Its the end of the Winter quarter. Tired, yet exuberant. A wonderful
group of graduate and undergraduate students. This time the undergrads
surprised me immensely. They surpassed my highest expectations. Funny
how it happens when you least expect it.
I think I learned more from them about myself than they did from
me. Here is what I learnt:
- I have always felt hard pressed to cover all the topics I want
in a single quarter. So I decided to leave it up to the students
to crash as many topics as possible in the last week by doing
ten minute presentations. Which they did, in very high
quality. I think this may be the solution to the "quarter system
constraint."
- I learnt that students are better at picking interesting topics
than I am.
- I learnt that you can always treat undergraduates as graduates
and they will meet the moment.
- I learnt that maybe student run courses would work just as well
as faculty run ones.
- I learnt that setting expectations high is the easiest way to
get students to surpass your expectations.
- I learnt that you know best what you teach, but you teach best
what you love and find most interesting - so there is a huge
benefit in finding that which you enjoy.
- I learnt that it is better to learn to ask good questions, than
it is to know all the answers.
Sanjiv Das
2008-01-04
