Faculty Excellence at UMUC

Interviewer:

Please tell us about yourself—what made you decide to teach at UMUC? What kind of work do you do when you are not teaching at UMUC? What life experiences have influenced your teaching at UMUC?

Michael Tisher:

At the time I applied for UMUC in Fall 1998, I was told by a graduate school advisor that I had the worst teaching evaluations that he has ever seen. At that time, I had a certain pedagogy in place that I thought would work but did not have luck establishing a successful rapport with the students. So, I began to look for my colleagues at that time for help and guidance. I began 1999 off with a revamping of my style and techniques and fortunately it paid off with better evaluations. Despite that, with the closing of that successful Spring 1999 semester, I was worried that potential employers would look at my Spring 1999 semester as a fluke and concentrate on my dark history beforehand. Fortunately, in Summer 1999, UMUC accepted me and thus, I immediately thought of this opportunity as a chance to start off with a clean slate and continue the success I had established that year. Another reason why I decided to accept the chance to teach at UMUC was so that I could experience living in a different culture and most of all, to embark on a new adventure in my life.

When I am not teaching for UMUC, I am a musician who plays Irish and jazz music in a band, and in addition, play in a couple church services a week at the local on-base chapel.

Being in an overseas division, I have contact with students from all over different areas over the world, and because of the diversity of students with regards to culture, learning styles, and especially language, I try to incorporate the so-called three methods of learning into my teaching---audio, visual, and kinesthetic. With this, a Japanese person may not be able to understand what I am saying, but he/she may be able to pick up on the visual aids that I might have. In addition, given my experience as a musical performer on stage, I like to bring the "performances" to the classroom by using the violin to demonstrate sine waves as well as crying when a certain rule in mathematics does not work in a situation.

Interviewer:

Please tell us if you teach face-to-face, online, or both and explain what made you choose that format of teaching.

Michael Tisher:

I use both formats. Face-to-face is very important in mathematics as it gives the students hands-on experience with the guidance of a live professor at hand. By learning mathematics, I feel that a lot of rules and formulas have been explored by bouts of testing and experimentation much like how a product was invented. For example, it took Thomas Edison much testing and experimentation in order to come up with a light bulb that was efficient. Many rules and formulas in math have come about a similar way.  The face-to-face as well as the online classroom allows me to take the students on a trip toward the invention of things like the quadratic formula.  With this, they should have a better understanding of why the quadratic formula is the way it is instead of just accepting that formula for granted. One disadvantage of taking students on trips is the time factor. Time goes so fast when you're having fun. This is where an advantage of online teaching springs forward in the fact that I don't have to worry about a clock so much. Therefore, I feel like I can expose my students to so much more in an online environment and still continue to work with students from a wide diversity of backgrounds and cultures not just in Japan, but in places as far away as Greece ! With the advent of web enhancement, however, perhaps, the clock worries in a face-to-face environment have a chance to be diminished. Because a military student may usually wind up in a position where he/she is not able to make a time or place commitment, I respect the need for online classes and am glad to be a part of that need. 

Interviewer:

What do you find most satisfying about teaching in your chosen format(s)?

Michael Tisher:

The most satisfying part is seeing a student with a light bulb come on over his/her head. It's great to be able to teach a concept in class for which a student may not have understood before, but is able to catch on to that concept, now. Time permitting, I try to teach a concept from different points of view given the fact that each of us may have a different perception with regards to that concept.

Interviewer:

What do you find challenging about teaching in your chosen format(s)?

Michael Tisher:

On the flip side, it is hard to come across a student who doesn't understand a concept even after a few different approaches of showing it. My weakness is that sometimes, I don't want to give up until every student understands it especially since mathematics builds upon itself. But, due to time constraints, I might have to move on and in the meantime, leave it to the student to strive to learn the concept, successfully, by doing the assigned homework problems. Of course, a student can always come for help outside of class. I believe that some best teaching may occur outside of class with a student since time is usually more flexible to deal with rather than inside of class.

Interviewer:

Please tell us about your chosen discipline�how long have you worked in or taught it? What made you interested in the area? What keeps you interested in the area?

Michael Tisher:

My bachelor's degree is in computer science, and after obtaining my degree in 1991, I spent six months doing software testing and then, spent two years working in a computer operations department of a major company. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of applying the knowledge that I learned from college, it seems like I was in the midst of a lot of job instability which I found understandable for a field as volatile as computer science.

Because of that, I decided to switch to something more stable such as mathematics. Meanwhile, throughout my entire life, I have had teachers as well as my parents recommend me to go about becoming a teacher, so in 1994, I decided to give it a chance by entering graduate school with a college math teaching assistantship. I haven't left teaching since. What made you interested in the area? Music has always been my first love and would have liked to major in it in college with the hopes of becoming a professional musical artist. My father thought that was risky and suggested me to perhaps consider other avenues in college. At that time, it was the 1980's which was a time of computers striving to become part of everyday life. I dabbled a bit with computers at that time and thought that computers would become more and more important as the years passed, so I thought, "I'll major in computer science." I didn't know exactly what it was at that time, but I knew it involved taking a lot of math courses, so I thought "it should be ok. I'll go for it." Fortunately, it turned out to be ok.

Even though I did switch to math, I still do computer programming because it helps me immensely in any projects involving math that I have going on. As a child, I became interested in playing games and watching game shows, and as a result, accepted mathematics as a kind of game. In mathematics, there are theorems and formulas which are like the rules of the game and there is getting the right answer which is like winning the game. As far as how math is applied and what it is used for, I didn't really care. I loved math because of the theory and critical thinking behind it. Also, in school, I found math to be easier because it seemed like I didn't have to memorize as much when it came to other courses. Instead of memorizing a fact, one, through the rules of mathematics, can go about deriving a fact. One, in this sense, cannot really derive a history fact, but must memorize it instead.

The basics of math never change so it is easy to keep interested. I like the fact that math has so many beautiful patterns and symmetries to the point that it seems like each number has its own unique "numerality" (personality). I also like how math is used to describe and explain the many different things in the world around us, and further try to alleviate the complexity of our world by categorizing and putting the things of the world in some certain kind of order. As for computer science, computers are indeed a mathematician's best friend as it has speeded up many mathematical tasks which have made for further research in mathematics, so I enjoy keeping up with the trends of computer programming as far as any algorithms pertaining to carrying out a certain mathematical task is concerned and even any new programming languages that may evolve.

Interviewer:

What joys do you experience in teaching in this area?

Michael Tisher:

Again, it is seeing a light bulb appear over a student's head. I have made the analogy of math with playing game. Over time, I have made the analogy of a math classroom with a game show. In a game show, a contestant is usually there to learn using all three methods of learning listed above and to also have fun and then hopefully win the game by winning a lot of money. So, I feel that a classroom is like a game show with contestants who are students, a professor who is the host, and money up for grabs in the form of good grades up for grabs. Even though math may be hard for some, I do try to make it as fun and comprehendible as I possibly can, and having fun is certainly a joy.

Interviewer:

What challenges do you experience in teaching in this area? Please describe any special challenges you face if you teach online in comparison to teaching in a face-to-face classroom.

Michael Tisher:

Again, in a face-to-face setting, the clock is sometimes an issue as I want to take the time to make sure the material is understood. It also takes a lot of time to go through every step, but in the end, I believe that it is worthwhile because in math, one has to get one step correct before moving on to the next step. A disadvantage of an online asynchronous class is that one cannot read students' faces, so as a result, it is easy for a faculty member to breeze through the concept material. However, that is not such a serious issue because in the long run, a faculty member can tell through other sources whether an online student is caught up or not. One challenge of an online class is being able to convert lectures or notes from a face-to-face to an online setting. I taught calculus online recently, and having access to many interactive mathematics Java applets online greatly enhanced the face-to-face material that I had which in that regard made things easier.

Interviewer:

How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy?

Michael Tisher:

I would describe my style as kinesthetic complete with many creative thinking questions and hands-on problems. As mentioned before, I like to show the how's and why's of math rather than give students a formula to take for granted. Once they understand the how's and why's, I believe they can understand math better in general. What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy? A math professor, Dr. Anne Dye from my first alma mater, gave presentations that were very thorough and flawless. She took the time to explain how many things were derived and came to be. It was then that I became to understand and appreciate the creativity behind many rules and formulas in math, so I wanted to demonstrate in my class, too, that math is creative. To do that, I'll have my students show me how to get to an answer even though it might not be the best approach. Then, my students and I will discuss and then make final conclusions about this approach. If it is not the best approach, some students might ask me, "why don't you save time and show us the right approach the first time?" I try to tell them that I am being realistic in the sense that many rules and formulas did not just come overnight. Colleagues at LSU, my second alma mater, showed me ways to get the students involved more by having them work in groups.

Interviewer:

Please explain if you do something special or unique in your approach and how you developed that approach. What do you think it is about your approach that appeals to students?

Michael Tisher:

I do many things that are good in grabbing students' attention. For example, to introduce the concept of a function, I let the students represent the domain of that function, their mailboxes represent the range, and the mailman represent the function. So, I'll bring some mail to class and pretend to have "mail call," and their ears perk up when they're told that there may be money inside each envelope. I think what appeals to students about this is that they learn that a math concept is pretty much behind each everyday thing in life whether it is totally evident or not. With this, I am able to bring such an abstract concept such as a function down to a more concrete level that students can perhaps feel and taste so to speak. Speaking of this, I feel that many students think that math is hard because it looks too abstract. To be able to understand the abstractness, it is necessary to understand the concreteness, first. That is, start simple and then make it complicated later on. For example, instead of starting with 2x, we can understand first that 2x is "2 times some number." So, we can first look at 2x as 2(1), 2(2), 2(3), 2(4), etc.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline?

Michael Tisher:

I would say that working math problems and writing computer programs is a lot of hard work and it is not to be taken lightly. For anyone wanting to major in math, I would suggest not only to work the problems but also read the concepts so one can get a better idea of how all the math is put together. I would also suggest one to take all the math classes that he/she can possibly take. Doing so will help keep the math skills sharpened and honed as well as perhaps provide different points of view pertaining to one certain concept. For anyone wanting to major in computer science, I strongly recommend taking as high as pre-calculus before starting any programming course. Being competent in at least pre-calculus will provide the necessary tools of problem solving and logic skills that are necessary for computer programming. That being said, I recommend to any computer science major to obtain a well-rounded scope of math courses as well because one can see how computer science is applied mathematics. For a good example of that, I recommend any math/computer science major to take a class called "Numerical Analysis" as this class concentrates on the analysis of algorithms that solve certain math problems. This is a great class because it provides ways to solve a math problem for which a step-by-step algebraic process may not be able to be applied. Another class I recommend for math/computer science majors is "Discrete Mathematics" as this provides the logical skills necessary for computer programming.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC?

Michael Tisher:

Learn to understand how things in math are derived because if a student asks why can't this or that be said or done, then the faculty member can be able to answer that student's question. Try to bring things in the classroom that would make an abstract concept seem as concrete as possible. Also, try to make it if not fun a positive experience for the students. In addition, give them a lot of homework because one never truly understands how math is until he/she digs into it.