Teaching Philosophy, Methodology and Results

Michael FuchsDepartment of Applied Mathematics

Short CV

Born in Austria

Master (2000) and Ph.-D. (2002) from the

Technical University of Vienna

Postdoc at the Institute of Statistical Sciences,

Academia Sinica from 2002 to 2004

Assistant Professor at NCTU from 2004 to 2008

Associate Professor at NCTU since 2008

Courses Taught Since 20062006 Fall Calculus I Probability

Theory

Spring Calculus II Stochastic Processes

2007 Fall Calculus I Analysis of Algorithms

Spring Calculus II Stochastic Processes

2008 Fall Calculus I Cryptography

Spring Calculus II Analytic Combinatorics

2009 Fall Calculus I Analysis of Algorithms

Spring Calculus II Complex Analysis

Teaching Philosophy

“If you want to build a ship,

don’t drum up the men

to gather wood, divide the

work and give orders.

Instead, teach them to yearn

for the vast and endless sea.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Teaching Philosophy (con’t)

Teaching Philosophy (con’t)

Motivating students

Understanding limitations

“We can only bring the horse to the river,

but we cannot force the horse to drink”.

Long-term learning goals

Teaching/Learning in EnglishUnderstanding

problems student face

Creating a learning

environment in which

students feel

comfortable

Gathering feedback

Course Statistic

Enrollment Student Evaluation

Beginning of the Course

Explaining what is expected from the

students

Telling students how and where to find

help

How to learn mathematics

Difference of high school mathematics and

university mathematics

Mathematics is not a spectator sport

Blackboard vs. Powerpoint

Course’s Webpage

Homework and Exams

It is not that we understand mathematics, rather mathematics just becomes familiar with practice.

Homework and Exams (con’t)

Weekly assignmentsExamples not just chosen from the textbook,

but carefully selected from many sources

Weekly quizzes

Midterm and Final which mainly

check understanding

Teaching Assistants

TAs play a crucial

role in the teaching

Weekly meetings

with TAs

Weekly meetings

of students and

TAs

Achievements

English Calculus Program

Since 6 years; NCTU is the only university in Taiwan

which has such a program

Large database of examples for

Calculus

Lecture notes for most of the courses

Thanks for Your

Attention

And

Thanks to All My

Students!