Undergraduate Teaching My Experience Mike Lieberman

My History with Undergraduates CHEM 651, 652, 653 in Evening College, started in academic year 2000-2001 In 2009 Chemistry asked me to combine the evening college classes with their day classes – CHEM 601, 602, 603. Had over 100 students in fall quarter, 2011. For the last three years of the quarter system I taught biochemistry for the Chemistry Department, which included their graduate students and biochemistry majors Upon moving to semesters we decided to go in different directions – I was not involved in the planning of the chemistry department biochemistry sequence, which was their decision

Undergraduate Biochemistry at the COM This academic year MG 6010 and 6011 were offered to students 47 signed up for MG 6010 18 completed MG 6011 The courses are the semester versions of CHEM 651, 652 and 653 Student reviews over the years have been uniformly positive Starting in the upcoming academic year we are offering MG 4010 – Introduction to Medical Biochemistry, a one semester course to prepare students for the new and improved MCAT (to be first given in 2015)

Is Undergraduate Teaching Different? No Advantages Students want to be there (unlike medical and graduate students – this is an elective for the undergraduates, as Chemistry majors cannot take my classes) Students enjoy the challenge Disadvantages Students have many excuses for missing exams, need a sense of humor Hard to find office hours that suit all undergraduates, especially being on a different campus Students can drop if they do poorly on first exam

What works for me Challenge the class – go beyond memorization and regurgitation, but application and problem solving. Don’t be confusing and teaching with no application to what they are learning. I use medical examples and the students appreciate those examples. Enzyme kinetics – the use of ethanol as a competitive inhibitor for methanol poisoning; nerve gas and acetylcholinesterase Single letter amino acid codes – test by asking which amino acid substitution would best mimic phosphorylation of serine, instead of just asking what is the single letter code for an amino acid Engage the class – I write on the board and ask questions of the class all the time – Socratic approach – get them thinking while they are taking notes – we solve problem sets in class together as well (difficult problems) – at times the problem sets introduce new concepts, which we discuss at that time (a-oxidation of fatty acids, for example) – I even challenge correct answers Encourage questions from the class – either in class or after class, or during office hours Think like a student when preparing for class – what will the students find difficult, and expand on that Record lectures for students to review later – I don’t care if students attend class or not

What works, part 2 New exam questions each year (I use essay questions, short answer) – students will pass down old exams to the next class; it’s OK for exams to be challenging Prepare practice questions before exams so students have a feel for what is expected Set expectations on day 1 – target for certain grades, curve if the exam questions are more difficult than anticipated, let them know of their status throughout the course Make sure the assigned readings are relevant, and you test on the readings (if you have any) I have no group projects, and limited “active learning” activities – why? Be on time for class (not a given on west campus) Keep office hours constant, but offer to meet outside of class for those who cannot make the standard office hours

Summary Teaching is an ever-evolving process, try new things each year and see what works Remember that the students want to be there – make it worth their while Enjoy the experience – the students truly make a difference in how the instructor perceives the class