David Colino (MIT) Teaching Philosophy Statement

Teaching Philosophy

Being an academic encompasses dual, complementary roles. As scholars, we must strive to increase our understanding and push the frontiers of knowledge ever further. As educators, we must ensure that we pass on the knowledge and skills we have acquired, to be built upon further by others. Both aspects are necessary to achieve enduring scientific and scholastic progress. I am proud of the time I have devoted to teaching throughout my PhD, whether as a principal instructor or as a teaching assistant (TA) for undergraduate, graduate, and MBA courses.

I believe that teaching is a craft, and experience is fundamental. In order to further my teaching skills, I attended the Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program (KTCP) through the MIT Teaching & Learning Laboratory, and I have tried to get as much teaching experience as possible. The progression of my teaching abilities is evident in the evaluations I have received and in comments such as: “Brilliant TA”, “Fantastic TA! Demonstrates his grasp of the knowledge and able to communicate the concepts in a clear and simple manner to the students” “David is the best TA. Ever.”, “You are the best recitation instructor I have ever had for a course 14 [economics] class, hands down.” “The lectures were very well structured”, “Very patient and exceptionally helpful.”, “David is a great teacher”.

Over the course of my teaching experiences and through my participation in the KTCP, I have developed the following approach to student learning. First, I will strive to construct my courses in an environment where the incentives are aligned for students to learn effectively. In particular, for students to take an active approach to learning, the course’s intended learning outcomes must be clear, and the course’s structure and evaluations must be built around this foundation. Second, I will promote student participation by asking questions and listening carefully to their answers, creating a relaxed and tolerant environment that is receptive to students from varied backgrounds. I will provide timely and interpretable criticism, and hold students to high expectations, which research has shown to be effective at maintaining motivation (Yeager et al. 2013). Ample research has also found that students exhibit U-shaped attention curves in each lesson, so I plan to include mid-lesson activities. Finally, I will perform frequent “practice at retrieval” exercises, which research has shown to promote long-term retention (Brame & Biel 2015).

Teaching experience

1. MBA courses: I have been a TA for the course “Applied Economics for Managers” for three years. This course is a core requirement for the Sloan Fellows program, a one- year MBA for mid-career professionals encompassing all backgrounds: from policy- makers with economics doctorates to marketing executives with bachelors in French literature. My responsibilities as TA included conducting and preparing notes for weekly recitation sections for 60 students to teach mathematical tools, solve economic problems, and answer questions. I was also responsible for holding office hours and David Colino (MIT) Teaching Philosophy Statement grading case-study projects. This was originally a one-year position, but because of the positive feedback I received from students and my contributions to developing new recitation material, the director of the course, Prof. Stoker, specifically asked me to return as TA for two more years.

2. Graduate courses: I was a TA for Prof. Glenn Ellison’s “Industrial Organization I”, the first course in the IO sequence for PhD students. As a TA for this course, I conducted weekly recitation sections and office hours, and wrote solutions for and graded problem sets and exams. In the Spring 2017, I will be a TA for the second part of the IO sequence with Prof. Nancy Rose, focusing on competition policy and regulation.

3. Undergraduate courses: I have experience both as a TA and a principal instructor at the undergraduate level. I was a TA for “Principles of Microeconomics”, for “Microeconomic Theory & Public Policy”, and for “IO & Competitive Strategy”. These courses range from core courses with 230 students to electives with an enrollment ten times smaller. I was also given full responsibility for “Introduction to Statistical Methods in Economics” as the principal instructor of the course during the Fall 2014 semester. My responsibilities included writing the syllabus, preparing and conducting the lectures, and ensuring the overall well-functioning of the course. While this was a challenging task to take on, I gained invaluable experience for my future teaching opportunities.

Future courses

Drawing from my diverse teaching experiences, I feel confident about being able to teach effectively in undergraduate, graduate, and executive MBA programs. As I transition into a career as a faculty member, I look forward to developing my own courses, and plan to continuously further my pedagogical skills. Based on my experiences as well as research interests, I am prepared to teach courses in industrial organization, strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. I would also be happy to teach introductory and intermediate microeconomic theory and applied econometrics.

Service

I have been involved in a number of service activities at MIT. Within the Department of Economics, I have co-organized the Industrial Organization lunch seminar series, I was social chair for the Graduate Economics Association, and captain of the Economics soccer team, responsible for scheduling weekly games. Outside the departmental setting, I was a co-organizer of MIT’s 2016 Global Startup Workshop in Hyderabad (India), and have been a member of the graduate student association Spain@MIT for four years, in the functions of treasurer, vice-president, and president.

References: Brame, C.J. & Biel, R., 2015. Test-enhanced learning: the potential for testing to promote greater learning in undergraduate science courses. CBE life sciences education, 14(2), p.14:es4. Yeager, D.S. et al., 2013. Breaking the Cycle of Mistrust: Wise Interventions to Provide Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide.