Teaching Philosophy of Nafees Belal - Delaware County Community ...

Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Nafees H. Belal, M.S.
Assistant Professor of Electronics Engineering Technology
Delaware County Community College, Media, PA
I love Mathematics. Ever since I was a child, Mathematics was my forte. My parents
often mention that I mastered counting one to ten even before I learnt the alphabets. My
childhood passion for Mathematics has enabled me to do excellent in all the classes that feature
numerical analysis and measurement in my undergraduate and graduate school. For the last eight
years, my mathematical and critical thinking abilities have ushered in success as a ‘College
Professor’ of Electronics Engineering Technology Program; as crunching numbers for a complex
engineering problem, or designing a circuit for a project, or laying down the structures of a
program always seem analogous to me.
Working with people has always been a passion of mine. This passion has followed me
throughout my childhood and has enabled me to perform extraordinarily in my chosen career
path: ‘The College Professor’. I believe my chosen career has provided me with a rare
opportunity to contribute to shaping the future of our society by influencing people’s lives. For
more than eight years, I have seen how “nurturing a love-of-learning” is important for students in
their current as well as future achievements. My goal is to make a positive difference in my
students’ lives from the earliest opportunities that I have to interact with them. Over the last five
years at DCCC, I have been engaged with a diverse student body, with varied background,
abilities, experiences, and learning styles. The students are mature, and focused, and demand
teaching styles that are not limited to knowledge acquisition, memorization, and regurgitation.
They crave a thorough knowledge of fundamental engineering technology principles, problemsolving
skills, as well as relevance and immediate applications. It has been a rewarding journey
for me, an addition to benefiting myself, I have had the privilege to guide and inspire my
students.
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© 2011 Nafees H. Belal, Assistant Professor, Electronics Engineering Technology, DCCC

“Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he eats for a
lifetime.” – An Ancient Chinese Proverb.
This proverb has a tremendous impact in my life and the core philosophy of my teaching
has roots in this proverb. I believe I have an extremely important task vested in me; through my
teaching I can change people’s lives and impact society. My personal belief is: “The primary
responsibility of a teacher is to provide students with the skills, knowledge and experience
necessary so that they have the ability to be successful in their chosen career paths and lives”. At
the soul of my teaching philosophy, I believe that students need to be not just educated in subject
matter, but mentored, which will let them fully appreciate the opportunities that exist during their
college years. The years students spend as an associate level engineering technology student are
among the most foundational and vital in developing a professional’s life. Approaches, skills,
and perceptions established, and assimilated; at this time provide a template for the rest of their
years in a challenging and rewarding profession.
I believe that teaching is much more than just delivering information in a suitable format
to our students. I believe that one of my most vital roles is to help students learn how to learn, as
well as how to efficiently solve problems, and how to judge the long-range impact of their
solutions, their decisions and the impact on the society that their actions will have. I always
attempt to make students, active participants in their education by making my lectures mutual
experiences. I always ask questions to all my students and welcome any question, at any given
point, in my lecture. Collaborative lectures and ‘on the spot thinking’ enables the student to learn
how to form their own view of the material they are presented with. I believe students do not
learn materials if I only lecture; rather the learning takes place with active participation. To be a
successful engineer/technologist means to see life through a very diverse set of eyes as is
common to most people.
My teaching methods provide for different ‘active learning’ methods which helps in the
learning process. To implement these methods I carefully design my lectures with several ‘class
participation’ activities which range from critical problem solving to building a small electronic
circuit using (MultiSim software). I expect students to be active contributors in the learning
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© 2011 Nafees H. Belal, Assistant Professor, Electronics Engineering Technology, DCCC

process. With this expectation, I function as a facilitator in the learning process, rather than the
simple deliverer of the material. Knowing that students learn in a variety of ways, my goal is to
try to accommodate varied styles. In order for these problem-based, collaborative, and active
learning techniques to be effective, a ‘pleasant learning environment’ is critical. The basic
element to create such an environment is ‘care for students’. I find that in showing ‘genuine
care’ in their learning effectiveness, their understanding of course materials, their progress, their
opinion, and their balance of work and college and family, students instill their trust in me. I am
always available to students before, during and after class and I always encourage discussion.
Students are welcome to e-mail and/or call me anytime beside my formal office hours.
Students working in ‘small groups’ or ‘teams’ on projects, laboratory assignments and
class participation problems makes a difference in the student learning process. In this way
students take more responsibility for their education. I expose my students to problems where
they must find statistics, figures, and data openly rather than narrowly from their required
textbooks. Students can discover their own intellectual capabilities in a team environment by
exercising these carefully designed lecture materials and/or special laboratory projects. Most of
these projects conclude in a written report, which include providing answers to related questions
so that students can share their ideas as well as technical information through effective
communicating. This is a vital aspect of engineering/technology education since industry people
normally work cooperatively.
One of the most important skills an engineer/technologist can achieve is ‘Critical
thinking’. In order to solve variety of new and innovative problems, engineers/technologists must
be able to think logically. Most of the time, the final solution to a problem is hardly apparent.
The thinking process of the student must be refined and improved via practice, over and over. I
try to make sure my assigned home works, projects, class participation problems, and laboratory
projects reflect critical thinking. Through example problems, and several demonstrations in class,
I lead my students to the process of problem solving.
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© 2011 Nafees H. Belal, Assistant Professor, Electronics Engineering Technology, DCCC

Many Electronics Engineering Technology topics and concepts are repeated in several
courses and can initially seem like disjointed ideas. But, in real life, this knowledge is
commutative and, they work as ‘building blocks’ providing meaning to the knowledge you
gained in the first electronics course. In my lecture, I show the cohesive nature of these concepts
by presenting several of their manifestations. This helps the students to recognize that learning in
one class directly applies to several others in their curriculum.
Relating each electronics engineering technology concepts with ‘real world problems’ is
one of the vital components of my teaching methods. My experience proves that students engage
in double the attention and interest in a topic as I relate an example problem with real life
(industry) situation. Through this process students realize that engineering/technology solutions
exist to meet the needs of society. I attempt to show how classroom exercise relates to the
challenges that face a practicing engineer/technologist. Further, I try to work on computer
software and other advanced techniques in my classroom to make the class rich. Often, I refer
to interesting journal publication and/or YouTube videos related to any new, state-of-the-art
Electronics Engineering Technology product/equipment.
As a professor, I have a strong personal belief that I should be extremely sensitive to the
background as well as to the preparation of the students. Individual performance has a great
influence on how the student is treated by the professor. I declare several times, each semester
that my office hours as well as other times are available for student needs. These needs go far
beyond clarifying lecture, homework, or exam materials. I willingly invite students to discuss
with me any problems they are having that might impact on their success. I try to openly have a
conversation with my students at break time and before/after class regarding their ‘career goals’
and the different career and transfer opportunities that await them. I believe that as individuals
participating in a learning environment, that mutual respect, between the students and me is
paramount. I go all-out to earn students' respect in a variety of ways, given that respect cannot
simply be awarded. I take a sincere interest in the well-being of students and interact with them
on professional and (with-in reason) social levels. I am convinced that limited social interaction
with students develops a bond with them and they are more comfortable when asking for
assistance while in the classroom. I want to be considered a fair and reasonable person in
everything I do inside and outside a classroom.
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© 2011 Nafees H. Belal, Assistant Professor, Electronics Engineering Technology, DCCC