8/12/2016 TeachingHeuristics|ThisCourseatMIT|ArtificialIntelligence|ElectricalEngineeringandComputerScience|MITOpenCourseWare

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HomeCoursesElectricalEngineeringandComputerScienceArtificialIntelligenceThisCourseatMITTeachingHeuristics

Teaching Heuristics
Inthissection,ProfessorPatrickWinstonsharessomeoftheheuristicsthatshapehisteaching.Henotesthathehaslearnedmanyofthese
COURSE HOME strategiesfromcolleagues.Centralideasincludebeginningalecturewithapromise,inspiringstudentsbyconveyingpassionaboutwhathe's
teaching,movingbeyondteachingskillstowardteachingpowerfulideas,encouragingnotetakingduringlectures,andalwaysendingalecture
withsomethingfun.

SYLLABUS
BeginwithaPromise

Ivelearnedalotaboutteachingbyobservingandtalkingwithcolleagues.MycolleagueRandallDavistoldmethatyoualwayswanttostarta
CALENDAR lecturewithapromiseofhowstudentswillbeempoweredbywhattheywilllearninthelecture.Inotherwords,youwanttotellthemwhattheyll
beabletodoattheendofthelecturethattheycouldn'tdointhebeginning.Itrytostarteverylecturewithapromise,everytime.
InonelectureIshowaprogramthatwill,dependingonhowyouarrangeit,completeinanywherefrom2to20billionyears.AndthenIshow
THIS COURSE AT studentshowwecanadjustitslightlyanditwillcompleteintheblinkofaneye.Isay,Bytheendofthislecture,you'llknowhowtowritethefaster
MIT arrangement.Itsverymotivating!

TEACHING HEURISTICS
InspireStudentsbyConveyingPassion
EXPERIENCING THE LARGE
LECTURE AS THEATER Afewyearsago,mydepartmentchairmanaskedmetogiveatalktotheincomingfacultyintheSchoolof
Ifallyoure Engineeringabouthowtobeinspiring.I'dneverthoughtaboutthatbefore,soIdidaninformalpoll.WhatI
ASSESSMENT INFORMED BY teachingisskills,the discoveredasthecommonthemefromtheenteringfreshmentotheseniorfacultyisthatpeoplewhoinspire
A STUDENT-CENTERED ETHIC othersexpresspassionforwhattheyareteachingortheideastheyareconveying.
educational
MANAGING AN ONLINE experienceyouoffer Inmyownteaching,whenIgiveademonstration,IfrequentlytellstudentsIthinkitsreallycool,asawaytobe
FORUM explicitaboutthefactthatImpassionateaboutit.ThatwassomethingIdalwaysdoneintuitively,butdidntrealize
studentsisokay,but
thepurposeofuntilIdidthepollaboutwhatpeoplefoundinspiring.
CHALLENGES TEACHING ifyoucan
ASSISTANTS FACE Iwastalkingwithacolleagueofmineaboutthesubjectofinspiration,andhesaid,Youknow,someofthestuffI
accompanytheskills
teachisboringbeyonddescription.IhavetoconvincemyselfbeforeItalkaboutitthatitsinterestingandthatIm
withsomebig passionateaboutit,otherwiseitsahorriblelecture.Whathesaidistrue,becausetherearethingspeopleneedto
READINGS picture,powerful know,butyoucantsaytheyreveryexciting.Youhavetopretendtheyreexciting.Somehow.Otherwise,your
passionwontcomeacrossandyourteachingwontbeinspiring.
ideas,the
educational
LECTURE VIDEOS MoveBeyondSkillswithStoriesandPowerfulIdeas
experiencebecomes
moreimpactful, Itellalotofstoriesduringmylectures.Inmyownresearch,Iconcludedsometimeagothatthedistinguishing
moreimportant. characteristicofhumanintelligenceisourstorycompetence.Wetellstories,welistentostories,andwemakeup
MEGA-RECITATION newstoriesbyblendingoldonestogether.Thatsreallywhateducationisallabout,ifyouthinkaboutit.Westartwith
VIDEOS fairytalesandfolktales,andthenwe'reexposedtohistoryandliterature.Ourculturehasstories.Religionhas
PATRICK WINSTON stories.Thenwegotoschool,professionalschoolespecially,andwhatdowehavebutcasestudies?
ThatswhyIthinkstoriesareanimportantelementofeducation,andifyoustripthemout,youdon'thavemuchleft
TUTORIALS thatcanpossiblybeinspiring.Youhaveonlyrecipeswhenyoustripoutthestories.
IvaluestoriestoagreaterdegreenowthanIdidwhenIfirstbeganteaching.WhenIstartedout,Iwasmoreconcernedaboutwhetherstudents
learnedtheskillsIwastryingtoteach.I'mstillconcernedaboutwhetherornotsomebodylearnstheskills,butIthinkifthat'salltheydo,thenmy
ASSIGNMENTS teachingwouldn'tbeasfunformeorasinterestingtomystudents.Ithinksharingthestories,theopinions,theasides,andunderstandinghowa
personsolvedaparticularproblem,whattheywerethinkingofwhentheydidthat,whattheyweremotivatedby,etc.isjustas,andprobablymore,
importantthanteachingtheactualskills.
EXAMS Inarecentlecture,forexample,Iwastalkingaboutthehistoryofsupportvectormachines,whichweredevelopedin
thePhDthesisofVladimirVapnikinRussiainthe1960s,butremainedunknownintheWestuntilsometimeinthe Ithinkstories
early1990swhenVapnikmovedtoAT&TBellLabs.Nowtheyarethestandardelementinthetoolkitofanyonewho areanimportant
DEMONSTRATIONS claimstodomachinelearning.
elementof
TheinterestingstoryisthatVapnikfurtherdevelopedsupportvectormachineswhenhegottotheUnitedStates,in education,andifyou
part,becausehewasirritatedthatseveralofhisoriginalpaperswereturneddown.Thepowerofshowingthat stripthemout,you
DOWNLOAD COURSE you'rerightandconqueringdoubtersisenormouslypowerfulmotivation.
MATERIALS don'thavemuchleft
MyfriendEdwardRobertsintheSloanSchoolstudiedentrepreneurshipformuchofhiscareer.Hewilltellyouthat thatcanpossiblybe
many,maybemost,entrepreneursarenotinterestedinthemoney.They'reinterestedinshowingthatthepeople
whodoubtedthemortheirideasarewrongandthattheywill,infact,besuccessful. inspiring.
Iincludeideaslikethisinmylectures.Icallthempowerfulideas.Ifallyoureteachingisskills,theeducational
experienceyouofferstudentsisokay,butifyoucanaccompanytheskillswithsomebigpicture,powerfulideas,the PATRICK WINSTON
educationalexperiencebecomesmoreimpactful,moreimportant.

EncourageNoteTaking

IliketothinkthatI'moneofthefirstMITfacultymemberstoforbidlaptopsandcellphonesduringlectures.ThereasonIdothisisbecausethere's
alotofevidencethatweonlyhaveonelanguageprocessorinourheads,andit'seasilyjammed.Ifyoujamitbyreadingyouremail,texting,or
doingsomethingelse,you'renotactuallygoingtobeabletopayattentiontowhatsgoingoninthelecture.
Iencouragemystudentstotakenotesbecauseitforcesengagement.Youcan'ttakeanotewithoutdeployingyourlanguageapparatusandyour
drawingapparatus.Andthat'sthereasonfortakingnotes.Ithasnothingreallytodowithlookingatthenotesagainithaseverythingtodowith
forcingconcentration.
WhenIwasanundergraduateatMIT,Iwasonthetimidside.IcamefromasmallMidwesterntown.Iwenttoagoodhighschoolandhad
inspiringteachers,butnevertheless,itwasasmalltown.WhenIgottoMIT,therewerealotofpeoplewholookedliketheyhadbeenmuchbetter
preparedthanme.WhatIendedupdoing,aftereverylecturemyfreshmanyear,wastogotothelibraryandattempttorecreatewhatwassaid
duringthelecture.WhenIgotstuck,I'dlookatmynotes.IwouldworkthatwayuntilIcouldgothroughthewholelecturewithoutlookingatmy
notes.IlearnedtoexplainthecontentofthelectureinsuchawaythatIcouldclearlyunderstandtheconcepts.
Ithinktheaccidentofbeingalittletimidactuallythrewmeintoawayofthinkingthatwasextremelyuseful.Itforcedmetobeabletoexplainstuff
tomyself.Itwasprobablyoneofthefactorsthathelpedmebecomegoodatexplainingresearchtopotentialsponsors.IwasdirectoroftheMIT

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electricalengineeringandcomputerscience/6034artificialintelligencefall2010/thiscourseatmit/teachingheuristics/ 1/2
8/12/2016 TeachingHeuristics|ThisCourseatMIT|ArtificialIntelligence|ElectricalEngineeringandComputerScience|MITOpenCourseWare
ComputerScienceandArtificialIntelligenceLaboratoryforabout25yearsandmymainfunctionwastoexplainwhatpeopleinthelaboratory
weredoinginclearandattractiveways.TheearlyexperienceIhadinreproducingthelecturesfrommynoteswasgoodtrainingforthatrole
becauseitforcedmetothinkabouthowthingscouldbeexplainedclearly.

EndwithSomethingFunny

Oneofmycolleaguestoldmethathealwaysendshislectureswithsomethingfunsothatpeoplefeellikethey'veenjoyedtheclassthewhole
time.Itcouldbeajoke,oranhistoricalanecdote,oranintriguingdemo.Idothatnow,too.Ialwaystrytoendwithsomethingfun.

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https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electricalengineeringandcomputerscience/6034artificialintelligencefall2010/thiscourseatmit/teachingheuristics/ 2/2