Last Week in AI Chat about Teaching AI at Stanford with Abigail See
Nov 23, 2021
Abigail See, a recently graduated PhD student from Stanford's NLP group and former head TA, shares her unique insights on teaching AI. She discusses the joys and hurdles of education in a rapidly changing field, emphasizing the importance of empathy and adaptability. Abigail highlights the struggle to keep students engaged in large classes while nurturing their love for learning amidst grade pressures. The episode also touches on the challenges of balancing research with teaching and the disparities in resources that affect students' opportunities in AI.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Early Teaching Experience (Andrei)
- Andrei Krenkov began teaching early on as an undergrad at Georgia Tech, where undergrads often serve as TAs.
- He initially didn't pass TA interviews but started tutoring, later teaching intro to object-oriented programming.
Early Teaching and Incarcerated Youth (Sharon)
- Sharon Jo's first teaching experience was also in college at Harvard, where she TA'd for CS50 and a UX design course.
- A memorable experience involved tutoring incarcerated youth, one of whom learned to read after she showed belief in him.
Tutoring High Schoolers (Abigail)
- Abigail See tutored high school students for math exams but found it challenging to address their lack of foundational knowledge.
- The students struggled with fractions, hindering progress on more advanced topics like quadratic equations.