Teaching

My approach to teaching has evolved through experience, particularly from teaching large, practical engineering modules.

One idea that has had a strong influence on me is mastery learning, as described by Salman Khan. The basic idea is that students should have the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them, and try again rather than being defined by a single failed attempt. I try to build this into my courses through repeated submissions, feedback, and opportunities to improve.

Another important part of my teaching is giving students open-ended problems. Once the basic requirements are met, the most motivated students should have the freedom to go further, experiment, and build something of their own. This is particularly important in engineering and AI, where there is rarely one "correct" solution.

In practice, this means I try to make my courses places where students can build things, break things, learn from the failures, and try again. Technology helps me make this possible even with large classes, but the goal is ultimately a simple one: to give students the freedom and support to become independent engineers.