Abstract: The traditional education system relies on teaching and assessing each student in a relatively similar manner. While this ensures that the same criteria are used when assessing each student’s knowledge of the material it does not account for the fact that as human beings we are all different and approach life differently. In my talk I will address how I incorporate a style of teaching and student assessment that accounts for the fact that students learn differently. I will highlight what approaches I use in an introductory class versus a graduate class and how I account for the different cultures and backgrounds in my classes.

Furthermore, I will delve into how I try to prepare students for life after graduation. It is one thing to give students knowledge for that semester but how do I ensure that even after they have long left my class they have the tools to relearn or learn new material as they will be working in an ever changing industry.

Short Bio: Ivan Sekyonda graduated with a BS in Computer Engineering from Binghamton University in 2011. Following this he worked in New York City for a year at an IT firm as part of the Network Operations Center (NOC). In this role his main responsibilities included adopting new client’s networks to the firm’s system as well as managing data backups for the various clients.

In 2012 he returned to Binghamton University to pursue a Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering and it was during this time that he worked as a teaching assistant and fell in love with teaching. He graduated in 2014 with his MS after successfully defending his Master’s thesis that focused on developing an undetectable trigger for hardware trojans.

Wanting to stay in higher education, he accepted an offer working as a student advisor and in the IT department for the International Student Scholar Services office at Binghamton University. The experiences picked up in this office were invaluable, and a year later he accepted a lecturer role in the ECE department.

Currently in this role, Ivan is responsible for teaching two classes a semester, supervising a team of 15-20 undergraduate course assistants and 2-4 teaching assistants as well as advising students and senior design projects. He also serves on two committees with in the department and Engineering school as a whole.