If you want to know who the great teachers are, ask the
true experts—the
students themselves. They may be novices in their academic subjects, but
no one is better qualified than a college freshman when it comes to figuring
out who can teach in the clearest, most informative manner possible. After
all, who has more of an investment in good teaching than a University student,
whose future may depend on it and who has at least 12 years of utterly relevant
experience?
In the case of civil engineering associate professor Randal
Barnes, the verdict is clear. Engineers aren't noted for their use of hyperbole, but in describing their professor, Barnes's students indulge in superlatives more characteristic of marketing majors than future bridge builders.
IT undergrad Jane Delorme is taking Barnes's computer applications course. She says, "I have so many good things to say about Barnes that it is hard to fit them all into one. He is an amazing professor. Everything that I have been taught in his class has been applicable in some shape or form to my other courses."
Her classmate Greg Wachman adds, "[Barnes] makes a huge effort to think like [undergraduates] do. This might mean using a less technical vocabulary when presenting a new concept or approaching a problem from a different angle."
"Barnes does a wonderful job translating complicated math—which he loves—into
something manageable for sophomores," says graduate teaching assistant Mindy
Erickson. "Math
is full of Greek letters and unfamiliar symbols, and he [calls them] by other
names, like 'squiggle' and 'pitchfork.' The stress that some students feel
when faced with a line full of unfamiliar characters evaporates."
Barnes, who earned a Ph.D. in mining engineering from Colorado School of Mines in 1985, knows exactly what makes a good teacher. "Teaching is a skill that comes with practice," he says. "To do it well you have to want the students to learn, and you must be passionate about the subject. The rest is learned skills."
Over the nearly two decades he's been at the University, Barnes has had plenty of time to hone his teaching skills, and he sometimes surprises his students with what he thinks is important.
There's the matter of writing clearly, for example. In engineering, technical skills are a given, but "writing skills are critical," he says. To engineering undergraduates who may have agonized through creative writing assignments in high school, this news may be an unwelcome shock.
Barnes is quick to reassure them. "We're not talking about how you feel about Virginia Woolf or somebody. Writing, for an engineer, is clarity," he says. "It's never really boring if done right because it's always short."
The other skill that Barnes wants to impart is the ability to work in groups. He assigns what he calls "really difficult problems" that practicing civil engineers encounter and then encourages students to seek solutions collaboratively.
"I'll give them a problem they won't be able to do if they don't ask a question," he says. "In the real world, engineering is done in groups, and students need to develop those skills."
