Five Popular Posts Of The Month

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

The future of education is impossible without a robust online component.


“Prof. Voroshilov, I’m at a loss for words to express my gratitude. In all of my years of school, from elementary, into high school, and through college, I have been blessed with top-notch teachers. But I’m pretty sure you take the cake. I was originally debating between taking physics at Harvard or BU, and all the signs pointed to BU. Honestly, I kind of think it was fate. I am not sure if it was just a good student – teacher match, but I thoroughly enjoined your lectures. You have an uncanny ability to present material, and it’s pretty clear (to me, at least) how much effort you put into your work as a teacher.”

Click here skip other feedback

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mr. V, thank you for putting up with all of us this summer!! I feel much more prepared for the MCAT. And I loved the demonstrations! Thanks for putting all the time + effort!”
“Professor V, You designed this class so that those who put in the effort would succeed, so I gave it my all and sure enough."
I want to say thank you for creating such a conducive learning environment for me to succeed. I hadn't taken a physics class since my freshman year in high school, so I was very nervous going into your class. I did not expect this course to become my favorite science course so far at BU. Physics is a hard subject, but you explained everything well and made sure we, as a class, had the tools necessary to succeed with enough hard work on our end.”
“Professor Voroshilov is great – he explains concepts very well, and makes great use of clicker questions, demos, etc. Prof. Voroshilov also uses powerpoint, transparencies, videos, cameras, tablets, etc. very creatively and effectively to reinforce material from lecture.”
“I didn’t like physics before taking this class and now it’s one of my favorite classes.”
"I hated physics before taking this course, and now after taking both 105 and 106 with Mr. V, I actually really enjoy it. He is one of the best teachers I've ever had. Thank you"
“Best physics professor here, only one who cares if students are learning the material. Proves you don’t need a PhD in physics to teach this class. PhD in education is much more effective.”
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Those were some examples from my past student evaluations, when I was teaching an on-site elementary physics course.
And now, here are some of recent evaluations after I taught my first fully remote class (finished it just before the 4th of July).
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“I found that Professor V. was a fantastic professor to have! In particular, I appreciate that he put time into ensuring the online nature of the course was not a detriment to our lives, particularly as I work outside school. He hardly ever stumbled in the use of technology to provide us with the best in-class experience.”
“Professor V. has a strong passion and drive for teaching physics.”
“He worked hard to make sure the technology worked in a timely and organized fashion.”
“Professor V. is extremely passionate about physics allowing for this course to be more interesting than normal. His teaching style and presentations are straightforward, and allow for the material to be mastered as long as you work hard for it.”
“I loved Professor V. because he was never trying to trick students, and he truly hopes all students can be successful in PY105.”
“There are clear explanations for every single problem we encountered, alongside theoretical background of all derivations and processes studied. The instructor also appears enthusiastic, which is very helpful for courses like physics (easily monotonous with all the math involved)”
“He uses lot's of models and examples to teach.”
“He is very caring and thorough, tries to be clear with his expectations. We really appreciate how much time and effort he puts into his lectures, demonstrations, and the amount of his own time he puts into answering piazza questions. I have never had a professor who cares enough to answer piazza questions as often as Mr. V so I commend how much effort he puts in”
“Professor V is excellent, I have no complaints. He is enthusiastic and caring, as well as extremely knowledgeable. He was passionate and available regularly for help.”
“He is really funny without trying too hard. He's definitely one of my favorite personalities of the university professors I've had so far. I feel like every ruling he had regarding our class was fair, sometimes even too nice. I felt this class more than any other I have taken at this school benefited me. I spent a considerable amount of time preparing for the exams, and wasn't surprised by a single question on them. He really, really cared about the students, even if he didn't express it explicitly. He came off cold at first, especially in the responses he'd give to students on Piazza who were not doing well in the class. It was in his actions that I really noticed he cared, like spending days regrading exams after there were discrepancies, or changing the format of labs due to technical difficulties on the student's parts. A teacher who didn't care wouldn't have changed those things.”
“He was comfortable with the technology which made everything easier on our end as students. He was able to adapt quickly when things went wrong such as Echo360 shutting down, etc.”
“Dr. V is a very passionate instructor. His presentations are straightforward and cover a lot of problems. The questions are engaging and the experiments are interesting. Lots of great demonstrations”
“Great energy, the lecture is really easy to understand.”
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Many more examples are available on this page.
And here is the latest informal sound-feedback from a current student, who says that even though my course is remote, she learned more than from a past on-site course.
The goal of this presentation of quality is not to brag, but to state the fact: I am good at teaching physics, no matter what format I have to use.
When I teach, students always appreciate my style and express their support.

Of course, not everyone is happy with the way I teach.

No one can satisfy all the people all the time.

But obviously, when I teach I do something right.

When I teach - I know what I do, and know why do it, and why I do it in the way I do it.

It is absolutely obvious that online/distant/remote is here for a long time ahead, and is not going to go anywhere.

On the contrary, the institutions that can offer a high-quality online/distant/remote courses will have a significant advantage on the market.

People like I, who can design and deliver an effective remote course are becoming a valuable asset for institutions and companies in the field of education.

Based on my proved experience, I would like to develop the “perfect” elementary physics course for students who have never been taken physics before.


Ideally, I would like to gather a team of educators who could together create a collection of highly effective distant courses - not just for students, but for teachers (and more)!

Such a team would give a significant advantage to any institution or company that wants to dominate the market for online remote/distant/education (on the difference between “online” and “remote” read this piece).

Interested?

Call me!


Appendix

Recently I read in the news that Harvard University will not be able to accept new foreign students due to visa restrictions placed on fully online learners.
I think I can give advice to Harvard lawyers how to fight that.
There are two opposite or “extreme” forms of distant education - one is called online and another one is remote.
They both do not require a physical presence.
But – and that is hugely important - remote education requires remote presence at the time of a class.
In the remote format students have to participate live!
That means even students are not physically present in the classrooms, they still have to be physically present in the region with the same time zone!
That means even if there are no on-site classes, with the remote classes students still have to be able to enter the United States in order to participate in those classes.
This link describes difference between remote and online in a greater detail:
https://www.cognisity.how/2020/04/onlinevremote.html
 

I wonder why Harvard lawyers could not figure this out.

P.S.

This page represents the full list of my publications on various matters of education.

Here are some of the titles.












Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The logical fallacy of the existing explanations of the electron double-slit experiment.


All existing analyses of the double-slit electron experiment are based on two statements:
1. When only one slit (hole) is open then electrons reach the screen and form a Bell-shaped pattern. 
2. When two slits are open, electrons form an interference pattern that does not represent a simple composition of two Bell-shaped patterns.
But all those existing analyses make the same logical mistake. 
They assume that when electrons travel through a single slit, they behave like classical particles.
However, there is absolutely no reason for that assumption.
An analogy with the light traveling through one or two slits (holes) shows that the pattern formed by electrons should depend on the size of the opening. 
When there is only one opening, but it is large (large enough, in a certain sense), then electrons will be forming a classical-like Bell-shaped pattern. But in this case, even with two openings, we should expect a classical-like pattern, and no interference.
But when the opening is small, electrons should form a single-slit interference pattern. When another opening becomes available, electrons form an interference pattern as well, but this should not be a surprise anymore, because electrons have already formed an interference pattern with only one opening.
And in that case the real question is why do electrons form an interference pattern when they travel through a single small opening?
All existing analyses of the double-slit electron experiment simply combine two incompatible pictures, the classical picture of particles traveling through one hole, and a quantum picture of particles traveling through two holes.
Of course, when you use an inconsistent logic, you get confusing results.
Dr. Valentin Voroshilov

This used to be an appendix to. Large piece on the matter:
“Can an electron travel through two slits at the same time?”, posted on this page.