Young-Hee Cho

College of Agriculture

Young-Hee Cho, a senior lecturer in the Department of Food Science, also serves as a mentor and advisor for undergraduate students and graduate teaching assistants. She is dedicated to the training up of students majoring in food science into experienced and competent food scientists, particularly in developing laboratory skills necessary to the food industry. 

Cho was selected by the College of Agriculture as its Excellence in Instruction Award for Lecturers nominee for continually redesigning and managing the Food Microbiology and Food Analysis Laboratories and the Science of Food courses, using student feedback and strategies from instructional workshops and literature. This includes working with her team of graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants in weekly pre-lab meetings, during which she encourages discussion of technical and adaptive challenges in teaching.  

Cho introduced lab practicals to each laboratory course as one of the assessment tools – thereby reducing the weight of lab reports – to encourage individual practice and improve laboratory techniques. She knows every student by name and treats them as individuals. This includes monitoring student performance and meeting with them to review topics, concepts, and/or techniques to ensure all are on a path to success.  
 
“Dr. Cho genuinely wants every student to succeed and made an effort to make sure all of us understood each lab procedure,” one student shared in supporting the nomination. “She returned every lab report and class assignment promptly. Overall, she was an excellent instructor, and it was evident that she worked extremely hard to help us understand the material and succeed in her class.” 
 
Cho has participated in the annual survey of Food Analysis Laboratory teaching with other instructors in different institutions. At PWL, she served as a departmental undergraduate curriculum committee member and on the departmental undergraduate strategic team to help shape the academic future of these students. 

How has your teaching evolved over the last five years? 

With increased availability of instructional technology, new methods have been integrated into my practices: data visualization, visual demonstrations, and recorded demonstrations. I also focus on helping students in finding trustworthy information from the Internet, given the widespread availability of information and its variable quality. 

With increased awareness of issues related to the diversity of backgrounds and student mental health, I have been using available technological tools to find the best method to communicate with students and provide feedback on their in-class progress based on their situations. Also, it is now much easier to network with other teachers remotely. 

What changes to your teaching during the pandemic did you take with you going forward?

Since the spring 2020, I devoted significant efforts towards adapting my program to the pandemic and delivering laboratory course materials and a large lecture course online. I was successful in transitioning from face-to-face instruction of a laboratory course to fully online by reassembling laboratory exercises with step-by-step video demonstrations and diagrams while also staying connected to the students via emails and virtual meetings.  

To develop a remote learning course from in-person course, I participated in the IMPACT X+ program during the summer 2020 session and adapted course materials from the previous instructor towards a format suitable for online distribution and accessibility for global students.  

To build relationships between students and their peers, I incorporated group projects and utilized a discussion board to facilitate other enjoyable activities that reinforced lecture material. Group project presentations for laboratory courses were posted and the peer-evaluation survey for each presentation was conducted in Brightspace.   

Such technology-driven practices demonstrate the capability to assist in difficult teaching situations. For example, extra laboratory sessions had to be offered during the fall 2020 semester to comply with the requirement to de-densify classrooms. Online technology helped to closely monitor individual student performance regularly throughout the course and ensure that at-risk students were on the right path to success despite the longer hours and logistical complications of a greater number of laboratory sessions.  

Regular communication was also very useful for quarantined students, demonstrating feasible directions for how we could create web-based or hybrid formats for classes involving laboratory exercises. 

What suggestions do you have to Purdue instructors who want to improve their teaching and/or their students’ learning?

Throughout the pandemic, I learned that teachers should be more flexible with changes in terms of course delivery modalities. For example, recorded demonstration videos are great to have as reference for future classes.  

Incorporating group activities in courses is beneficial for students to build relationships with peers and learn how to work effectively in groups. Therefore, learning to be an effective moderator is helpful for the group work sessions. 

Communications with other educators is important, as we can learn from our peers and give one another feedback on teaching practices.  

What motivates you to do your best work in a student-centered learning environment?

I am motivated when students positively acknowledge their significant academic growth in the courses taught by me.  

Every year, students are different, and society changes over time. Therefore, teaching must evolve dynamically every year.  

I have tried my best to identify my students’ interests relevant to society to find better ways to support those students and ensure their success academically and socially.  

Whether through positive feedback at the end of the course or word of their relevant successes several years later, it is pleasant to know that I have made a difference in a student’s professional career. 

The Excellence in Instruction Award for Lecturers recognizes academic staff with the rank of lecturer or senior lecturer. It is among several PWL-wide teaching honors awarded annually in the spring semester. Each college/school selects and advances its own nominee the previous fall as a model in outstanding undergraduate education and includes input from its students. For other nominee interviews, see the Insights webpage. Further details on the award and selection procedure and university awardees are available on the Office of the Provost website.