Teaching
Between 2005 and 2013 I taught ten course offerings at UBC as a sessional instructor, assisted in fourteen more, gave guest lectures in four courses, trained the Faculty of Applied Science’s new teaching assistants, and supervised five undergraduate researchers.
How I teach
I think an engineering educator has two jobs. The first is to give students real command of their discipline. The second matters longer: to build the critical thinking and self-directed learning habits that let them keep learning long after they graduate.
Teaching large classes taught me that students learn in very different ways, so I adapt how I teach to reach as many of them as I can. I hold myself to six standards.
Knowledge
Understand the material completely, so I can answer any question and bring in supplementary material when a class needs it.
Communication
Get to know students personally, so I understand how each of them learns and they find me approachable.
Self-reflection
Assess my own teaching and actively seek feedback from students, colleagues and supervisors.
Role modelling
Be reliable, punctual and positive: the kind of engineer I’m asking students to become.
Feedback
Give students frequent, informal feedback on top of the grades they receive.
Learning environment
Use discussion and debate on the key ideas to challenge students and spark creative thinking.
In practice, that means a classroom where engineers are expected to question and challenge what they’re learning. It also means being in my office as often as possible, especially for students in large classes who can’t always get enough time during lectures.
Courses I taught
As sessional instructor at The University of British Columbia, 2010 to 2013.
- EECE 369
Signals and Systems
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Continuous- and discrete-time LTI systems, convolution, Fourier series and transforms, the z-transform, sampling, filtering, modulation and multiplexing, feedback and stability.
Winter 2013 - MECH 368
Engineering Measurements and Instrumentation
Mechanical Engineering
Industrial measurement: electronic instrumentation architecture, sensors and actuators, analog signal processing, and computer-based data acquisition and user interfaces.
Fall 2011
Fall 2012 - APSC 261
Technology and Society I
Electrical and Computer Engineering
How technology shapes the social, political, economic and environmental aspects of society, from energy and resources to education and international policy.
Fall 2012 - APSC 160
Introduction to Computation in Engineering Design
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Programming for engineers: analysis and simulation, laboratory data acquisition and processing, measurement interfaces and computer systems organization.
Winter 2012 - EECE 280
Electrical Engineering Laboratory I
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Oscilloscopes, signal generators and electrical measurement, with design projects in analog and digital logic circuits.
Fall 2011 - EECE 360
Systems and Controls
Electrical and Computer Engineering
System analysis with Laplace transforms, transfer function and state-space modelling, feedback, stability and sensitivity, control design and frequency-domain analysis.
Winter 2011 - EECE 375/474
Instrumentation and Design Laboratory
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electronic instrumentation for software engineers: computer-based data acquisition and control, built around a team design project.
Summer 2010
Fall 2010
Summer 2011
Inside the labs
Training teachers
Teaching Assistant Training Coordinator
Faculty of Applied Science, from 2009- Developed the curriculum for the Faculty’s TA training program.
- Trained the program’s facilitators and helped prepare its budget proposal and progress reports.
Teaching Assistant Training Facilitator
Faculty of Applied Science, from 2009- Taught incoming graduate students the fundamental skills they need to begin work as teaching assistants.
Faculty Fellow, Jump Start
UBC Student Affairs, from 2010- Introduced incoming international undergraduate students to Canadian academic culture before their first term.
Published work on TA training
I presented the program at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference twice: “The UBC Teaching Assistant Training Program” with R. Anderson, D. Feduik and R. Hall in 2011, and “Engineering Teaching Assistant Training: Increased Engagement Using Varied Delivery Methods” with D. Feduik in 2012. Both are listed with my publications.
Students I supervised
Undergraduate research projects in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Jacob Slack
NSERC USRA, Summer 2010
Numerical methods for computing the correlated dynamics of QCA circuits and systems.
Calvin Chang
EECE 496, Winter 2010
The potential of QCA for quantum computing.
Kenn Wang
EECE 496, Summer 2009
A field-driven clocking scheme for molecular QCA.
Hajir Hoseini
EECE 496, Summer 2009
How the clock and tunnelling energy affect the correlated dynamics of QCA circuits.
Aryan Navabi
NSERC USRA, Winter 2008
Numerical methods for computing the ground-state energy of correlated QCA circuits. This work led to our co-authored paper, Quantum Mechanical Simulation of QCA with a Reduced Hamiltonian Model.
Assisting and guest lecturing
Teaching assistant, 2005 to 2010
- EECE 280 Electrical Engineering Laboratory IFall 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
- EECE 281 Electrical Engineering Laboratory IIWinter 2007, 2008, 2009
- EECE 251 Circuit Analysis IFall 2008, 2009
- EECE 375/474 Instrumentation and DesignWinter 2010
- EECE 466 Digital Signal ProcessingSummer 2009
- EECE 450 Economic Analysis of Engineering ProjectsSummer 2008
- EECE 365 Applied Electronics and ElectromechanicsWinter 2006
- EECE 263 Basic Circuit AnalysisFall 2005
Guest lecturer
- EECE 576 Semiconductor Theory for Device Applications2009, 2010
- EECE 401 Nanotechnology in Electronics2009, 2010
- EECE 466 Digital Signal Processing2009
- EECE 251 Circuit Analysis I2008, 2009