About 5 years ago, I had given up on education in India. From August, I started to teach a course - Software Engineering. The difference is that it is at IIT, Ropar, instead of a college affiliated to a university.
After two weeks, I was wondering what makes the difference to me. I am sure the students are very good; however, I had enough good students that that was never a de-motivational issue.
The major impact for me is the control over the course. I am experimenting with a lab - I may be wrong but I think it is worth trying and seeing if the students learn more. The fact that the lab grade matters, the students are willing to be a part of my experiment. I just have to convince them that the experiment will not be unfair to any.
I suddenly realised that I was covering more content than I expected. I can choose to leave out parts I do not think are very important today and add content related to agile processes which appeals to me a lot more. I can also choose to emphasise tools which I believe help create better software. I do not have to worry about the paper setter or complaints of 'out of syllabus' from students of another college.
Bottom line - I am enjoying it and enjoying the effort I have to put into fine tuning the course to hopefully make it more effective.
After two weeks, I was wondering what makes the difference to me. I am sure the students are very good; however, I had enough good students that that was never a de-motivational issue.
The major impact for me is the control over the course. I am experimenting with a lab - I may be wrong but I think it is worth trying and seeing if the students learn more. The fact that the lab grade matters, the students are willing to be a part of my experiment. I just have to convince them that the experiment will not be unfair to any.
I suddenly realised that I was covering more content than I expected. I can choose to leave out parts I do not think are very important today and add content related to agile processes which appeals to me a lot more. I can also choose to emphasise tools which I believe help create better software. I do not have to worry about the paper setter or complaints of 'out of syllabus' from students of another college.
Bottom line - I am enjoying it and enjoying the effort I have to put into fine tuning the course to hopefully make it more effective.
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