Teaching philosophy

In my teaching, I am always looking for methods of engaging surface or "strategic" learners, as distinguished from "deep" learners by Marton and Säljö [0] and later applied to college education by Bain [1]. I recognize a former version of myself in the strategic learner - optimizing one's time and studies with the intent to obtain high grades while minimizing effort, at the potential expense of a deeper understanding.

Many Computer Science classrooms are well-suited to strategic learning. Programming assignments and projects are completed asynchronously. For flexiblity and accommodation, classes frequently offer lecture recordings (in many cases, a student can pass without ever attending lecture at all). To the extent that there is a trend away from in-person exams, it is for good reason - an exam poorly assesses the patience, resourcefulness, and large-scale design and critical thinking skills that a computer scientist needs to succeed in the real world. To assess students primarily by their performance on timed exams is to assess the wrong learning objectives.

But while deep learners will appreciate being assessed on appropriate learning objectives, strategic learners may find themselves opting-in to a shallower experience. This concern has become even more pressing as AI coding assistants make it easier for strategic learners to produce convincing and correct assignments without having spent the necessary time engaging with the core concepts being assessed. As educators, if we do nothing in the face of these developments, then our in-person teaching effort is no more useful to students than a free asynchronous online course, an option that has become available in almost every conceivable subject in the past decade.

But I believe deeply in the value of in-person, collaborative learning, so I am always pursuing ways to authentically engage strategic learners in active learning. In my Fall 2025 course, Parallel Functional Programming, I am looking forward to applying a unique blend of live-coding exercises and short, low-stress, in-person quizzes to entice students into the classroom learning environment without causing anxiety or assessing the wrong learning objectives.

[0] Marton, F., & Säljö, R. (1976). On qualitative differences in learning: I—Outcome and process. British journal of educational psychology, 46(1), 4-11.

[1] Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Harvard University Press.

Experience

Selected teaching samples

Coming soon via my Fall '25 course on Parallel Functional Programming in Haskell!

Other things I'm happy about

Columbia CTL Teaching Development Program (Foundational Track) Certification. Advanced Track Certification expected Fall 2025.

Lastly, an excerpt from a nice evaluation a student wrote about the section I led for ENGI 1006 in 2023:

"Max is the most patient and amazing TA ever. At the start of every recitation, he would ask us which particular topic we wanted to focus on...If we don't understand it in a certain way, he'll use another way to elucidate the concept...no matter what questions we ask or how many. Once, when we had to move out of the classroom because another class was using it, he gladly brought us to another corner to help us...He genuinely loves teaching."