1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,500


2
00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:06,720
SPEAKER 1: How do you find a balance to
explain something like computer science

3
00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:07,590
to all of us?

4
00:00:07,590 --> 00:00:11,640
What's the key element in teaching?

5
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:13,240
I don't know if I can--

6
00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:14,360
do you get what I--

7
00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:15,521
SPEAKER 2: I do, I do.

8
00:00:15,521 --> 00:00:16,396
SPEAKER 1: I'm sorry.

9
00:00:16,396 --> 00:00:16,896
I'm nervous

10
00:00:16,896 --> 00:00:17,530
SPEAKER 2: No.

11
00:00:17,530 --> 00:00:19,110
Thank you for the kind words.

12
00:00:19,110 --> 00:00:22,720
It's not easy, and I don't know
if we do a great job all the time.

13
00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:27,450
But I think the simple answer
is empathy and remembering

14
00:00:27,450 --> 00:00:32,820
what it was like to not understand
material yourself and remembering what

15
00:00:32,820 --> 00:00:35,970
it was like to feel like everyone
else in the room or in the class

16
00:00:35,970 --> 00:00:39,390
was smarter than you or
knew better the material

17
00:00:39,390 --> 00:00:42,580
and to try to put yourself
into the shoes, so to speak,

18
00:00:42,580 --> 00:00:46,800
of that student to help them
with a narrative, both verbally

19
00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,140
and in the course as homework
assignments and slides

20
00:00:49,140 --> 00:00:54,030
and so forth, get from the starting
line, so to speak, to the finish line

21
00:00:54,030 --> 00:00:57,540
without letting go of their
hand during that process.

22
00:00:57,540 --> 00:00:59,440
And I think it takes practice.

23
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,950
I think it takes sensitization.

24
00:01:01,950 --> 00:01:04,349
For instance, even
though this course, CS50,

25
00:01:04,349 --> 00:01:08,580
happens to be taught to our
college undergraduates at Harvard,

26
00:01:08,580 --> 00:01:11,313
I first got my start from
teaching in a lectureship role

27
00:01:11,313 --> 00:01:13,230
at Harvard's extension
school, which is a much

28
00:01:13,230 --> 00:01:16,770
broader demographic of students--
young students, old students,

29
00:01:16,770 --> 00:01:20,680
everyone in between who have gone
or who have not gone to college.

30
00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,790
And so it was a much more
diverse audience of students,

31
00:01:23,790 --> 00:01:26,140
both in Cambridge and online.

32
00:01:26,140 --> 00:01:29,600
And I think that, too, helped sensitize
me to different learning styles.

33
00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:30,600
I think we have always--

34
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:35,250
I have always had students who
are very different backgrounds

35
00:01:35,250 --> 00:01:39,110
geographically,
socioeconomically, academically.

36
00:01:39,110 --> 00:01:43,110
And I think that helps too,
not assuming that your student

37
00:01:43,110 --> 00:01:46,410
body is all of the same
type or of the same mindset.

38
00:01:46,410 --> 00:01:49,040
So in short, empathy.

39
00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,000