Through the Learning Through Teaching Project, we, as a group ;) , were able to learn and understand the teaching process from first hand experience. By being placed in the teacher's seat we were forced to gain knowledge of our topic, FEA and Algor analysis of 3-D Solids, so as to be able to present it to our peers and be able to provide the answers to any of their questions.
This process proved to be more difficult than first expected. First, the material for the presentation had to be researched and organized, without having a text book directly related to the material at hand. Finding relevant information on some topics such as commercial modeling software deficiencies was fairly difficult in that software companies do not like to point out their shortcomings.
After finding all of the relevant information and determining what should be presented, the material had to be organized. Finding a way to present the information in a logical order took some time but in the end helped us realize exactly how people learn and take in information. The presented material needed to have a logical flow and had to be interrelated. Along with the presentation material, a Step-by-Step instructional Lab and assignment had to be made. The Step-by-Step instructions included computer screen shots and narrative. Writing the narrative and making the screen shots come together took time and care, avoiding instructions that were too complicated or too belittlingly simple.
In creating the homework assignment, a level of difficulty had to be chosen considering: the background education and experience of the class, the amount of material presented in the lecture, the time allotted for the assignment, and the focus of the assignment. We chose to create an assignment to focus on the comparison between the effects of a point load and the effects of a distributed load on the surface of a three dimensional object. Through this comparison, the importance and versatility of 3-D modeling could be shown. The comparison portrayed the difference between real world and paper designs in that most physics and dynamics courses teach students to simplify weights as point masses. Our assignment showed the students how a point mass actually effects an object and why it is impractical to use them in every situation. Our assignment was posted online providing all instructions and necessary files. The class web page also provided all of the lecture materials and step-by-step instructions in multiple file formats for convenience.
Bringing together the class assignments also made us realize how professors must feel after they give an assignment, disappointed. Our group has yet to receive a completed assignment from any of the other four groups and have thus been unable to assemble a graded assignment package. For the assignment, we thought we had chosen a good problem that was not too simple nor too complex and related to the example gone over in the lab session. The problem, however, must have either been to daunting or just stumped the groups. Had we been able to grade the assignments, we would have evaluated them on completeness, adherence to instructions, and accuracy of results.
Overall, the Learning Through Teaching project was quite beneficial and helped our group gain a better understanding of the learning process as well as the teaching process. By having to prepare the lecture materials ourselves, we had to breakdown the learning process and give the information in a way that students could absorb. We also had to learn the material to a further degree to be able to answer questions and be sure of ourselves.
From our experience we learned that we are far from perfect as lecturers. The material could have been more spread out and presented at a slower pace. We found that our presentation had the appropriate information but seemed to be too condensed. Had we a second chance, we would have gone through some of the topics slower and used up more of the available time. The material for our lab session on the other hand, proved to be very detailed and concise and the students went through it rather well.
We would suggest repeating the Learning Through teaching project and found it to be a valuable experience. We gained a further understanding of how much preparation is involved in teaching and how difficult it is to have material ready on a day to day basis. We also gained further knowledge in one particular subject that we would not have normally learned on our own.