Teaching

I am very proud to be a part of the educational process and contribute to the development and growth of the next generation of engineers and scientists. Currently, I am teaching undergraduate courses (Design of Steel Structures, Seismic Design of Steel Structures, Introduction to Earthquake Engineering, etc.) at the University of the District of Columbia. Previously, I taught at Tekirdag Namik Kemal University, Istanbul Kultur University, and Istanbul Medipol University in Turkey. I also had the privilege of serving as an instructor (Associate-in) for the Design of Steel Structures course (over 130 undergraduate students) during the fall and winter quarters at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) during my PhD studies.

As an instructor, I want my students to be the future leaders and highly skilled professionals who can solve complex problems in their respective fields. To become professional engineers and scientists, students should not only acquire problem-solving skills as part of their learning but, more importantly, conceptually understand the problem. For instance, I feel strongly about breaking building code equations into tractable portions so that students fully understand the connection between these equations and the concepts they learn in their other classes. Using clear figures and well-planned examples to explain the parts of code equations creates a bond between the students’ theoretical and practical knowledge, promotes their technical growth, and bolsters their ability to develop professional skills in the future. The way instructors teach classes should prioritize conceptual understanding, not just focus on transferring information. In an environment of excessive streams of information, with social networks, the Internet, etc., the role of the instructor is to help with the assimilation of new information and the creation of a logical framework for communication with existing knowledge and experience the students already have.

Before starting to prepare the course content, the first question an instructor should answer is: “What competency do I want my students to achieve?”. This is, of course, very specific to the subject of the course, but the general goal is to train students to understand the concept, analyze the problem, evaluate the approach, and create a solution strategy. Many courses, in reality, are constructed in a way to promote information retrieval or simply procedural problem solving, which is everything that computers can easily do nowadays. This should definitely be changed. The learning process occurs when students can transfer the knowledge they have acquired to a new concept.

I also strongly believe that as instructors, we should understand the basics of pedagogy/andragogy. Since people learn in a variety of ways and learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., prior experience, study skills, learning skills), as instructors, we need to figure out how to approach all students and attract their attention during the lecture. To the best of my abilities, I am working and will continue to work with students to create an environment of experiential learning during my courses, especially at the graduate level. Finally, students can be assured that I will support them with all of my energy. I will be my students’ guide, coach, mentor, and most importantly, their supporter. All good teachers should do the same, and I will humbly attempt to be a role model in that regard. So I hope my students can dig in, explore, and enjoy the journey in learning!