The day before my departure to Europe I had an interview at Concordia University at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for a teaching position. I am very much interested in doing some more teaching, because after 3 years of research I would like to build and improve my teaching portfolio. Moreover, I have enjoyed teaching at a university level very much in the past (at McGill in spring 2006 and this spring at Concordia). The interview went well and was conducted in a very pleasant manner. After lunch with faculty members, I gave a teaching lecture to faculty, PhD and Master students, which was very well received. It was followed by an interview with the search committee and individual faculty members. I had the possibility to ask questions and bring in my own views and ideas. I have also received feedback on the teaching lecture; very instructive. I was quite tired afterwards – after a 6 hour visit and questions (and a lot of preparation time before – for the course, the interview and my trip). I am definitely ready to go to Europe, although not much of a holiday waits there – my first talk is on Friday.
Tag: teaching
Impressions from my teaching duties at McGill
Midterms
Onehundredandtwelve exams are not a small thing to correct – so I was locked up for a full weekend and spent a couple more days during the week with marking. The goal: To get the results out before the course drop date (the last day, when students can drop the course without getting a “failed†mark). I was quite a bit faster than last year, when it took me 3 weeks to correct 40 midterms of the McGill Chemistry course that I taught, so that definitely is an improvement. However, it still is a lot of work. And it was not easy for me, to keep the marking level for all exams (although I was doing question after question rather than marking a whole exam at a time), so I went over the exams another time to make sure that marking was fair. It also turned out that the exam was quite a bit too long, so I had to factor that in as well. Anyway – it’s done and it was a good test run for the final; and the average was just right as well.
Reading week …
… no lectures! But still tons of work. The midterm is coming up and I need to finalise my exam drafts. Furthermore, I have to finish my calculations & slides for the remaining lectures, also because a colleague and friend is going to give the last 2 lectures as I will be away. I also hold office hours during the break, although I expect the rush to start after – just before the exam. But with a little less load I have time to review progress so far and finish the schedule for the remaining lectures. With some additional electroanalysis material that I have covered (mostly applications,which I consider to be useful for biochemistry students) things are going to be tight at the end.
A little crazy …
Things are pretty tight at the moment – so not much time for blogging. The lecture is taking up most of my time; I am quite a bit ahead with my preparation, but I have to keep up. On the other hand, I constantly tweak my notes – firstly for the evening class (adding my experience from the day class, which gets the first reading), secondly adding things I have to stress again or provide more examples at the request of students.
The rest of my time is spent with the preparation of job and grant applications. After 3 1/2 years my contract is about to finish and I am looking for some more teaching experience after years of research. I intend to build a teaching portfolio to be in a better position, when new faculty jobs will be advertised. I guess it will also lighten my load a little, should I ever be offered one that I decide to take on (many implicit ifs here). But I do enjoy teaching and would like to do a little more on a university level.
I have also applied for a networking grant for my planned trips to Vienna and Newfoundland. I have made contact with research groups working in a similar field and I am looking forward to meeting them and exchange ideas and discuss experiments.
Teaching Week 3
… and it is going well. Both sections – day and evening – are fun to teach with slightly different challenges. The day class is quite full with 60+ students and interaction is more limited compared to the evening section, although I try keeping students involved. The evening class with < 30 students feels more cozy and it is easier to ask somebody out to the board to present in class assignment results.About 80% of the time I work on calculations on the board or explain fundamental equations with examples and exercises. That is quite new to me and I am more and more comfortable writing on the board, although I still have trouble sometimes in locating an orthographic error, especially if a student’s comment was rather vague.I now use the slides as a framework with the most important information presented in condensed form. After this initial presentation I go into the details with sample calculations and examples. A parallel presentation as initially planned does not work, because the canvas covers most of the board and I cannot switch between the two without turning off the projector and removing the canvas. The solution that I use now works fine anyway and slides play a minor role anyway, mostly reducing the number of complex drawings.The first graded assignment is out and due next Wednesday – a lot of work ahead with 110 corrections to do.
Teaching has started …
… and I am utterly enjoying it!Day and evening classes are usually quite full (60 students during the day, 30 in the evening class), but teaching is enjoyable and not too strenuous (now that I have a cold a bit more, but still ok). I try to keep students involved and switch frequently between projector, board and in-class assignments as a help to keep them awake and interested – depending on the content to be taught. E.g. I do all calculations step-by-step on the board in order to be not too fast: I am quite a slow writer on the board, but picking up speed and using the board more efficiently with every new class. Things also got livelier and questions are being asked.I have settled nicely into my schedule, spending Wednesdays and a half-day Friday at Concordia. Getting there is not too bad, although the Metro and the bus are always full. I have finally obtained my key and access to the network/web so that I can be productive during the break between my lectures.
CHEM-218 Teaching Preparations
After a short break, Jan 3 is drawing closer and so is my start date for “Analytical Chemistry II” at Concordia University. I have been quite busy preparing – things are going well and also on the administrative side, it has been going surprisingly smooth with a lot of help from a lot of friendly Concordia staff.The only thing missing is access to my Moodle course website, which I hope to set-up in the first days of January. Otherwise I am ready for the first chapters and I am in for a first long day on Jan 3 with lectures in the morning (1hr 15min) and the evening (2hrs).Titrations are first with a look behind the scences (theory) as well as lots of calculations to prepare students for the lab course starting a week after. I would also like to link things to current applications to illustrate to importance of the classical, but not outdated methods. Things that will follow are electrochemistry and spectroscopic methods.A midterm and final exams as well as assignments are also part of the deal and I will be busy with approximately 120 students attending. Most of all, though – I am looking forward to teaching in a really friendly environment!
Details about teaching & a visit to Concordia University
I visited Concordia University this week to get some more information about my teaching duties starting January 3rd. Things are working out well on the administrative side – I signed my contracts and all there is left is my application for a new work permit. Teaching dates and rooms are set and I have a good idea who to ask, if I do not know, how to proceed.I will be teaching approx. 120 students in 2 parallel courses, so will be imperative for me to design exams and assignments that can be corrected within the required time; that is not the way I like it (I like to design my questions in way that I get a feel for how much students know and those are not always easy and quick to correct, depending on the topic). But there is nothing I can do.The topics of the courses are well laid out and I got an excellent briefing from my predecessor, who will be teaching other courses next winter term. He also provided a lot of material for me to get started quickly. Concordia uses Moodle as a teaching tool, so let’s see how I will be able to use it.The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, everybody is really helpful. People take time to listen to my questions (also in the administration!) – I think I am going to like it at Concordia, even if it is only for 4 months for the time being.
I will be teaching again!
During my vacation I have learned that I will be teaching again, this time at Concordia University in the Chemistry Department. The course, CHEM-218 deals mainly with the following topics: precipitation equilibria and titrations; electrochemistry; redox equilibria and titrations; potentiometry; molecular and atomic absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy.It is definitely going to be fun and I am looking forward to it – a new university and a new environment for me to get acquainted with and new experiences to make.
One thing at a time, but still lots of things to do …
There are a couple of things that I currently work on. First there are the measurements of my snow samples collected at Alert with lots of other samples (especially the air canisters) in the queue. The calibration curves for the liquid phase and headspace are ready (18 compounds each) and I have started crunching numbers.
I also write a manuscript on my data from snow samples collected in the winter/spring of 2005, which is quite advanced and on a good track. All the introductory and experimental stuff is written including results and discussion with a few calculations missing. It should be ready soon.
I am working with a student on ice-nucleation and training her on how to use the instrument, prepare solutions,… She is running blanks at the moment and trying to make the instrument behave in a repeatable manner.
I am also closely tracking open positions at Montreal universities, with one application pending for a temporary teaching position (1 course for 1 semester) to add to my teaching experience.