Excellence in teaching

Dr Ian McArthur is Head of the School of Physics. After an undergraduate education at UWA, he undertook a PhD in theoretical physics at Harvard University and has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Cambridge and Karlsruhe University and an Assistant Professorship at the University of Hamburg. At UWA, he has continued research in supersymmetric quantum field theory. Ian received Excellence in Teaching Awards in 1995 and 2002.

When I learned that I had won an excellence in teaching award, my first reaction was: lucky the judges didn't know how interesting the subjects I get to teach are, because they might have considered I had an unfair advantage! The insights into the fundamentals of Nature provided by subjects such as quantum mechanics, particle physics and general relativity can really provide a deep sense of achievement for both the student and the lecturer. In saying this, I am acknowledging the very high quality of students we see at UWA. This should challenge us all to strive for international standards in teaching, as anything less would be letting these students down.

I vividly recall reading about a prediction made soon after the introduction of "talking" motion pictures - namely, that this innovation would eliminate the need for University lecturers. A movie would be made of one excellent teacher and distributed to Universities. This clearly has not come to pass, and it is interesting to wonder why it hasn't - it seems a perfectly logical way to proceed. I believe the reason is that teaching is much more than just someone talking. It is about interaction. Even a lecture is an interaction - one should be looking, listening and responding in addition to talking. It is precisely this interaction which makes teaching so rewarding for me, and forms the basis of my approach to teaching.

As a graduate student and a postdoc, I had the good fortune to be able to observe some very good teachers in a range of institutions. Some of the qualities which facilitated the interaction they were able to achieve were:

• A passion for the subject combined with understanding at a deep level. This comes almost as a matter of course in an institution with a strong research focus.
• Encouragement of students to question or challenge anything that is presented to them as a fate accompli.
• Willingness to make time for students.
• Recognition of students for what they are, which at University level is usually a set of highly motivated young adults. All of them will contribute given the opportunity.
• A philosophy that it is much better to have students really understand a moderate amount of material rather than gloss over a large amount. Overwhelming students destroys their confidence and prevents them getting to grips with the key concepts underlying the subject matter.
• A degree of patience and tolerance!
• A sense of the theatrical. While it cannot make a lecture, it can certainly enhance one.

I aspire to these qualities, but certainly don't achieve them all (particularly the last one). In terms of practicalities, I find that lectures backed up by weekly problem sets and tutorials are still the most effective way to teach a subject like physics. Tutorials are an art in themselves, because they should be much more interactive than a lecture, and I must admit I have not mastered this art. In lectures, I alternate between blackboard and overhead projector, using the latter mainly for summaries. I think the variety helps keep attention levels up.