Category: teaching

News about my teaching at University – Analytical Chemistry for the most part

IR Spectroscopy 1 & 2

This week I have substituted once more teaching IR spectroscopy applications. This time the professor was joining the lecture and I have received excellent feedback from him and also from several students, which makes me happy. After all, students are a different audience and although the presentation is itself is quite easy, I never really know, if they took something home from it until I ask. Well, interaction was good and the discussion quite lively, but for the finer points there is not other way than asking.I have presented applications for NIR, MIR-ATR and FIR spectroscopy including real-life data and recent publications in the field. There is a chance that I will do more teaching next autumn and I have offered my services to the department. Let’s see.

Mass Spectrometry, Part 2

Well – there was clearly more interaction at today’s lecture. I think it took the stundents a while to warm up and join in. It was almost a steady discussion today with lecture being woven into the discussion. I have presented some real life data from my own current work and dealt with some of the challenges that I am facing with measurements, data interpretation and the usage of spectral libraries.

I am looking forward to the IR stuff, where I will also present some hands-on stuff from my own PhD research. I really enjoy teaching – especially, when there is a good interaction between the presenter and the audience.

Teaching – 1st Act

Today I gave my first lecture, presenting mass spectrometry in a 3rd year analytical chemistry course. I was substituting for the professor, who is normally teaching this course and I will have second go in April – teaching infrared spectrometry applications.

I have to say that it went really well and I guess a lot of experience that I gathered as a trainer with the Austrian Scout and Guide Association came in handy here. In fact – presenting in a university lecture is a lot less demanding, because (unfortunately) there are fewer methods to choose from and a lecture is more a presentation than working collaboratively on a problem.

I have had some good feedback from students after the lecture, although they were pretty quiet with only a few questions during the lecture. Let’s see, how it goes next Thursday