How to be a failing teacher | Ismail Al-Jubbah | TEDxYPU

How can we change traditional university education and transform it into a process that serves all students, regardless of performance level? Ismail Al-Jubbah has some ideas on the matter.

Ismail Al-Jubbah is a teacher in Yarmouk Private University. He graduated from Arab International University with a bachelor's degree in informatics engineering. Ismail provides an open course in Arabic on his Youtube channel and the Udemy website about programming languages and operating systems. He specializes in system architecture, artificial intelligence, Linux management and many programming languages.

Ismail has an interest in open-source projects like Linux and Mozilla Firefox, and he actively participates in development for both of those. Ismail is also working hard on finding success factors for education.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Hello.

Silence, please.

Where's the attendance sheet?

Tell your classmates
there are three grades for this lecture.

Students!

Pass the attendance sheet.

We're now on Chapter 4.

Introduction.

Communication between a teacher
and the students

inside and outside the classroom

is considered one
of the most important factors

in the educational process.\

A.

A. Inside the classroom

The teacher should make
appropriate eye contact with the students,

communicate orally

and try to create an interactive
atmosphere with them.

For example, the teacher
shouldn't read the lecture

from a book or slides.

B. Outside the classroom

You can read the rest
of the chapter on your own.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Did you like that teacher?

I was a student before, and I didn't.

And when I became a teacher,
I decided not to be like him.

For my first lecture,

I tried very hard to prepare it well,

by focusing on the details
and organizing them.

Then I gave my first lecture
wholeheartedly.

And when I looked in my students' eyes,
they looked all like this.

Only one student seemed focused,
a guy with very messy hair.

I asked him: "Do you have any questions?"

He answered,

"What's the point
of everything you just said?

(Laughter)

I realized that good
preparation is not enough

to inspire students to study.

I have to motivate the students
from deep inside them.

I have to make them excited
and motivated to study.

The next lecture wasn't a normal
programming lecture.

Instead, I made it a lecture
about programming viruses.

Ta-da!

Students were excited to learn
how to program such a weird creature.

All of them paid attention to the lecture

and handed in their work at the end,

except for two students,

who didn't come to class
or hand in assignments.

I was motivated to encourage
even these two to hand in their project.

I called them and said
I was waiting for them in a café.

When they arrived,
I asked about the homework.

They couldn't answer since
they copied it from their classmates.

I explained the assignment,

and went over everything for three hours.

I offered them a drink,
but they were too ashamed.

They looked like they were thinking,
"Why does he care so much?"

But in the following semesters
and in my courses,

I noticed they were more
concerned about attendance

and handing in assignments.

They became good students.

I realized that giving
special attention to those students

helped them and pushed them
to care about the subject, too.

So I started communicating more
with the students through social media.

They started asking questions
about the assignments.

Over time, I worked to remove
the student-teacher barrier.

I tried to be not only their teacher,
but also their friend.

And because what mattered to me
was to benefit the students,

I created a website
to upload the lectures.

I also uploaded weekly homework for them.

That helped the students
to stop waiting for the last lecture

or last two weeks of the semester

to hand things in, or cram for finals.

Education needs to be progressive,
not intensive in the last two weeks,

so that the student doesn't forget it.

That's why all the students
handed in their assignments.

But I faced a problem -- they all
started asking me questions on Facebook.

And when I'd return home to get some rest,
there would be tons of questions:

"Teacher, how do I do this?"

"Teacher! I don't get this problem!"

"Teacher, it didn't work!"
"Teacher, I swear, it's too complicated!"

I had to make double the effort
to answer them all.

To reduce the number of questions,

I recorded the lecture
in a 90-minute video,

then uploaded it so the students
could review it themselves.

However, it continued:
"Teacher, how can I solve this?"

"Teacher, I don't know what to do."
"Teacher! Teacher!"

I found out the reason why
when I told a student to review a video,

and the student replied, "It's too long!"

That was true.

The problem lay
in the length of the video.

It was too long.

A student had to continually adjust

between concentration and distraction.

So I reviewed the online courses,

and noticed that the lecture
comprised many short videos,

with every video explaining
one idea from the lecture,

meaning that the lecture
contained fragmented videos.

So I did that, I fragmented
the lecture into separate videos.

At home, I divided the lecture
into ideas and organized them.

I shortened each of the ideas
so they didn't exceed six to nine minutes.

Then I recorded and uploaded them.

That was beneficial to me,
first, because as a teacher,

I could see myself
in the eyes of my students.

I noticed the ideas that needed
to be explained in a different way,

or that needed to be shortened,

or that I could use better examples for.

And that helped me to improve myself

and organize the lectures in a better way.

Conversely, the students
cared more and more,

because they were understanding
the lectures better, and therefore,

had fewer questions.

And they made fewer calls asking
about the assignments and quizzes.

To motivate the students more,

to show them my appreciation

and let them feel how much I care
about how hard they work,

I gave them awards -

whoever solves this problem
wins this award,

whoever solves that one wins that award -

even if it was a nominal one.

I didn't expect them to care
about the awards,

so I was surprised they were motivated
to compete for them.

To them, it was a sign of respect
from their teacher -

an expression of appreciation
for their efforts,

regardless of their grades.

Based on my work at the university
and at a programming company,

I saw that there was still a gap
between academic life

and practical life.

In an attempt to shrink this gap,

I talked to the dean
and to the company's manager

about offering some students
training in the company.

The surprising thing was,

some students were better workers
than the company's own employees,

and the company kept them as employees.

In addition to that,

a student did a project for the company

that could then be counted
toward academic credit.

That motivated me even more.

It was a very beneficial
experience for me.

The idea is we have to encourage this;

we should encourage universities
to set up special offices

to collaborate with companies,

in order to reduce the gap
between student and academic life.

There's another
important point to focus on:

it's not just about teachers
caring for students.

It's also about students
caring for each other.

I tried to grow the spirit
of cooperation between students,

and motivate them to work with each other.

So I turned the projects,
assignments and even the exams

into group projects.

That helped students to teach
and motivate one another.

Also, good students will help
the weaker ones to improve themselves.

We also have a lot of initiatives
for cooperation between the students,

like Wikilogia and For New Hamak,

where students volunteer
to teach and help each other,

and organize free lectures and workshops.

That doesn't imply a lack in universities,

but a maturation in our community
that leads to the students' growth,

in both academic and social aspects.

And I'm standing here today

because my students
think I'm a good teacher.

Thank you!

(Applause)