Prof. Jeff Edmonds is a professor at York University (Canada). During his sabbatical year, he decided to come to Vietnam and work at the School of Information and Communication Technology, HUST.
At universities in the West, professors have the right to take a short break (usually one year) for every seven years of teaching. A sabbatical leave’s purpose can be engaging in research or other academic activities. He has been on a numeral sabbatical break before. His previous experience was in India and Africa.
With this one, he decided to go to HUST to teach and experience Vietnamese culture. “I heard good things in Vietnam, so we wanted to come here. HUST is very enthusiastic when they heard me coming.”
Jeff Edmonds’ father (Professor Jack Edmonds) is a very famous researcher in the field of combinatorial optimization. His mother is a professor of mathematics. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Professor Edmonds has been teaching since 1995. He enjoys working with students because he thought he could contribute to society through education. “I feel helpful when putting energy into helping my students understand the difficult material as I think I am making their life better.”
For a foreign lecturer, it is not easy to get acquainted with Vietnamese students at first. “Students are shy and quiet in the class, which makes it hard for me to get connected with them.” One Saturday night in November, he invited his class to his house in the Old Quarter area of Hanoi to try Indian food. The Canadian lecturer shared, “after the gathering, I felt closer to my students”.
There is no Teachers’ day in Canada, so November 20th this year will be an interesting and new experience for Professor Jeff. However, for him, the student’s passion for studying is the most important and valuable thing. “I always want students to treat me as an equal, or a colleague, and be willing to share with me what they are thinking,” says Jeff Edmonds.
His teaching philosophy is to understand the core of the problem instead of memorizing or learning by heart. He said, if learners don’t see the root cause and the big picture, they won’t understand why they have to do what they’re doing. The learning process can’t be sustainable. “I turn each of my lectures into a story. I hope my students will be able to remember this knowledge and principles even after 20 years.”
Ha Kim
