Teaching Philosophy, Methodology and Results Michael Fuchs Department 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 2006 2006 Fall Calculus I Probability Theory Spring Calculus II Stochastic Processes 2007 Analysis of Algorithms 2008 Cryptography Analytic Combinatorics 2009 Complex Analysis

Teaching Philosophy Antoine de Saint-Exupery. “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 English Understanding 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 assignments Examples 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!