Students should look forward to coming to classThe Utopian view of the college classroom is one in which students show up to class with an undying thirst for knowledge, teeming with excitement to engage in thoughtful, heady discussion. The realistic view is one in which students sit slouched down in their chairs with eyelids heavy from the weight of college life, faces buried in their phones. It is when my students look the most apathetic that I most enthusiastically accept my charge as not only curator of content and purveyor of PowerPoints, but entertainer-in-chief of the classroom! I view lecturing as a performance art, carefully crafted with enough technical material to train the next generation of scientists, along with a healthy dose of informal interaction to allow that material to sink in and maintain students' attention. A class that laughs is a class that learns.
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Balance hand-holding and letting students struggleBeing able to follow a recipe does not make you a chef. There is a tendency when teaching technical, computer-based material to want to tell students how to do everything -- type this, point here, click there, etc. Although every GIS and remote sensing education requires a necessary amount of this "cookbook"-type learning, particularly early on, at a certain point, you need to take the training wheels off and let them explore on their own. If you don't, you will have a classroom full of students who are really good at reading directions, but really bad at GIS and remote sensing in the real world. My classes tend to follow a similar pattern: start by holding their hand, and slowly (but surely!) let them find their own way. There is no greater reward than seeing the creativity that emerges from students' novel and independent scientific pursuits.
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Recognize that your class is only one very small part of a student's lifeIt's easy, as a professor, to forget that your class is not the only class your student is taking. After all, you devoted your entire academic life to that topic, so why shouldn't they?! But, of course, that's not the reality of the matter. Not only is your class but one of four or maybe five other classes that student is taking, but they are also working full time as a server, and are supporting their father who just got laid off from his job, and has to drive an hour each way to and from campus every day. Every email a student sends you or assignment a student submits should be taken in the context of that student's life circumstances. It is not my job to try to inquire into or try to resolve those circumstances, but it is my job to take them into account when developing a catered plan for success for that student as an individual.
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To maintain students' attention, keep course delivery dynamicWe live in an age when students have more information at the push of a button than they could possibly learn in four years of college. As a professor, there's no way I can hope to compete with Google! Accordingly, it's more important now than it ever has been before to recognize and appreciate the fact that a professor's just is not just to convey facts, but to use a diverse range of pedagogical approaches to ensure that a carefully curated selection of information is delivered to students in an effective manner. Yes, there is a time and place for traditional, slide deck lectures, but if that is the only approach you are employing than you are providing students with nothing they cannot find independently on Wikipedia or one of the vast range of MOOCs. Diversity in course content and delivery reaches students with a diversity of learning styles.
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Students are not memorizing facts, they're investing in their futureNow, perhaps more than ever before in history, students are viewing college as an investment. A decade ago, college was just what you did after high school; it was the logical "next step". Now, students want to know that the tens of thousands of dollars that they are accruing in debt will actually turn into a job at some point. I am very fortunate to work and teach in a discipline in which jobs abound. Accordingly, I frame everything I teach in the context of how the skills my students are learning today can benefit their future selves. To be sure, the college experience is about much more than getting a job, but to ignore the fact that students deserve some long term bang for their buck is to do them a great disservice. Sometimes, knowing that the lab exercise that they are working on has direct professional applicability can be the difference between a student absorbing the material and not.
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Selected quotes from student evaluations
- "Mickey works hard to deliver clear and meaningful information. He's equally attentive to fine details and "big picture" ideas, which results in a masterpiece of educational content, highly effective at reaching students with diverse educational backgrounds and intellectual goals."
- "He was good at interacting with students casually while still gaining their respect and getting through the course material. I think that's the mark of a truly exceptional teacher."
- "Most effective lecturer I've ever had. I am typically one to start to "check out" as a long, boring lectures drag on. Dr. Campbell has found a way to make long and technical lectures an experience that you want to listen to. I've found that success in his class has come easy because I hang on to every word in lecture, unlike most of my classes."
- "I always looked forward to attending a Mickey Campbell class, it was never a dull day. Dr. Campbell's positive attitude (even when you can obviously tell he is stressed) is very encouraging and helped me maintain composure even when I was stressed out myself."
- "The course content was available in several mediums, included visual (ppt) and verbal presentations, and in-class use of the whiteboard, as well as supplemental reading. Helpful for a variety of learning styles."
- "Mickey presents course material in a way that is highly engaging, thorough, and thoughtful. His connection with students is unparalleled to other class experiences, truly and effectively exciting participation and learning."
- "Going into this course, it sounded like a lot of dense tech and math stuff; and while there is inherently quite a lot of that sort of thing in GIS, Dr. Campbell used humor and real-world applications to make the class accessible and relevant. It was a very, very, effective teaching technique and it ended up probably being my favorite class. It sort of felt like The Daily Show that educated us on GIS instead of current events! I appreciated that a lot because for me it was an intimidating subject and I think this could have been a pretty miserable class if taught in a more monotonous manner."
- "Mickey is probably the best professor I've ever had. He is unbelievably knowledgeable and at the same time is really good at simplifying very complex topics down to a level that anyone is able to understand."
- "Wow, what a fun and personable lecturer! I was impressed with how relatable and funny he made this class, and I always looked forward to it. The labs were well thought through and he had the right balance between instruction and forcing students to think through problems, but he was always willing to help and answer questions."
- "Your style of teaching and how you present yourself in the classroom made for a great learning environment. I think one of the biggest things is your ability to talk to the students is a way that makes them feel like you are equals. You still made the point that you are the professor and in charge but allowed for a more relaxed classroom. The only other professor that I can think of that has had the same affect on the classroom was in a scientific presentation course taught by someone with a PhD in communication."
- "I appreciate the full-sentence responses on exams. Where most instructors marks 'right' or 'wrong', Dr. Campbell will explain in detail why is was marked incorrect. I feel I learn more about the topic when corrected like this."
- "Before starting this course, I was only planning on taking it as a course requirement only, but after such a positive experience with Dr. Campbell, I am going to seek certification in GIS."
- "I appreciated how fair and positive Mickey was towards all students, regardless of student's participation styles or performance. His attitude encourages questioning and fosters communication."
- "Mickey's classes have always been classes where I make the most friends, his amazing sense of humor and encouragement of class discussions makes people in the class really open up making the class way more fun for everyone."