solid state physics
   - is central to technology (diodes, transistors, LEDs, photovoltaic cells, and computer memories)
   - provides important lessons in scientific model building
   - is one of the largest fields of physics
   - is a rich source of ideas and concepts that have cross-fertilised with other fields of science

2. Solids are quantum matter
Solids are made of atoms (nuclei and electrons).
Electrons are waves. Electrons are fermions. Quantum degeneracy
How is a metal like a white dwarf star?

3. Symmetry matters
Crystal structures. Think in reciprocal space, not in real space.
Why is it possible to determine a crystal structure from x-ray diffraction?
Internal symmetries of electrons: spin, gauge symmetries.

4. Electron waves in a crystal
Bragg scattering. Extended states.
Energy gaps: metals, semiconductors, and insulators
Why is copper a metal while diamond is an insulator?
Why can an electron go through a crystal and pass millions of atoms without being scattered?

5. Multitudes of solid phases
Phase diagrams. Allotropes.
When is graphite less stable than diamond?
Magnetic and superconducting phases
Classifications of phases through "broken symmetry"

6. Emergence
Quasi-particles: electrons and holes, phonons, magnons
How does structure (chemical and crystal) determines electronic and structural properties?
Why does magnesium seem to have positively charged electrical currents?

7. Beyond perfect infinite crystals
a. Impurities, disorder, localisation, glasses: the value of imperfection
b. Flatland. Surfaces and dimensionality

8. Topology matters
Quantum Hall effects, Topological insulators, Quantum magnetism

9. Solid state technology
 Diodes, transistors, LEDs, photovoltaic cells, and computer memories

10. Solid concepts
What have we learned about scientific model building?

This is too much. But what would you add or subtract?