Teaching Philosophy

Click here to listen to my teaching philosophy

Click here to listen to my teaching philosophy

Hello gentle folks, I am  Manmeet Dayal, course instructor for Bioprocess Engineering and my personal philosophy on teaching and learning is established on the foundation of learning as a student and teaching as an instructor. Based on my experience from both sides of the classroom, students successfully learn when they discover the understanding and ability to overcome new challenges. It is critical for an engineer to have a sense of the big picture of the technology on which technological decision-making is based.  In addition to basic, technical information this big picture includes insight, communication skills, and decision-making skills.

My goal for student learning is to develop problem solving skills, analytic skills, and, ultimately, ability to think holistically in order to synthesize a creative solution and to deliver them successfully. I hypothesize this allows them to ask and answer several questions: “What is the problem exactly?” “What is known?” “What is unknown?” “How was some core principle pieced out?” And, most importantly, “Does the solution make sense?” In believe students learn through building on their own experiences, and so it is important to allow time during a class for students to ponder concepts and place the concepts into the framework of their mind. As a teacher I would promote student learning by having students make connections among the subject material, other courses they have taken, and their own experiences. I believe that creation of an inclusive environment is a must. A sense of concern and encouragement from the teacher can provide students with the confidence and desire to overcome obstacles during the learning process.  Learning begins with communication with the instructor.  The effectiveness of this communication largely depends on the interpersonal relationship between the student and the instructor. I identify students by name and show interest in their educational and career goals.

As an informal advisor, I share both my academic and industry experiences with students and inform them about potential career opportunities. According to me a teacher should promote collaboration between students to broaden their understanding. I encourage small group participation when working on assignments or preparing for exams. Much like a professional environment, I design course projects that involve collective team, rather than isolated individual, efforts. This will not only help the students to learn the lessons of social construction of knowledge at a markedly earlier stage in their academic careers but also develop their thoughtfulness and desire to learn. Moreover, examinations and assignments can be structured to measure the students’ ability to apply their hard-earned knowledge to novel problems, rather than to simply demonstrate their factual recall. By the means of individual and small group student mentoring sessions I supplement the traditional lecture periods. These sessions are designed to resolve the problem areas identified through results of class assignments and exams and provide encouraging and constructive feedback on the student’s problem-solving process. I also believe that the learning of complex concepts can be significantly enhanced and promoted through hands-on laboratory experiences.

I believe the ultimate goal of education is turning students’ thinking from inward to outward. By this I mean getting students to think beyond themselves and to think globally. Collective thinking and applications of knowledge are how much of the world operates. Given a supportive atmosphere, and interactive and passionate instruction, I believe that any student can walk away from the study of biology with lessons that will serve them well, whatever their future endeavors.

                                                                                                             Manmeet Singh Dayal

Leave a Reply