Samuel Deng

I’m quite lucky to be able to teach for a living. Currently, my focus is on courses in machine learning, AI, and math. I especially love helping students see how math can be beautiful sometimes.

Here are some thoughts and a portfolio I wrote about teaching that will at some point get updated (last updated Spring 2025).

On the teaching front, I’m currently thinking about:

• Are there better ways to structure and teach the mathematical prerequisites to machine learning/AI/data science?
• How can students be motivated in the age of LLMs to engage in the productive struggle that’s necessary to learn in a classroom environment, particularly in math courses?
• What is the best way to structure an introductory machine learning course in an age where progress seems so rapid (and sometimes opaque)?
• Is the human (versus, say, the personalized LLM tutor) teacher valuable in this LLM era (and why)? My own answer is yes, but I am, of course, biased.