by Katherine Blackford, Chemistry Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 Each time I have taught organic chemistry, students have come to me wondering why, even after memorizing all of the necessary content, they still struggled to solve exam problems. They have mentioned running out of time after realizing too late that…
by Douglas Epps, Social Welfare Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 With a global pandemic, an international racial justice movement, and ongoing threats to US democratic institutions, 2020 was a year of many sobering first-time experiences. It also marked my first and second time in the role of acting instructor, teaching…
by Christopher Jelen, Classics Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 After teaching Latin 1, the first semester of Latin, and Greek 15, the intensive Greek workshop, I noticed a recurring problem that arose early in these courses. Many students were deeply uncomfortable making mistakes in class and would avoid situations where…
by Mallika Bariya, Materials Science and Engineering Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 Challenge: In the first fully remote semester of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was a GSI for Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) 45L, a core lab course. Labs revolve around hands-on participation and pose a unique challenge for remote…
by Anna Mikkelborg, Political Science Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 When I learned that the first course I would teach at Berkeley would be offered not only remotely, but asynchronously, I was a bit disappointed. I’d been looking forward to leading a classroom of Introduction to American Politics students in…
by Chitraang Murdia, Physics Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 Remote teaching has come with its own challenges for everyone. One major challenge faced by most instructors is the lack of student participation and engagement. Traditional teaching styles like lectures and supervised problem-solving sessions have not been successful at mitigating this…
by Michael Song, Integrative Biology Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing changes to campus life have posed severe challenges for undergraduate instructors. Adapting to remote instruction was especially difficult for classes traditionally taught using in-person laboratories, which focus on the hands-on investigation of objects of…
by Skyler Wang, Sociology Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 In a 2020 midterm evaluation form I sent to my students, I included the question: “What makes writing a course paper challenging for you?” Aside from the usual suspects such as work overload, lack of motivation, procrastination, etc., I noticed a…
by Panagiotis Zarkos, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 There is a palpable excitement in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences 16A classroom as undergraduate freshmen set out to begin their journey in electrical engineering with a rather demanding course that introduces them to modern information…
by Ashwin Mandakolathur Balu, Public Policy Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 Using experimental methods to establish causal relationships has been the holy grail of research in social sciences. However, it is a challenge to teach these concepts since it requires knowledge about sampling methods, statistics, and probability, as well as…