Teaching Portfolio

o Teaching Statement o Individual Section Report o Department Letter o Qualitative Feedback

November 2012 Seung-Yun Oh Ph.D. Candidate Department of Economics College of Social and Behavioral Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003  

Teaching Statement Seung-Yun Oh

A. Teaching Experiences I majored in chemistry education at Seoul National University, I then taught high school chemistry for three years before pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. While I was studying economics in Korea, I taught intermediate macroeconomics as a lecturer. My teaching experience at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS) has been extensive. I am currently a visiting lecturer at Smith College, where I am involved in both teaching and mentoring students in a liberal arts environment. The courses that I have taught are listed below. As Primary Instructor Introductory Microeconomics, Smith College (in progress): Fall 2012 Game Theory, University of Massachusetts Amherst: Spring 2010, Fall 2010 Math Review for Incoming Graduate Students, University of Massachusetts Amherst: 2008, 2009, 2010 Intermediate Macroeconomics, Seoul National University of Science and Technology: Spring 2004

As Teaching Assistant at UMASS Coordination, Cooperation and Conflict (Graduate-level Advanced Microeconomics): Fall 2008, Fall 2009 Introduction to Macroeconomics: Fall 2009 Game Theory (Graduate-level): Spring 2009 Game Theory (Undergraduate): Spring 2007

B. Quantitative Student Evaluations I have received high evaluation ratings. The Department of Economics requires all faculty and teaching assistants to be evaluated by their students using The Student Response to Instruction (SRTI). I have attached all available SRTI reports. The table below reports a selection of the SRTI results from Game theory course (Spring 2010 and Fall 2010), for which I was the primary instructor, as well as departmental averages for purpose of comparison.

Selected Student Evaluations as Primary Instructor 5

4.7 4.1

4.3

4

4 3 2 1 0 Overall rating of this instructor’s teaching  Overall rating of this instructor’s teaching  (Fall 2010) (Spring 2010) Instructor Mean

Department Mean

Scale: 1 = Almost never effective; 2 = Rarely effective; 3 = Sometimes effective; 4 = Usually effective; 5 = Almost always effective. I have attached a letter from the Economics Department at UMASS, summarizing my official teaching evaluations. I also taught Math Review for incoming graduate students three years and was a teaching assistant for graduate courses, but the Economics Department at UMASS does not conduct official evaluations for these courses. I have also attached a sample of qualitative feedback from students and the evaluation summaries of the courses (individual section report), and scanned copies of all students remarks are available upon request.

C. Teaching Philosophy and Student Comments My goal in the classroom is to keep the atmosphere relaxed, to demonstrate my enthusiasm for the material, and to make sure that both my explanations and my expectations are clear. I work hard to combat boredom and it seems to have paid off, judging from my students’ anonymous comments. At UMASS, I have been exposed to a variety of methods, including “active learning,” premised on the notion that students can learn most by doing their own research. I introduced this method in my game theory courses, assigning a project challenging students to apply game theory to analyze real world situations. Even though the assignment was challenging, students found it interesting and reported that they learned a great deal from it. Game theory is widely considered a technically challenging topic, requiring understanding of mathematical notation and models. My students at UMass had very different backgrounds and

levels of skill. My biggest challenge was to motivate all my students to participate and learn without compromising the technical content or lowering the standards of the course. I prepared my teaching materials to target the median level students, while I employed several tools to keep both high and low level students engaged in the course. For high-level students I provided challenging questions and tasks for extra credit to encourage them to learn more advanced materials. For lower-level students I arranged individual appointments. Often students can learn from their peers effectively because they share similar misunderstandings and difficulties when they encounter new materials. I encouraged students to form study groups in which members could help each other. I reproduce some of feedback that pertains to specific goals I have pursued. The scanned copies of all students’ remarks are available upon request.

Motivating Students to Learn I prioritize a participatory learning process, through which I try to relate theory to applied and practiced economics. For the latter, I encourage the students to get accustomed to analytical thinking and try to inspire them so that they derive pleasure from understanding complex problems through step-by-step logical thinking. I believe that the learning process in college provides not only the advanced skills that can be applied in a student’s future professional life, but also an opportunity to think about the complicated problems in real life. Hence, through incorporating relevant real-life cases, examples, and various teaching materials into lectures, I encourage the students to relate the course work to their own experiences. To create a friendly and stimulating classroom environment that I believe necessary for the connection, I often incorporate class experiments such as collective action games, for which I receive highly positive student feedback. I also emphasize small group activities in solving problem sets and class presentations. I present some of feedback from students below. “I like how we do examples in class that are relevant and sometimes relate to the real world” “All of the examples were really helpful and office hours helped a lot too, very useful/beneficial” “It was an interesting course that relates to current economic times” “The concepts were very interesting and challenging” “Helped make a relatively boring topic more interesting” “The subject matter really interests me” “Loved this class and the professor. Course material was explained very clearly and succinctly. Notes and examples were great. I learned a lot throughout the whole semester” “Explanations were very clear, teacher has strong understanding of materials”

The Importance of Being Enthusiastic One of the ways I try to sell my students on the idea of intellectual enjoyment is by making my own enthusiasm obvious. From the experience of teaching summer courses, I learned how much my own attitude affects students in class. A number of students have made the link between the level of interest the teacher shows and the level of interest they develop for the material. “I like the instructor’s attitude. She was clearly interested in the topic and made me feel that the subject would be useful even beyond school” “The instructor was very engaging and showed a lot of interest in teaching game theory to students actually interested in the topic. She also tried to apply a lot of these theories to what we learn overall” “The teacher put a lot of effort into helping students learn” “She had energy and seemed to care” “The methods of evaluating my work/assignment were really fair and the teacher’s passion to teach student” “She is well prepared. She always helps students. This is a great course and instructor Oh is great”

Being Approachable I try to maintain a relaxed and informal relationship with my students so that it is easy for them to approach me with questions both during and after class. This includes making an effort to connect with students from all social and economic backgrounds. I also try to be clear as to what I expect from my students and to design tests that correspond to the material they have been told to focus on, an approach which many students appreciate. Comments focusing on the importance of a relaxed atmosphere include: “Professor was very easy to access for help, always responded to may emails very quickly.” “Seung-Yun allowed us hands-on work to really develop the concepts in our brain. She would walk around and help us (not just lecture). Her grading was always really fair and she urged us to go to office hours” “Prof. Oh gives us handouts, review sheet which were helpful. She also draws, writes useful notes on the board as she explains. I learned better this way because I’m a visual learner. Exam and Quizzes are manageable/easy” “I like the prepared class notes and solutions that are available to us. Professor Oh is very kind so it makes it easy to learn from her. This class was great” “She is very well prepared for each class, and always clears up any confusion of the contents”

University of Massachusetts Amherst Student Response to Instruction (SRTI)

Individual Section Report: Mean Comparisons (Within Class Size) Semester: FALL 2010 Instructor: OH, SEUNG YUN Course: ECON 309 Section #: 01 Class #: 76850 Forms returned: 25 Total enrollment: 34 Response rate: 74% **COMPARISON GROUP: Undergraduate sections with 25 to 59 enrolled Dept: ECON # Sections: 66 Resp. rate: 66%

Instructor Item #

SRTI Item

Mean

St. Dev.

Mean

St. Dev.

College: SBS # Sections: 479 Resp. rate: 74% Mean

Campus # Sections: 2,853 Resp. rate: 74%

St. Dev.

Mean

St. Dev.

1

The instructor was well prepared for class. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.9

0.28

4.6

0.35

4.7

0.29

4.7

0.31

2

The instructor explained course material clearly. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.5

0.65

4.2

0.50

4.4

0.46

4.4

0.50

3

The instructor cleared up points of confusion. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.5

0.71

4.2

0.48

4.4

0.46

4.3

0.49

4

The instructor used class time well. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.7

0.48

4.4

0.40

4.5

0.40

4.5

0.40

5

The instructor inspired interest in the subject matter. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.0

0.76

4.1

0.54

4.4

0.46

4.3

0.52

6

The instructor showed an interest in helping students learn. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.7

0.48

4.3

0.49

4.5

0.39

4.5

0.44

7

I received useful feedback on my performance. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.6

0.65

4.0

0.52

4.2

0.50

4.1

0.54

8

The methods of evaluating my work were fair. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.8

0.41

4.3

0.37

4.5

0.38

4.4

0.41

9

The instructor stimulated student participation. (5=Almost always, 1=Almost never)

4.4

0.82

4.0

0.53

4.3

0.49

4.2

0.57

10

Overall, how much do you feel you learned in this course? (5=Much more than most, 1=Much less than most)

4.1

0.69

3.8

0.48

4.0

0.49

3.9

0.51

11

Overall rating of this instructor's teaching. (5=Almost always effective, 1=Almost never effective)

4.7

0.56

4.1

0.52

4.3

0.48

4.2

0.52

12

Overall rating of this course. (5=One of the best, 1=One of the worst)

4.4

0.65

3.8

0.54

4.0

0.54

3.9

0.56

Instructor Department School/College Campus

Item mean 5.00 4.50 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Item Number **Reported only for 10 or more sections. Comparison group means are calculated using combined data for academic years 2007-09. Undergraduate sections are used as the comparison group for 500-level courses. Dept = all courses from the same department; College = courses from all other departments in the school/college; Campus = all UMass courses. For more information on comparison groups visit www.umass.edu/oapa/srti. Office of Academic Planning and Assessment, 02/14/2011 Page 2

Sample of Qualitative Feedback from SRTI Teaching methods “Explanations were very clear, teacher has strong understanding of materials” “Prof. Oh gives us handouts, review sheet which were helpful. She also draws, writes useful notes on the board as she explains. I learned better this way because I’m a visual learner. Exam and Quizzes are manageable/easy” “Seung-Yun allowed us hands-on work to really develop the concepts in our brain. She would walk around and help us (not just lecture). Her grading was always really fair and she urged us to go to office hours” “Loved this class and the professor. Course material was explained very clearly and succinctly. Notes and examples were great. I learned a lot throughout the whole semester” “She is very well prepared for each class, and always clears up any confusion of the contents” “The methods of evaluating my work/assignment were really fair and the teacher’s passion to teach student” “I like the prepared class notes and solutions that are available to us. Professor Oh is very kind so it makes it easy to learn from her. This class was great” “I could understand how to do everything when I had my notes” “May be talk a little bit slower, when explaining important concept” “Perhaps I was just well prepared for this course, but it felt a little slow” “She is well prepared. She always helps students. This is a great course and instructor Oh is great” Course materials “I like how we do examples in class that are relevant and sometimes relate to the real world” “All of the examples were really helpful and office hours helped a lot too, very useful/beneficial” “It was an interesting course that relates to current economic times” “The concepts were very interesting and challenging” “Helped make a relatively boring topic more interesting” “The subject matter really interests me” Instructor’s attitude “I like the instructor’s attitude. She was clearly interested in the topic and made me feel that the subject would be useful even beyond school” “The instructor was very engaging and showed a lot of interest in teaching game theory to students actually interested in the topic. She also tried to apply a lot of these theories to what we learn overall” “Professor was very easy to access for help, always responded to may emails very quickly.” “The teacher put a lot of effort into helping students learn” “She had energy and seemed to care”