Teaching Experience
Instructor
Data Science 532 (N=96) - Interactive Visualizations and Dashboards November 2019
Redeveloped course to use Dash by plot.ly, a framework built on top of Flask, React.js and Plotly.js.
Motivated students to build purpose-driven dashboards and interactive visualizations
Data Science 531 (N=122) - Introduction to Visualizations October 2019
Redeveloped all course content and labs and replaced matplotlib and seabron plotting libraries with Altair
Taught students characteristics of effective visualizations and motivated them to learn syntax on their own time
Data Science 542 (N=96) - Communication and Argumentation September - October 2019
Liaised with the course instructor to minimize the lecture-lab disconnect
Conducted a comprehensive code-plaigiarism activity in labs to guide students on best practices for citation and attribution
STAT 545A (N=72) - Exploratory Data Analysis September - October 2019
Co-taught the course with Dr. Vincenzo Coia; attended all lectures and delivered the last 30% of the course
Course goal was to teach students how to use R for exploratory data analysis
Course Architect
Physics 117, UBC September 2015 - December 2017
Worked closely with instructors assigned to this course to improve and refine the course with new activities and initiatives
- Sept 2015 - Dec 2015: First edition of the course, introduced Perusall, Mastering Physics as homework system, tests created using AMC LaTeX
- Sept 2016 - Dec 2016: Switched to Dr. Crowell’s open mechanics text, homework system moved to ExpertTA
- Sept 2017 - Dec 2017: Switch to openStax University Physics textbook, migrate course to Canvas from Blackboard
Held meetings with several vendors of course homework platforms and course textbooks
Responsible for setting the weekly reading quizzes, analyzing the results and preparing lecture slides identifying key concepts that were misunderstood by students
Course Coordinator (Pre-PhD)
- Physics 100 Distance-Education (DE), UBC 2015 - 2017
Grown and evolved Phys100 DE over the past four sessions as course instructor with wholesale changes as well as major refinements
- Jan 2015 - May 2015: Moved course fully online, introduced Piazza for online discussions
- Jan 2016 - May 2016: Migrated course to the edX platform, switched to the OpenStax College Physics textbook
- May 2016 - Aug 2016: Implemented system for unique and randomized tests for each student
- May 2017 - Aug 2017: Expanded test bank and improved isomorphism of questions
Responsible for all administrative aspects of this 120 student course including enrolment, selecting and training TAs, setting the midterms and final exam.
Designed and coordinated a completely online midterm for the first time in this course.
Scaled up the course by introducing automations and workflow improvements to permit enrolment expanding from 50 seats to over 120.
TA Experience
Phys 119 Lab TA January 2017 - April 2017
- Worked with the teaching team (2 TAs + 1 Instructor) to execute various active learning exercises to guide students through measurement uncertainty and exploring their data beyond simple classroom models
- Worked with the teaching team (2 TAs + 1 Instructor) to execute various active learning exercises to guide students through measurement uncertainty and exploring their data beyond simple classroom models
Phys 101 Lecture TA January 2015 - April 2015
Lecture TAs are part of a new team-teaching model implemented in Physics 101 to help transform student learning and engagement in the classroom
Responsible for conducting demos in class to complement material, solve worksheet problems on the document camera, respond to student questions during group work
Course Specific Training Facilitator (Head TA; Physics 101) January 2013 - April 2013
Implemented new tutorials to a group of 24 students before deployment to the other 800 students
Trained ~ 15 TAs to deliver the new tutorials during weekly meetings
Worked with course instructors to ensure that tutorial content was appropriate
Laboratory TA (Physics 100) September 2013 - December 2013
4 sections of ~ 50 students each
6 direct student contact hours per week
1 constructive consultation hour per week in the form of a TA meeting
Laboratory TA (Physics 100) September 2012 - December 2012
4 sections of ~ 50 students each
6 direct student contact hours per week
1 constructive consultation hour per week in the form of a TA meeting
TA Mentoring
MDS TA Mentoring Program Under development
Preparing to deploy the MDS TA mentoring programming in January 2020
TAs have already been trained on principles of effective feedback and how to make detailed notes during observation phase
Mentoring will occur in a three-step process: initial meeting, observation and notes, follow-up meeting
Mentor TA September 2016 - December 2014 and 2016
Application based process to select six outstanding senior TAs and pair them with new incoming first year physics TAs
Underwent a rigorous training process on observation skills, delivering feedback, and strategies for teaching success
Mentored a group of 6 new TAs by discussing departmental teaching philosophies, observing them teach at the beginning and midway through the term and offering comprehensive feedback to improve their teaching
Teaching Research Experience
Teaching as Research (TAR) Project October 2017 - Present
Developed a research proposal with a faculty partner from Physics to improve student understanding of concepts in a Physics 119 lab
Designed and iterated on two quizzes to assess student understanding of estimating uncertainty from distributions and t-scores
Analysed pre and post data from two iterations of the course deploying the quizzes before and after the intervention
Physics 100 Research Assistant May 2015 - August 2017
Worked with course coordinator to select a new textbook and online homework system
Assisted in radically overhauling delivery of Physics 100 content during lectures
Successfully transitioned to a new, open source course platform called EdX
Science One Research Assistant September 2014 - July 2017
Responsible for developing and implementing a new attitude survey to measure the efficacy of interdisciplinary teaching (interCLASS) and learning in the Science One program at UBC
Developed an participant ethics protocol including writing a consent form as well as policies on data use, storage, and retention
Wrote software to parse, analyse, and visualize results from the interCLASS survey results
Physics 100 Research Assistant September 2014 - December 2014
Directed and organized a pilot lab section of Physics 100 with ~ 30 students
Adapted existing Physics 100 lab experiments for students to complete at home using their smartphone’s accelerometer and gyroscope
Developed instructional videos for students to help them understand the material and conduct the lab efficiently
Trained, managed two TAs responsible for providing feedback to the 30 students online
Physics 101 Research Assistant September 2013 - August 2014
Designed and implemented Learning Objects (LO), a brand new component into an 800-student course
Trained TAs on implementing LOs and led an hour of 12 course tutorials for the LO activity (~ 500 students)
Analysed LO survey data and presented results at a major international conference (Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education)
Physics 101 Research Assistant January 2013 - April 2013
Completely redesigned tutorial structure and content to support student by focusing on conceptual examples rather than numerical problems
Introduced clicker questions into the tutorial to give students a more interactive and engaging learning experience
Adapted and incorporated student generated content into the tutorials