Tips for teaching
Luis von Ahn, somebody who has changed the world on more than one occasion, has also been awarded a teaching award from his own university. Take his tips seriously 😉
- Pick great TAs. Over the years, I’ve had the most amazing set of TAs, and this teaching award is more than 50% due to them. If you’ve TA’d for me,I would like to give each of you part of the cash prize associated with this award. Too bad there isn’t one.
- When you don’t know the answer to a question say it’s outside the scope of the course.
- Teaching evaluations are highly correlated with the grade the students think they will get at the time of filling out the surveys. Make your course easy, then crush them on the final.
- Never, under any circumstances, disclose the exact grade cutoffs at the end of the semester. Somebody has to get the highest B, and they won’t be happy. “You’re lucky you got a B, dude.”
- Finish lecture 10 minutes early every time – they love this (and they’ll never know you love it even more).
- Easiest way to get rid of whiners without yielding: “I’ll take that into account when calculating your final grade, dude.”
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