Talking Teaching 13th March

At the start of this event there will be an update on Learning and Teaching Strategy progress, activities and events. If you have any questions on Curriculum Review or Pedagogy Transformation, please do come along and ask them.

Following this, we will be showcasing the teaching and insights of two Imperial staff members.

Can computers do our marking?

Professor Kevin Buzzard

Computers are very good at logic. A typical first year undergraduate on Imperial's mathematics degree is often not as good as a computer, at least when they arrive, because (for pedagogical reasons) the standards of rigour in A-level mathematics are not as high as those at university. It is my job, in the first term of these students' university careers, to teach them what a rigorous logical argument is, and how to justify arguments which at school could be dismissed with "it's obvious" (or sometimes "It's obvious....I think...").

I have been exploring how to use cutting edge "proof verification" technology in my classes, and have been teaching students how to write simple mathematical proofs not with pen and paper but in a new computer language. It is hard, and the outcomes so far have been, to say the least, interesting, and perhaps surprising (it is not often I find myself writing papers with second year undergraduates). I will tell the story of what I've been doing for the last 18 months with our first years.

No mathematical background is required.

Teaching in collaboration with alumni in industry

Dr Andrew Phillips

Dr Andrew Phillips (Civil and Environmental Engineering) will be speaking about his experience of teaching a module in collaboration with alumni who now work in industry.

Andrew has partnered with alumni to teach the ‘Sketching and Modelling’ module that is taught to first year Civil and Environmental Engineering students. Alumni are employed as Visiting Design Fellows and their feedback shapes the module, focusing the module on skills that the alumni put into practice in industry.

This module is now in its second year of running and Andrew will be reflecting on lessons learnt and the changes that have been implemented based on student feedback