Learning, especially within engineering, is an uncomfortable process. Becoming proficient in our field does not require simple memorization; rather, expertise derives from the creation of deep and active mental models of complex phenomena, mental models which are robust enough to be applied to a broad class of problems. These models are not easy to build - they are formed from principles and strengthened by being repeatedly, fundamentally challenged. It is a process which requires a great deal of vulnerability, and every student interacts with it in their own way.

This process does not happen in a vacuum. The classroom - the environment in which students learn - can have a massive impact on the learning process. The classroom can determine, for example, whether a student views their mistakes as learning experiences or as proof of inferiority. It can determine whether a student feels comfortable challenging themselves. It can, to some extent, determine whether a student succeeds or fails. I believe that the fundamental purpose of an instructor is to build the classroom - to create a space wherein students feel that they are safe, that they belong, and that they are capable of succeeding.

Empathy#

Empathy lies at the core of my pedagogy. I believe that, above all else, an instructor must genuinely care about her students and her students’ learning processes. This implies an understanding of learning that prioritizes students as individuals, taking specific circumstances into account and celebrating a diversity of perspectives.

Many people may think of an empathetic classroom as a non-rigorous one - a place wherein students are never challenged, or where expectations are low. This could not be further from the truth. My goal as an instructor is to build a classroom where students are expected to challenge themselves. My assessments are designed with multiple options, allowing students to show their skills in the way that best suits them; however, crucially, each option requires skill. Assessments are given with ample time to complete them, but they are never easy. Projects encourage students to come up with their own ideas, but those ideas must be challenging to implement. I always endeavor to meet students where they are, designing my lectures and labs to accommodate different learning modalities and encourage students to engage; however, fundamentally, I expect students to take the time to engage.

Empathy also does not imply a lack of structure; rather, it is built into the structure from the ground up. I know firsthand that the unstructured, “ask for whatever you need” approach leaves many types of students behind - in many cases in my own education, I was that student, never asking for extensions except in truly extraordinary circumstances. When designing course policies, my goal is to make that implicit flexibility explicit. Instead of expecting students to ask for extensions, I build in a specific number of automatic extensions or drops that students can rely on instead. Instead of expecting students to dispute grading errors, I set aside class time after an assessment - not only to review the assessment, but to explicitly allow students to dispute any errors made in grading. In some cases, the flexibility is as simple as explicit encouragement within the syllabus and lectures to make use of office hours, normalizing asking for help. It is impossible to fully predict all possibilities, of course, and it is still necessary to bend course policy in response to truly exceptional circumstances; however, predicting and explicitly accommodating for as many needs as possible greatly reduces the need for that, while being inclusive of students who do not typically ask for that flexibility.

Collaboration#

An empathetic classroom is, by necessity, a collaborative one. Collaboration is a necessary skill for any engineer, of course, but the benefits of a collaborative learning environment go beyond that. Students who form a community, who share their triumphs and setbacks and work together to learn, often find it much easier to develop the other skills they need for success. This can take the form of group projects, of course, but it goes beyond that - students collaborate not just among themselves, but also with the instructor!

I always endeavor to include collaborative elements in my teaching. This starts in lectures, where I try to engage students directly in the material. This can take the form of questions, asking students to discuss a problem and share their solutions; it can also involve simply designing more elements of my lectures to tie in with students’ lives. Our field in particular is quite well-suited to this - students have spent their lives surrounded by electronics, so the principles we discuss are things they directly interact with every day!

Projects are also a great opportunity for instructor-student collaboration. One of my biggest goals in designing projects is to give students space to explore something that genuinely interests them. This requires a great deal of care and finesse to make sure that students’ projects are all appropriately scaled in terms of difficulty, but when executed well, the effect is a great deal more student motivation and dedication to their work than could be achieved by assigning the same project to everyone. Students are doing something that they actively asked to do, so they’re much more engaged in it.

Ethics and Inclusion#

In our current socio-political climate, I think it is particularly important to note that an empathetic classroom fundamentally implies an inclusive classroom. Students fundamentally cannot learn well when they do not feel a sense of safety and belonging, and many aspects of our current institutions actively strip that sense from our most vulnerable students. I endeavor to be explicitly inclusive in my course design - I take a very strong stance against racist, sexist, queerphobic, ableist, and otherwise-marginalizing behaviors, and I try to highlight both the historical diversity in our field and the broader context in which our work takes place.

Along similar lines, I aim to center ethics in my classroom. Engineering fields are uniquely positioned to influence the shape of our society - what we design, and what we refuse to design, affects the way that everyone will live their lives in the future, so it is particularly important to encourage students to think about the impact they want to have on the world. Ethics and inclusion are, in this case, inextricably linked. The people most gravely affected by the things we design are also the most marginalized - the impoverished and institutionalized, who aren’t given a choice in whether they want to engage with our systems. It is my strong belief that students need to develop an understanding of how their individual actions can affect people on a broader scale, not just through a single dedicated class, but throughout the program.