Teacher-student interaction is paramount for a successful education

I always envisioned teacher-student relationship to be more complicated than any marriage!!!!. The truth is, even though it is just a relationship built on few hours of interaction a week, it is vital and paramount to the academic process. A relationship built on mutual respect, spiced up with the care and encouragement certainly differs from forced respect relationship, or dictatorship-slaves relationship. None in this world would deny that certain lecturers or teachers are often remembered for the effect they had, sadly, some for the bad effect the had on us. Such good memories of people who influenced our lives, who changed something in us for the good, who unveil certain characteristics in us become a source of long term encouragement. And, often we unearth such memories to overcome obstacles and withstand the harsh reality. No denial then that the right relationship would pave the road for successful outcomes on both long and short term.

Usually the first few lectures are the hardest for both sides. More so at the students side, especially if suffered a  stiff lecturer, previously. Both, students and lecturer, stand at the front line, anxiously observing each other, so vigilant to reach a verdict. The very few reactions a lecturer reveal would set the stage of being a friend, indifferent, or an enemy. The smallest actions and words are being careful observed, analysed and judged, after all it can either be comforting or stressful. Given the tense beginning, patient is a high price commodity, acceptance and reaction to the other party opinion, and smiles and warmth feeling are highly required.

A peaceful friendly relationship is the key, at least that is what I found!!. I would have never imagined that students in a vertebrate biology course would fall in love with the material. Preparing for the course, I found that the course is a Shakespearean language course. From class nomenclature to families and orders. I knew early on before starting the course that I am definitely losing my students no matter how hard I try. Therefore, I used several methods to warm students up to the course, starting from movies; full lecture movies, short video clips. Odd enough, I found that mentioning something weird and bizarre in a vertebrate behavior or structure would spark their interest. One time I told them about a frog estivation to escape the simmering heat of the summer, and how native people are using such frogs as source of water. 

Field trip to Azraq wetland reserve 2015 class

  Students in Hashemite University have taught me a lot. They have lots of energy and loads of power. Students have proven to me that they are interested, engaged and eagerly craving for knowledge. To my surprise, my students are becoming teachers on social media. From videos of their work in the lab dissecting a frog and a fish, to pictures of vertebrates; members of families they have studied. Proudly, my students are being infectious, transmitting vertebrate and vertebrate knowledge to others. The same experience I had in the other course, ecology, with much enthusiasm and much energy, my students are posting videos, pictures and articles on facebook, informing and teaching their friends, families.  


There is a plethora of tools and methods to engage students, however, I found that showing a lot of interest in the science the lecturer is teaching, along with openness to criticism is just what the doctor ordered.


Early on, I thought of how a dreadful relationship may affect students, their lives and their perspectives of science in general. However, I decided keep it out of this blog, in order to keep this post positive. 

This positive relationship may benefit both, students and lecturer. As I feel energized and powered to give my best because of their interest and their enthusiasm. My motto nowadays, I can not allow myself to give less, I can not let the atmosphere around me affect my attitude and that I always have to satisfy students desire to learn more. 

This positive relationship have affect my life, my personal life at some level. My students have have surprised me one day with a gift, a small note book. What matter is not the gift as much as what is written on the first page, and the intention behind this gift. I am proud and happy that they consider me as their role model. 

To all my students who participated in this gift, and who have not, I am indebted to all of you, I am thankful to your warm feeling and respect, and I promise you as I promised myself: I will keep up what I am doing, and will for sure always look for ways to improve, considering students input. 

Teaching Ecology in Jordan

Jordan is the land of endless opportunities for ecological studies, at least that is what I believe. Jordan is known of harboring a very high biodiversity in both, fauna and flora relative to its small size. Its location, have shaped its biodiversity by having several endemic species, and many resemble either the most southerly or the most northerly distribution of the species worldwide. One reason to explain such high diversity, is that Jordan is in the middle between Asia and Africa, close to Europe. Further, Jordan have a very high geographic heterogeneity, from the lowest point on earth; the Dead Sea at -400 m below the sea level, to the Sand dune desert. That is why being I feel blessed to be in Jordan, close to such unlimited research opportunities on all level of ecological studies.

So, once I landed in Jordan, I started putting together a rough plan on how to lunch a research program in ecology. This plan aimed at furnishing a lab, attracting students, and of course securing some funding for long term research. Soon after I arrived I found that funding research in Jordan is not a big of a problem, rather it can be done easily. However, problems arose after that

First, the high biodiversity in Jordan was not paralleled with high students' interest. Along with the enthusiasm that I have for ecological research in Jordan, I had a rosy imagination on how easy it would be to recruit students for ecological research. Not until I started teaching ecology for the undergraduate level in Sep. 2015 in Jordan. First impression raised many concerns, dismay and frustration; students had zero interest in ecology. It was difficult to get students interested and engaged, so my goal shifted from teaching them the specifics to the least is having them acknowledge nature, the rights of Jordan's other inhabitants, and of course make them see representatives of Jordan's unique fauna and flora. With that I lost faith in recruiting any student....

But, not long until I realized that I was completely wrong.

It was the day that I decided to take them in walk on the mountains surroundings the campus. It was a long walk across two mountains. We crossed the first mountain, so I had to stop and ask: shall we continue? the overwhelming enthusiasm  of : SURE WE HAVE TO, shocked me. Students were never aware of this part of the campus, never knew that the university extend to such territories. It was a complete surprise to them that the university have what they have seen from birds, plants and reptiles. We crossed the second mountain, however, while we were walking my assistant spoke of a dam. At first it was very hard to convince students that a dam could exist in the university. We explained to them that it is a dam, but not like a fully functional dam they often see in movies. It is a small dam in the desert to hold some rain water for wild animals to drink, and for any livestock that would pass by the area. Seeing the dam was an intriguing idea for them, as if the dam word re-energized them. so we continued our walk, like after a full hour and half we reached the dam... and students were in denial that their university does extend this far, hold this much of biodiversity, and of course have a dam.

                                        

these two photos were for the first lab session, could not locate pictures of the second lab.

Bottom line, students interest in ecology is there, they really do love the environment, and my very first assessment was kind of wrong.
 Moral of the story: find a way to spark that interest in students, then you will be surprised.

Now I respect my students for the motivation, interest and concern about the environment.

The need to read text books and published peer-reviewed papers

Salam Alykoum,

I have noticed that students are not used to purchase text books, or to obtain the illegal photocopied version, or the least to borrow a reference from the library. the troubling relationship students have with text books worries me. In particular as I also noticed that students are no longer interested in reading text, or reading anything that is more than a page. Sadly, my observations were confirmed by lecturers at different colleges, and apparently, it is a national habit nowadays. This generation in general, reads less and enjoy books less.

This new disease is infesting this generation!!

The refrain from reading text have it is effect that I widely felt it across all courses that I taught so far. Such effects can be summarized in the following:

- Students have weak English vocabulary.
- Weak vocabulary can not help them construct a sentence in English.
- That said, they are not able to read and comprehend English text books, or any reading material.
- So, as a result,  MCQ exams results were horrible, and they have no interest in answering any assay question.
- Writing lab report is the biggest chore for students.

I realized the depth of this problem first when I asked them to write me a lab report. I could barely understand what is the idea of the sentence. Apparently, many of them rely on Google Translator, a machine with no brain. Google translator works by translating words individually, rather than working on whole sentences. Given that one Arabic word could mean many things, I got some funny reports, but frankly, all were sad. Sad because students are lagging behind in writing report, in understanding scientific peer-reviewed papers, which of course has a big impact on their abilities to carry out scientific research.

I am lost now between how to get students engaged, and how to get them to read. But will be exploring their minds to find a solution to this problem,.
and until then, will keep this blog a live to get them to read a little.

below are few pictures of how google translator can go wrong:

 This one got things wrong on multiple levels,

 instead of air conditioned, it is happy

 Can not explain how photos can be towed

 hopefully this one is not smelly

this one is the best so far

not mixed, it is problem

instead of parking for everyone, it turned out to be only for uncles!!!!

no word can explain how this went wrong

This is my best, a cheese that cause paralysis

Best luck all, and hopefully Google translator can get smarter as it seems people can not

From sees to the skies - BBC movie

Salam Alykoum,

Even thought I have been in teaching position for only few months, I could not fail to notice the big disconnect my students have with science. The first few lectures in my first semester were just a complete shock, some were protesting the language, some protesting the content, and many were in shock that no slides or summary will be provided to them. So, how can I win them and how I can spark their interest in the two courses that I am teaching. Perhaps I can do something new, something they are not used to, so I tried to break into their facebook group.. but I failed. Their group was guarded with smart observant admin.

That left me in dilemma, they do not want me in their group, but I have to get my course in their heads but their hearts was my first aim. I forgot to mention, that I had about 70 student in the ecology class, and 82 in the vertebrate class. To add insult to injury, most of the them took the two courses. Therefore, I was facing the same students who see me as an enemy. The same students who think that my aim is to torture them and make their life not-so-easy, or miserable. 

Thinking of ways to bridge the gap, I thought of an extra ordinary tutor; father of natural history, and father of generations of ecologist, that is David Attenborough. I have most of his production, so why not use it..... so I did. The impact was indescribable, they listened and watched every second with full attention. Many after my lecture followed me to know how to get the movies or to ask if they can borrow it.
At the end, David Attenborough was the solution.

Nowadays, my tradition is to start my vertebrate course with a movie of his, I think you guessed it, the rise of animal,

Here is a brief about the movie taken from his website:

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About the series

From the team that produced David Attenborough’s triple-Emmy award-winning series First Life (BBC 2010), Rise of Animals is a landmark series about the astonishing evolutionary advances that created the dazzling diversity of vertebrates which now dominate our planet – including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and, ultimately, mammals like us. This animal group has produced the largest, the fastest and the most intelligent creatures the world has ever seen.
David Attenborough’s 500 million year journey takes us around the world to the sites of the latest key discoveries including his first filming trip to a region that has become the modern frontier of paleontological research, China.
David uses animal encounters and new science to unpack the crucial evolutionary turning points leading to the rise of vertebrates, including the first spine, where fingers and toes come from, why we became warm-bloodied, and much more – specialities that have led to the stunning success of the vertebrates. The journey reveals how humans are the heirs to a magnificent evolutionary heritage stretching back to the first steps of life.
Rise of Animals uses a special collaboration between Emmy-winning company ZOO-VFX and top scientists to create eye-popping CGI. This, combined with stunning natural history filming and the world’s greatest natural history filmmaker, David Attenborough, tells the story of our ancient animal ancestors and connects them with the incredible life that we find on Earth today – including ourselves.
Episode 1: From the Seas to the Skies
David Attenborough uses new fossil evidence to unlock nature’s most extraordinary story – the incredible ascent of the animal group that now dominates our planet: The vertebrates. The origins of the vertebrates lie in primitive fish that once swam in ancient seas but remarkable advances allowed them to make the radical move onto land, and then take to the skies with the advent of flight. Brand new discoveries of fossils – ancient and living – combined with stunning CGI and cinematography enable David to chart their unexpected journey out of the water to populate all corners of the globe.

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My students had to watch this movie, first not because they liked it, but because I had to make it a course material required in the exam. But now I think they will watch it with their families and friends, exactly like I did, just because they know better....

I really wish all of you best of luck all,

Mohammed Alshamlih

Blog to students, why?

Dear Students in both courses, vertebrate and ecology, 

Tomorrow marks the first day of the second semester at the Hashemite University (hereafter HU). Despite the lightning short vacation between the two semesters, I was busy thinking of a way to encourage students to be more engaged and more interested.

I admit that the first semester was like a marathon for me, running from one thing to the other.  however, I have noticed several things that I would like to change:

1. Students are not serious about showing up to lectures. 
2. Students are hesitant in asking for clarification, or just showing that they or I missed a point in the lecture.
3. Students hardly take any notes.
4. Students are very good in procrastination.
5. With my schedule, I used to forget some important announcements. 

The lecture is too short for open discussion, or to say the least, not quite enough. As annoying as it was the first few weeks when I noticed that most students are tech-savvy and that cell-phones, tablets, or laptop-sized-cellphones do not leave their sight for few seconds, I decided to use some of this time for a good use. Not saying that you guys do not use your time wisely on the net, but just to add using it in introducing, learning, and discussing academic materials. 
 
At first, I thought of using Moodle system, but I know that most of you hardly open the system, and most importantly, the system seems to fail very often. Therefore, I thought of using blogger-sphere.

The idea is to use this open space to update students on lectures activities, field trips (for ecology students), discussion, and any announcement that I would like to share with you all. 

Happy new year and happy semester 

I pray to Allah that this will be beneficial for all of us...