ECCV 2018 Daily - Thursday

Daily Thursday 13 Hmm… learning. What makes teaching a little bit easier? There is a clear curriculum and a clear goal. You know that this goal is achievable. In research, you never know whether a goal is achievable. I think one of the tasks for a scientist is to assess whether a task is achievable or not. Your assessment might already be wrong. Also, maybe you are more experienced when you are a teacher than when you are just studying. You learn how to deal with uncertainties or doubts. Sure, that helps, but I think the major thing is, when you’re teaching, you already know your well-defined goal, and you know it is achievable. For some students, it might be harder than for others. Now, the question is how well do you support those that have difficulties. You know that most of them who came so far are capable of doing it. You know that what you are doing is not impossible. As a researcher, you feel that you know that what you are working on is the right task, and you think that what you are doing is achievable, but there are cases when you cannot be 100% sure. That’s the point where you can really get frustrated because you really believe that it’s possible, you’re stubborn, and you want to achieve it. Then someone comes along with a new problem, for example. It’s obvious that you enjoy what you are doing. Do you enjoy the teaching or the learning part more? That’s a tough question! That’s what I am here for… I don’t know whether I can answer it. I even don’t know whether there is a clear answer. I only have one Ph.D. student to supervise who is doing research. When I’m in supervision, I see myself doing both at the same time. In research, there are all of these possible doubts in assessing what is going to be the best possible next step. At the same time, you have all of this responsibility as a teacher in motivating and preparing them for failure or for a situation. It’s very diverse. Of course, you’re happy when there is success at the end of the tunnel. When a student goes through a difficult time, how do you deal with it? There are several cases where students have gone through a hard time. You never know whether you’re reacting the right way. Dealing with people is never an exact science. Women in Computer Vision 12