The Experience of Teaching

I started co-teaching a class at the University of Southern California (USC) with my friend Sandeep Gupta at the beginning of this year. We were teaching the course EE 577a - Introduction to VLSI design which is a graduate level course introducing students to the concepts of digital design. I would fly down every other Friday to do two lectures, hold office hours and spend time chatting with Sandeep and other faculty and students. It was an enriching experience that I continue to indulge in through this year. ?Let me share some of my initial impressions and thoughts on teaching. The interesting angle is that I myself inhabited the campus and those buildings as a graduate student more than 25 years ago.? In fact EE 577a was a course I took in my first semester at USC.?It felt surreal that I was now stepping in as a teacher where I was once a student.

Teaching is a humbling experience - much like playing golf.?In golf, I take two practice swings to instill muscle memory before I actually address the ball.?And have painfully realized that the presence of the ball makes a big difference in the final outcome ??.?In a similar vein, you think you understand a concept but don’t realize the depth of your understanding until you need to explain it to someone else.?There are nuances and it can be humbling to realize you have not fully thought through all the angles.?That has been both educational and sometimes anxiety-inducing?for me.?It makes me revisit my thought process and exposes me to new ideas. ?More importantly my retention of the concepts is solidified by virtue of teaching it to others.?There is research that learners retain approximately 90% of what they learn when they explain the concept to someone else.?As the Roman philosopher Seneca espoused?“While we teach, we learn.” ?

What is at times disorienting?is how easy it is to disseminate “fake” knowledge.?When you are asked a question that you don’t fully know the answer to, it is tempting to create your own version of the facts.?Our Donald (and I am not talking of the duck) didn’t even need any questions to create his interpretation of the facts, politicians provide an answer to a question different to the one being asked,?savvy conference speakers gush “That’s a wonderful question but in the interest of time, I cannot give you a complete answer”, and the guilty ones end up taking the fifth.?What do you do in a lecture when confronted with a question that you cannot instinctively answer??The temptation is to embellish and?play defense - you don’t want to look befuddled?and end up in a TikTok video of being a “duh-uh” teacher ???But when you realize your audience are young minds whose prefrontal cortexes are developing, honesty is the right solution.?I do my best to research those questions that I cannot readily answer and provide solutions in subsequent lectures.?I am developing a much better awareness of knowing what I don’t know - as Voltaire states “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd”.

Earlier in my life I have taught a variety of subjects to my sister, wife, son and a few friends but have received not-so flattering teacher assessments.?The underlying complaint is why I would at times lose patience when they were not able to understand a key concept.?With the passage of time and increased wisdom, I am realizing the virtues of patience and empathy. ?Each of us learns and understands concepts in our own unique way.?In a class of 60 students, how do you gauge whether each one of them has grasped and understood the content of the subject being taught? ?It’s not an easy task which is why I try to institute a policy of there being no “silly” questions - you need to speak up and question any thing that you either don’t understand or is in conflict with your own thought process.??To paraphrase a Steve Jobs quote - ‘stay curious, ask questions’ - a mantra that should be used by anyone learning a new subject and trying to achieve mastery of it.

I have spent many years of my career building interesting hardware products and software tools at various companies.?There is a second-order and in many cases third-order effect in terms of how those products would impact people’s lives.?Teaching gives you instant feedback in how you are possibly making a difference in the lives of other people. ?There is such joy when you see a student’s eyes light up when they grasp a new concept. ?And when you see perplexed faces, there is the resolve to find an alternate way to convey your message. ?To paraphrase Spiderman - with good teaching comes great responsibility.?You realize how your actions will influence them as they navigate through their respective careers.?In the third phase of my father’s career, he was a professor of statistics and immensely enjoyed that experience.?I still recall reading letters from his students on how much a difference he had made in their lives.?My son was a golf instructor as part of his stint at First Tee - he would regale me with stories of his teaching philosophy and the gratification he felt when someone managed to get a ball out of the bunker in one shot.?

Life is all about new experiences - for me teaching has been interesting and fulfilling.?May this inspire you to try and experience it.