“I am a lifelong learner, so teaching is the perfect career for me,” said Teaching Professor Charlie Nuttelman, who has taught 18 different chemical and biological engineering classes at CU Boulder since 2007. “Because when you teach something, you have to master it.” Nuttelman is pictured with his wife, Ella, and son, Logan, on top of Cirque Peak in the Canadian Rockies. Photo credit: Kate McNerny.
He cares deeply about his students. He constantly grasps students’ attention during class. He meets with students outside of office hours to ensure everyone gets all the help they need. He is one of the best professors I have had in Chemical and Biological Engineering. I truly feel lucky to have been able to take his courses and learn from him.
These are just a few of the many accolades from undergraduate students who have taken Teaching Professor Charlie Nuttelman’s classes.
Nuttelman recently won the Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching Award for his work as a CU Boulder professor and as a developer of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). The university-wide award, given to only three faculty members each year, recognizes the importance of teaching and mentoring students as significant components of faculty duties.
“This award means a lot to me,” said Nuttelman, who has been teaching at CU Boulder since 2007 and has since then won the ChBE Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Faculty Award multiple times. “As a CU Boulder student, I would look at the teaching awards on the second floor wall of Norlin Library, and I would think, ‘Whoa, those people are pretty important. They have a big impact on students.’ And now I am among them.”
While Nuttelman’s classes cover topics that are not always the most exciting — such as Applied Data Analysis, Introduction to Engineering Computing, and Applied Data Instrumentation and Process Controls — his passion for the subjects and teaching shines through, generating a profound enthusiasm for students to learn.
Sam Burke-Bevis, a CBEN senior, says Nuttelman is excited about some of the most mundane topics in engineering, such as Excel shortcuts.
"He comes to class on time, learns his students names and shows actual excitement to teach the material, Burke-Bevis said. "I can't stress enough how much easier it is to learn a topic when the professor is happy to be there.”
To help students succeed and long before it was common to do so, Nuttelman created screencasts (short videos) of the material he taught. He later pioneered embedding in-video questions using PlayPosit (a tool that lets teachers create and edit interactive video assessments) to create “learning modules” that help students maintain focus. To date he has created hundreds of learning modules for multiple classes.
“These learning modules are a student favorite as they are short, cover the right material and are funny with added jokes throughout,” said Teaching Professor and ChBE Associate Chair Wendy Young. “Students consistently comment on how he makes the difficult material approachable and fun.”
Students can rewatch the screencasts, so they have multiple chances to get the answers right. “Everyone gets a 10 out of 10 if they put the work into it,” Nuttelman said.
Nuttelman also created online versions of Introduction to Engineering Computing (CHEN 1310) and Applied Data Analysis (CHEN 3010).
In response to students expressing difficulties in remembering material between semesters and especially over the summers, Nuttelman created a “booster” course for Material and Energy Balances (CHEN 2120), which include screencasts with in-video questions aimed at reviewing and refreshing prerequisite knowledge among the students. Comparing student performance with past years, Nuttelman found that his booster course led to improved learning and retention of knowledge.
“I have really appreciated the clarity of his teaching style — specifically his notes format, writing directly on the slides and having us work through in-class problems,” said Patricia Mendoza-Anselmi, a CBEN senior. “His screencasts my freshman year were super helpful during recitation and for completing homeworks. My favorite class thus far has been instrumentation and process control because Dr. Nuttelman has done a great job connecting what we're learning and applying it to the real world.”
Burke-Bevis added that Nuttelman’s respectful attitude towards his students has had a significant impact on his personal work ethic.
“He treats us like students who have completed an extremely difficult degree,” he said. “Being treated with respect makes you want to attend class and pay attention to return that respect.”
Charlie Nuttelman talks MOOCs, Excel and what it's like to teach 500,000 learners across the globe
In 2017 and in collaboration with CU Boulder’s Office of Academic Learning Innovation, Teaching Professor Charlie Nuttelman created his first Coursera MOOC; within four years he had created a total of six courses in two three-course specializations, “Excel/VBA for Creative Problem Solving” and “Everyday Excel.”
With almost half a million worldwide learners, including 12 percent of CU Boulder-instructed MOOC enrollments, he’s now known as a top MOOC instructor. Two of his courses were rated among the top 30 Best Courses of 2020 by inc.com: "Excel/VBA for Creative Problem Solving, Part I" earned the number two spot and "Everyday Excel, Part I" earned number five. His MOOCs have also earned him a “Top Instructor” Coursera distinction.
"He uses Excel like Bob Ross uses a paintbrush," said Claire Matsumura, a CHEN senior.
Why did you decide to create classes for MOOC?
During a 2017 road trip, I listened to an audiobook called “The End of College.” The title made me wonder if my job was going to become obsolete. At that time some people were predicting that in-person courses would be replaced by online classes; I started thinking I should innovate and jump on the wagon.
So I created a couple of courses that were pretty successful. I put together one course in the fall of 2017 and by April or May of 2018 I had finished three courses. The courses centered on Excel/VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and were initially aimed at engineering-focused learners. However, I quickly realized that the vast majority of learners were in the finance and business fields, so I revamped my courses to change the subject matter. I had no idea there were so many people interested in Excel/VBA!
Do you think online classes will eventually replace brick and mortar schools?
Having gone through COVID where everything was forced online, I don’t think that in-person courses are going to be replaced by online classes. Students need in-person interaction, team work, presentation skills, people skills. There is no replacement for in-person, in-class learning.
What is it that appeals to you about MOOC classes?
MOOC classes are mainly taken by working professionals. It’s completely different from the undergrad curriculum model where students go to college and take courses. MOOCs have specific objectives that will help professionals with their careers like “learn Excel.” Many learners who take MOOCs are seeking bite-size pieces of information that will assist them with their jobs.
MOOC learners don’t have a whole semester to learn — two to four hours a week of work is the expectation. I have a learner who emailed me: “My subway ride is 10 minutes long. Going into work I listen to a screencast (video) and coming back I listen to a screencast, so I can work even when I am on the subway!”
I also have learners from most countries of the world. It’s extremely rewarding to receive email messages from learners in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, India and France, just to rattle off a few examples.
Why did you decide to teach Excel through MOOC?
I taught computing close to 20 times, and in computing we teach Excel and then VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Of everything I know and teach, I thought that Excel would have the broadest appeal.
How do you teach programming to nonprogrammers?
I start with very simple things and slowly add in the complexity layer of advanced topics. The nice thing about Coursera is that if you don’t get it the first time, you can just keep watching the screencasts (videos), which are four to nine minutes each.
What’s next?
I’d like to develop one or two more Coursera courses. And I would like to teach every course in our ChBE department before I retire. (But I don’t think I will. There’s lots of professors in the department.) I have been goal-oriented my whole life. I like lists. It would be cool to check off all the courses.
Other than that, I’ll be focusing my efforts on teaching little Logan (my 16-month-old son) the ways of the world!