Teaching Portfolio
Abhinav Narayanan∗
November 4, 2015
Contents
1
Teaching Philosophy
2
2
Description of courses taught
4
3
Sample of of student work
5
4
Innovative teaching projects and roles
4.1 Data analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 LaunchPad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
7
7
7
5
Professional activities related to teaching
5.1 Teaching assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
8
6
Special Training
6.1 GRSC 7770 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 LLED 7769 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
8
8
7
Teaching interests
9
8
Student evaluations
8.1 Quantitative evaluation . . . . . . . .
8.2 Qualitative evaluation . . . . . . . . .
8.2.1 Comments about the course .
8.2.2 Comments about the instructor
∗ Ph.D
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
candidate. Department of Economics. University of Georgia. Email: abhinav.narayanan@gmail.com
1
9
9
10
10
11
1
Teaching Philosophy
A teacher can create a conducive learning environment only if he/she is able to connect with the
students. Thus, the first principle that I follow as a teacher is to respect my students and make them
believe that we share a common learning platform. If a teacher can instill this belief in his/her
students, only then the students feel connected with the teacher and vice-versa. In pedagogical
terms, one way to create an effective learning environment is to know about the students’ academic
background. Once I know the academic profile of the class, I can adapt to the students’ level of
understanding on the subject matter. For example, if I see that the majority of the students do
not have knowledge of basic geometry, I spend a considerable amount of time in explaining the
different types of graphs that we use in economics.
The interesting and challenging part of teaching a social science like economics is to integrate
theory and empirics. It is important to let the students know the role of both theory and empirics in
economics and to strike a balance between the two. If a teacher focuses too much on theory without
showing any empirical evidence, the students may lose interest and may think that their classroom
lessons are detached from reality. In order to engage the students in the learning process, I give
them practical and recent examples that they can relate to. For example, when teaching government
deficit and debt, I spend some time explaining the Greek sovereign debt crisis.
The integration of teaching and research is essential for a productive educational environment.
To this end, I try my best to give examples from my own research whenever I think it is relevant.
Since my research is based on economic development, I give examples from developing countries
that fit the concepts that I teach. For example, when teaching the concept of diminishing marginal
product, I talk about how in India, there are more workers working on an agricultural land and
how the marginal productivity decreases with the number of persons engaged in those activities.
When discussing comparative and absolute advantage, I show them how South Asian countries
have a comparative advantage over the United States in finished cotton products. Then I tell them
why most of the shirts they buy from the retail outlets have the label “Made in India” or “Made in
Bangladesh”. In this way they can relate to what they learn in the classroom and what they see in
‘real life’. At the same time, teaching helps me to clarify many concepts that arise in research. On
one occasion a student asked me a fundamental question out of curiosity about the labor markets
in developing countries, which made me revisit a research question in one of my papers.
I use a variety of pedagogical tools in my teaching. While my personal choice is to use
the whiteboard more often than not, I think using the whiteboard continuously becomes a bit
monotonous for the students. Hence, I use slides when I feel that the students need some visuals
to understand the material better. For example, I always draw the graphs for supply and demand
on the whiteboard, explaining in detail the underlying concepts. However, I never try to draw a bar
2
graph involving actual data-I would rather show them a nicely laid out graph on a power point slide.
I also strive to create a fun-filled classroom by showing them videos related to the concepts they
learn. In order to gauge whether the students actually understood the concepts, I give them practice
problems to work on in the class. To keep the students engaged, I ask the students to demonstrate
the problems on the white board. However, I make sure the students do not get intimidated by
keeping this activity voluntary. If I see many students are struggling with a particular question,
I go over the underlying concepts to make sure the students have no doubts in understanding the
ideas. This exercise helps the students to stay updated with the material I teach. It also serves as a
practice for their homework assignments and the exams.
It is important to view teaching both from a student’s and a teacher’s perspective. When I
sat through my undergraduate and PhD-level classes, I clearly observed the positive and negative
points of a teacher. I try to incorporate them into my teaching. This process has helped me improve
my teaching skills and more importantly in coming up with my own teaching philosophy. Overall,
I enjoy teaching economics and I am sure my past and future experiences will make me a better
teacher at every stage of my career.
3
2
Description of courses taught
Course Title: Principles of Macroeconomics
Semesters taught: Summer 2014, Summer 2015
Enrollment: 55-60 undergraduate students
Course description: In this course I teach fundamental concepts of macroeconomics including
national income, inflation, unemployment, fiscal and monetary policies. The course provides the
students with the preliminary knowledge to understand the functioning of the economy. Specifically, at the end of the course the students will be able to answer these basic questions:
• How is the Gross Domestic product measured?
• How do we measure economic growth? What are its sources and implications?
• What role do the government and Fed play to maintain smooth functioning of the economy?
• What is the relationship between prices, inflation and unemployment?
Teaching responsibilities: I was the instructor of record for both sections of the course. The
responsibilities included: preparing the syllabus, choosing the textbook, designing the course,
preparing homework assignments, exams and awarding course grades. Here is the grading stricture
that I followed:
3 homework assignments (15% each)
1 midterm (25%)
1 cumulative final exam (30%)
4
3
Sample of of student work
The purpose of teaching an introductory course in economics is to acquaint the students with basic
economic principles. They must also acquire problem solving abilities and the ability to think
critically. I test the student’s understanding on economic principles by making them apply those
principles to real life problems. Below is an example, where I give the students two situations and
ask them to evaluate the two situations based on an underlying economic principle:
Numerical problems give the students a scope to implement the theories and the definitions that
they learn in the class. Below is an example of a student’s work on a numerical problem on the
final exam.
It is important to integrate theory and empirics in economics. As a part of extra credit assignments, I ask the students to download real economic data from different sources and produce some
5
basic graphs using the data. In this way, they get an idea on where to find important economic
data. They can also relate to what they learn in the course. Below is an example of this type of
assignment.
6
4
4.1
Innovative teaching projects and roles
Data analysis
The integration of theory and empirics is important in economics. In order to acquaint the students
with real economic data, I ask the students to download economic data from publicly available
sources and produce some graphs. I ask them to write a few sentences regarding what they observe
from the figures they produce. I make this a part of the optional extra credit assignments, because
not all students may have the knack to play with real data. Even though the projects are optional,
they seem to be quite popular among the students because the projects give them some idea on
empirical analysis. Many students have told me that through these projects they could relate to
what they learn in the course. The projects also give the students a scope to learn some data
analysis tools on MS Excel. If necessary, I give them a short training on how to produce graphs in
MS Excel.
4.2
Videos
Teaching on the whiteboard and using slides may become slightly monotonous after a point of
time. In order to break the monotonicity of the teaching materials, I show them videos related to
the topics that I teach. For example, I show them Hans Rosling’s Ted Talk on economic growth
and inequality when discussing about long run economic growth. I also show them a visual illustration of the recent financial crisis. On one occasion, when talking about employment, I showed
them a short movie titled “El Empleo/ The Employment” that showcases the relationship between
technology and employment. This activity is quite popular with the students because it gives them
some visual illustration of the material they learn in the classroom.
4.3
LaunchPad
I encourage the students to read and learn from the textbook. However, reading habits and learning
processes are not uniform across all individuals. I used an online platform called LaunchPad that
gave the students access to innovative teaching materials related to the textbook. The students
had access to the lecture slides, dynamic power-point presentations with animated graphs and
numerous practice questions on the topics that I covered in the class. I used Launch Pad to assign
homework assignments as well. The students liked the use of Launch Pad because it gave them an
alternate way to learn the subject rather than just reading the textbook.
7
5
5.1
Professional activities related to teaching
Teaching assistant
I have served as a teaching assistant for the following courses:
Principles of Macroeconomics (Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall, 2013)
Health Economics (Spring 2012)
Intermediate Macroeconomics (Spring 2013, Fall 2014)
Business Microeconomics (MBA, Fall 2015)
Business Macroeconomics (MBA, Fall 2015)
Economic growth and development (Ph.D, Fall 2015)
6
6.1
Special Training
GRSC 7770
The Terry College of Business requires every student to complete this course before being the instructor of records. I completed this course in Fall 2012 with Dr. Jean Bertrand, Associate Dean
of the College of Agricultural Sciences as instructor. In this course, we received rigorous training
on pedagogical methods starting from syllabus writing to effective teaching procedures. We had
to demonstrate our teaching skills to an audience and we received feedback on our teaching skills.
We discussed important issues that we may face in a classroom and engaged in group discussions.
For example, on one occasion, we discussed how to deal with students with disabilities and what
facilities are available in order to provide them equal opportunities. Since the class was interdisciplinary, I could clearly distinguish the teaching procedures that are followed in other disciplines.
The instructor also pointed out the effective teaching methods for the different disciplines.
6.2
LLED 7769
The University of Georgia offers this course for the international students in order to prepare them
for the TA duties and to be future instructors. The focus of the course is to acquaint the international
graduate students to the US culture and the academic environment. We were trained on the basic
university policies regarding classroom conduct and academic honesty. We were trained on how
to effectively manage large classes. We were required to teach a class on a topic of our choice and
the instructor gave us feedback on our presentation techniques and the ways to improve.
8
7
Teaching interests
I am interested in teaching the following courses:
Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics,
Intermediate Microeconomics, Economic Growth and Development, Mathematical Economics and
Econometrics.
8
8.1
Student evaluations
Quantitative evaluation
The students rated each question on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being “strongly agree” and 1 being
“strongly disagree”. Higher values mean positive responses from the students.
Questions
Course evaluation
The course was well organized
The course objectives were clearly stated
The textbook, readings, and other materials were
Assignments and activities were useful for helping
The exams were fair
The course challenged me to think and learn
Instructor evaluation
The instructor was available outside of class to answer questions
The instructor was enthusiastic about teaching this course
The instructor was well prepared for class
The instructor used class time effectively
The instructor encouraged appropriate student interest
Overall, the instructor was effective at teaching
Overall course mean
9
Summer 2014
Summer 2015
4.27
4.54
4.58
4.42
4.67
4.17
4.24
4.36
4.24
4.20
4.60
4.28
4.67
4.58
4.83
4.67
4.33
4.33
4.52
3.88
4.56
4.60
4.08
3.96
4.40
4.16
8.2
8.2.1
Qualitative evaluation
Comments about the course
• I appreciated the layout of the course. It was very well-structured. The notes given in class
were very helpful, and I liked how the instructor gave a lecture, and then followed it with
examples and practice problems. I also like the book for this course. It is comprehensive and
not too difficult to understand.
• Given the time frame of the course (one month summer class), the professor covered the
necessary material very well and in a very efficient manner. He did a good job explaining
concepts and was intuitive on when students were struggling. Honestly, I cant think of much
that needs changing.
• It was done well and I can’t think of any ways to improve it.
• The homework activities and practice problems done in class helped me understand the material better.
• The course was run through an effective program that had an excessive amount of materials
designed to help me better learn the material.
• The integration of launchpad (online portal) and lecture was perfect. The course covered a
lot for the time frame.
10
8.2.2
Comments about the instructor
• I like that the teacher keeps his humor, and also that he includes problem solving in every
class. I think he does a great job explaining concepts and showing us how they are applied.
I couldn’t ask for a better teacher!
• Mr. Narayanan was well-suited for the teaching position. He seemed very knowledgeable
on the subject matter and genuinely interested in it. He was also very helpful, answering
emails in an incredibly timely manner and even into the evening, providing crucial help our
guidance. Truly enjoyed his class.
• The instructor wrote all important points on the board and repeated important points numerous times. He was very knowledgeable about the course material and worked plenty of
example problems.
• He did a good job presenting the information for the most part.
• The teacher was always helpful with any questions and patient when explaining concepts;
he replied to emails quickly, taught effectively, and was personable.
• The Professor was absolutely excellent and at all times there to help us learn. No negatives!
He made the course enjoyable.
• He was pretty clear and enthusiastic. Very fair and good with time allocation.
11