{"206721":{"#nid":"206721","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Creative Assignments Lead to Teaching Success","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESteve Potter never wanted to be a conventional professor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo he requires students to write Wikipedia articles. He encourages them to dream up their own ideas for extra credit. And he learns every student\u2019s name, even in large lectures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe lessons that stick with students over time are the ones that take them outside of their comfort zones,\u201d said Potter, an associate professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering who has taught at Georgia Tech since 2002.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecently, Potter\u2019s atypical techniques helped earn him the 2013 Teaching Excellence Award, given by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI tell my students\u0026nbsp; exactly what they need to do to succeed in my class, meaning that I lay out \u2014 in great detail \u2014 what it takes to get an A,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I do my best to raise their excitement and motivation to a level that makes all that work seem like fun.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, for his introductory neuroscience course, Potter asks students to select a specific topic in the neuroscience field and become an expert on it by reading research papers and interviewing engineers and scientists working in the field.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce they\u2019ve done their due diligence, students are asked to create a Wikipedia article about their neuro-related topic to demonstrate understanding and to share what they\u2019ve learned with classmates and the general public. Students are also asked to produce a YouTube video summarizing research results from a study, so they can be understood by the general public.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne student decided to bring together Kermit the Frog and Stewie from Family Guy to interview a researcher about basal ganglia disorders,\u201d Potter added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd they read and review books on Amazon that are related to their respective topics. Their peers, similar to a grant application review board, then critique the reviews.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDr. Potter is an excellent teacher and his introductory course was my favorite at Tech,\u201d said Devon King, a fourth year biomedical engineering major. \u201cIt is a challenging course, but in the \u2018I get to do this\u2019 way instead of the \u2018I have to do this\u2019 way. I always looked forward to going to his class, and I think other students did too.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERead on to learn more about Potter and his time at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us something that others might not know about your job.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnlike many courses where the subject matter is well understood, neuroscience is still in its infancy and is dominated by our pretty sketchy understanding of the brain. As a consequence, I never try to convince my students of any \u201ctruths\u201d but merely emphasize how even a limited understanding can be useful in treating some disease or disorder of the nervous system.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is one thing you\u2019ve learned from your students?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EThere are many different learning styles. It helps to try a variety of teaching approaches, so each student will have something that works for them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWould you ever teach a massive open online course (MOOC)? Why or why not?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt\u2019s a possibility, but the university needs to come up with new compensation models to make this worth my while.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere is your favorite place to eat lunch?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EMy office, and I usually eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich. But on those rare occasions when I have a social lunch, I really love the menu of the Coffee Snob in IBB. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the best advice you\u2019ve ever heard?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EHenry Ford once said, \u201cBelieve you can, believe you can\u2019t: either way you are right.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us something about yourself that others might not know. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI had a very rough childhood from age 8 on, because my parents split up. The adversity required me to cope through optimism. Poverty taught me to really appreciate things and also to be resourceful. For example, I loved to mine the dumpsters for old TVs that could be fixed by just replacing one vacuum tube.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESteve Potter never wanted to be a conventional professor.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Steve Potter never wanted to be a conventional professor."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2013-04-15 15:21:48","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:04","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"206251":{"id":"206251","type":"image","title":"Steve Potter","body":null,"created":"1449179977","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:37","changed":"1475894864","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:44","alt":"Steve Potter","file":{"fid":"196734","name":"potter.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/potter_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/potter_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3424371,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/potter_0.jpg?itok=6RWi596d"}}},"media_ids":["206251"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"14219","name":"Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"168365","name":"Steve Potter"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}