Teaching is one of my favourite parts about being in a university. I have completed two teaching certificates in teaching at the post-secondary level, and continue to find ways to improve my teaching abilities and challenge my teaching perspectives. I like crafting lessons that are engaging and interactive, and that help students achieve specific learning outcomes. When the lesson plans are put into action, students bring challenging questions and different perspectives that enhance the learning environment.
The McMaster MacPherson Institute (formerly MIIETL), along with the School of Graduate Studies, provides graduate students and post-docs the opportunity to earn two course-based teaching certificates. I learned the Teaching and Learning Foundations Certificate in 2016, and the Teaching and Learning Scholar Certificate in 2017.
I completed the following courses as part of the programs:
In this last course, I completed a literature review and study on knowledge transfer from calculus to physics in first-year undergraduate students. I am interested in learning why students struggle to apply calculus in physics courses even when they are very competent in calculus. The term paper for this course is now a paper in prep, to be submitted to a Canadian peer-reviewed journal about teaching and learning in post-secondary education.
During my teaching assistanceships at Queen's University, I worked with fellow graduate student Anneke Timan, who was completing an education-focused MSc thesis. With Timan's guidance, I incorporated active-learning strategies into first-year physics tutorials. This experience bolstered my interest in university teaching, and I have since incoporated the active-learning strategies into physics tutorials at McMaster.
While at Queen's, I won the School of Graduate & Professional Students Teaching Assistance Excellence Award, was nominated and short-listed (top 10) for the Christopher Knapper Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching Assistance, and received a Certificate of Excellence in Teaching from the Alma Mater Society.
At McMaster, I was nominated for the 2015-16 Keith Leppmann Teaching Assistance Excellence Award.