My Teaching Philosophy

Addressing the problems posed to modern operations research requires adapting our teaching style into the realities of the digital era. It is only through adapting our teaching methods that a new generation of students will recognize the existing challenges and learn how to apply the knowledge acquired in their university courses to real world problems, and discover new and innovative solutions of their own. Through teaching, I hope to inspire the new generation to observe, ask why, and sketch solutions.

My teaching philosophy has been shaped by my experiences as both a student and an instructor, as well as the realities of our rapidly evolving fields. The revolution of information technology requires students to become adaptable, learning both the core principles and skills that are relevant to today’s competitive job market. I aim to empower students with experience with real-world problems to discover how to apply the knowledge learned in lectures to solve them. To this end, my teaching philosophy is centered on three main objectives:

• conveying the bigger picture
• providing real-world examples
• actively listening to students to ensure their engagement in the material.

One of my goals as a teacher is to get students to think critically, and challenge what they are taught through conveying the bigger picture. I always strive to provide the intuition behind the techniques and theories being presented and to draw the students’ attention to the underlying concepts to develop analytical and critical thinking. Besides, when presenting basic mathematical models, I seek to identify and present their potential real-world applications. This approach allows the students to think about the problem from a broader perspective and experience some of the difficulties one may encounter in real-world projects. I feel it is important to explain clearly the relevance of the material first before describing the models and solution procedures of the problem. As a teaching assistant, instead of simply providing the solution which may not provide much insight, I always tried to frame the explanations in a manner that made sense conceptually and logically, oftentimes.

I continuously strive to update my knowledge and teaching skills by asking for students’ feedback, attending workshops, and discussing with colleagues. Actively listening to students and obtaining their feedback is essential in ensuring their engagement, particularly in an online learning setting. My ultimate goal as a teacher is to inspire the desire for learning in students and make them able to think, understand, and question.