Cultivation of class participation via active communication with students
Pursue a close relationship with students even after graduation
"High focus and deeper understanding in the class via active communication"
"It was good to review important parts via questions and answers in each class"
"Every time I visit him, he always cared us even when he was busy."
▶ Professor Wan Je Cho(Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
there are reviews for professor Wan Je Cho, winning Best Teaching Award, in the class of soil mechanics. Calling himself as "student professor," professor Cho's teaching methology is reflected on the reviews from his students.
Soil mechanics 1, the class of winning BTA for professor Cho, touches the subjects of element civil structures such as characteristics and intensity of soil, and deformation. This class is advanced level for being one of the prerequisites for juniors in the major of Civil engineering. Especially, the load of study is big in each of the class since the class consists of theory and design. Under these circumstances, what is it for getting him a BTA? The key point is communication with students.
"The class normally consists of 60 students, and I try to memorize every single name of them. I select a student on each day for asking questions, trying my best to memorize his/her name, face, and personality. It usually takes about a month to do that."
Teaching methods of professor Cho are related to "question times of terror." There are tons of questions coming from professor Cho regarding topic related to each class. If students are not prepared enough, they have hard times. Sometimes, they show irrelevant answers. However, professor Cho does not care it that much."
"Sometimes, students show some irrelevant answers, but I think they reflect what students have in mind. In case of having such answers, I try to explain them in the following meeting. This is how class concentration goes up, making an active class environment."
Professor Cho is known for the youngest professor, starting his career in 2009 (at the age of 33). He calls himself as "student professor." This nickname reflects passion of how much he cares his students and how much he is willing to teach.
"I think, when I enjoy teaching, the class becomes attractive and students easily follow the class. Such classes got rated high for lecture evaluation. I want to make such an environment of University where students can think of the first whenever they confront obstacles, asking for advices."
Beyond what is in the relationship with students for merely teaching, professor Cho tries hard to have communication in a same horizons with students, making a close relationship between students and professors.