TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS
Abstract
This document is prepared as part of my application in order to provide documentation of my
teaching excellence.
Camelia Karimianpour
University of Ottawa
Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Teaching Experience .......................................................................................................................... 3
Evaluation and Students’ Comments ................................................................................................ 15
Certificates in University Teaching ................................................................................................... 33
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Introduction
This document is prepared to provide an account of my teaching effectiveness. As mentioned in my
résumé, I have been the assistant instructor for a wide variety of courses. I also had the chance to teach
two first year courses while pursuing my PhD degree at University of Ottawa. In the meanwhile, in order
to further develop my teaching skills and learn about the implementation of various learning methods, I
enrolled in the Certificate in University Teaching program offered by the Centre for University Teaching
at the University of Ottawa.
The first two sections of this document are dedicated to describing my teaching philosophy, teaching
backgrounds and students’ evaluations. The final section of this document includes my certificates of
participation in the workshops and a course offered by the Centre of University Teaching at the
University of Ottawa, which lead to a certificate in University Teaching.
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Teaching Experience
Summary
Instructor
Course code
Course title
Fall 2014
MAT 1339, class of 110 students
Introduction to Calculus and Vectors
Fall 2015
MAT 1308, class of 40 students
Functions
Assistant Instructor
Course code
Course title
Supervisor
Fall 2010
MAT 1330 (two classes)
Calculus for Life Sciences I
A. Welte
Winter 2011
MAT 1322 (three classes)
Calculus II
A. Welte
Summer 2011
MAT 1300
Mathematical Methods I
T. Koosha
Fall 2011
MAT 1300
Mathematical Methods I
T. Koosha
MAT 1320 (two classes)
Calculus I
S. Desjardins
MAT 1302
Mathematical Methods II
A. Savage
MAT 1308
Introduction to Calculus
W. Li
Summer 2012
MAT 1341
Introduction to Linear Algebra
G. Beaulieu
Fall 2013
MAT 1341
Introduction to Linear Algebra
K. Zainoulline
Winter 2014
MAT 1302 (three classes)
Mathematical Methods II
A. Savage,
F. Donzelli
MAT 1341
Introduction to Linear Algebra
W. Wong
MAT 1341 (two classes)
Introduction to Linear Algebra,
E. Hoa
MAT 1322
Calculus II
K. Zainoulline
MAT 1341
Introduction to Linear Algebra
P. Hofstra
Winter 2012
Winter 2015
Summer 2015
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Statement of Teaching Philosophy
I find mathematics highly enjoyable and I have always aimed to share my enthusiasm
for it. Through my teaching experiences, I have learned practical techniques and
developed some perspectives that form my teaching philosophy at present. I am also
continuously educating myself on teaching and learning mathematics and I am keen
to apply the alternative ways of teaching that I have learned.
Background
As a graduate student at the University of Ottawa, I was given the opportunity to be
a teaching assistant for a wide variety of first, second, and third year courses. Among
these, I have conducted the discussion groups and tutorial classes for a range of
courses in calculus and linear algebra for students in different disciplines. I have also
taught high school mathematics for two years, including regular curriculum classes
and math fair project classes. I have also had the opportunity to teach two first-year
multi-section courses: an introductory course to calculus, and a course on functions,
which I teach currently. I was responsible for all aspects of these course, including
writing the questions for the tests and the final exam. Through these years, I gained
valuable experience working with students with broadly diverse learning abilities,
and with varied backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion and
sexual orientation.
Currently, apart from teaching, I work as a consultant in the Math Help Centre at
University of Ottawa. This position includes giving short tutorial lessons and
studying guidelines to first year students registered in any of the first year courses,
according to their need.
I have always been eager to enrich my teaching skills. To that end, parallel to my
graduate studies and practical teaching experiences, I have also participated in a
number of training programs offered by the Centre for University Teaching. During
these programs, I was introduced to, and developed interest in, the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning (SoTL). I also took a course on blending technology in
university teaching, which improved my skills in designing online courses.
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Teaching Philosophy
Active learning
Teaching and learning is not limited to the classroom. A good instructor needs to
provide students with clear guidance on how to spend their energy outside of the
classroom. I give such guidance by setting suitable assignments, which vary in
difficulty. For example, I provide the students with a set of simple exercises that
check their understanding of the concepts and algorithms, which they should do right
after the lectures, and a set of more difficult exercises that they have more time to
complete. The challenging problems help the students to internalize the material in
their own way.
Lecture Style
I give a mix of chalkboard and slide lectures. This allows me to reinforce the verbal
communication with body language to convey the material and to keep the students'
attention. In addition, by spending less lecture time writing, I have more time to
concentrate on the concepts. It also reduces the note-taking load for students, letting
them focus more on the material being presented.
Interaction
Questions facilitate comprehension, and their accommodation is what makes faceto-face learning a more fruitful experience than reading the textbooks. I always make
sure that I am available, during and outside of the class, in person or via e-mail, to
answer my students' questions. I also pursue indirect interactions with my students,
for instance: I grade a few assignments or midterms myself, even if there is an
assigned marker. This lets me know which concepts or techniques are giving
students trouble, and whether the more vocal students in the lectures are
representative of the whole class. I also consistently ask my TA's to give me
feedback on what they think students find difficult.
Organization
I believe students should have a clear overview of the course at the beginning of the
semester. Providing a detailed syllabus that gives them information on what is going
to be covered in each lecture, assignment, and test, is important. Also, review sheets
at the end of each chapter and summary notes before the exams helps the students
learn in a more structured way.
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Teaching Interests
I am keen on learning new methods of teaching and investigating their applicability
to university level mathematics classes. In particular, I am interested in integrating
technology into mathematics courses. I have also been trained in designing online
courses by the Centre for University Teaching at the University of Ottawa.
Using Technology in Courses
Adopting new technological methods is not beneficial per se. However, the proper
use of technology as a display tool and a calculation tool in mathematics classes can
lead to presenting mathematics in a more accessible manner.
Technology as a display tool: One of the reasons the students find entry level
mathematics courses difficult is that constantly translating between English and
mathematical language is a skill they have not yet mastered. Using technology to
visualize mathematical concepts (graphs, vectors, etc.) can significantly enhance
their learning and reduce their cognitive work load.
Technology as a calculation tool: Most students get preoccupied with applying long
algorithms and hence get distracted from the underlying concepts. Integrating
suitable and effective software for calculation when needed---for instance, matrix
reduction programs in linear algebra---allows the instructor to concentrate more on
the concepts rather than on the calculations.
Hybrid Courses
When teaching larger classes, on the one hand, an online environment can provide
many opportunities in order to increase student engagement, including facilitating
active and autonomous learning. On the other hand, there are aspects of face-to-face
lectures that cannot be easily replaced by any online alternative (for instance, the
teacher-student interactions in the class). In a hybrid course, while students attend
face-to-face lectures and tutorial sessions, the online component allows them to
prepare for these sessions in advance, and access or revise material afterwards. The
online component also includes tutorials, self-testing quizzes, additional resources
and projects and assignments that students can submit online.
A hybrid course can be an effective teaching method if, for entry-level courses like
calculus and linear algebra, it consists of face-to-face portions focused on problem
solving, and online portions focused on lectures. However, higher level math courses
benefit more from face-to-face lectures than online tools.
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Teaching Experience as an Instructor
In the following two courses, I was responsible for all aspects of the course
including designing the course plan, giving two lectures per week, writing
midterms and finals, running the exams, designing the course webpage, and
coordinating with other sections of the course.
MAT1339: Introduction to Calculus and Vectors
Course description: Instantaneous rate of change as a limit, derivatives of
polynomials using limits, derivatives of sums, products, the chain rule, derivatives
of rational, trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic, and radical functions.
Applications to finding maxima and minima and graph sketching. Concavity and
points of inflection, the second derivative. Optimization in models involving
polynomial, rational, and exponential functions. Vectors in two and three
dimensions. Cartesian, polar and geometric forms. Algebraic operations on vectors,
dot product, cross product. Applications to projections, area of parallelograms,
volume of parallelepipeds. Scalar and vector parametric form of equations of lines
and planes in two and three dimensions. Intersections of lines and planes. Solution
of up to three equations in three unknowns by elimination or substitution.
Geometric interpretation of the solutions.
Course webpage: http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/ckari099/
MAT1318: Functions
Course description: Polynomial and rational functions, factoring, the remainder
theorem, families of polynomials with specified zeros, odd and even polynomial
functions. Logarithms and exponentials to various bases, their laws. Trigonometric
functions: radian measure, values of primary trigonometric ratios, compound angle
formulae, trigonometric identities. Solving equations and inequalities involving
absolute values, polynomial, rational, logarithmic, exponential and trigonometric
functions. Their graphs. Operations on functions: point-wise addition and
multiplication, composition; inverse functions. Average and instantaneous rate of
change, approximating instantaneous rate of change, secants and tangents to
graphs. Applications to graphing and finding maxima and minima of functions.
Using functions to model, interpolate, and extrapolate data.
Course webpage: http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/ckari099/mat1318afall2015.html
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Teaching Experience as an Assistant Instructor
Fall 2010
MAT 1330: Calculus for Life Sciences I
Course Description: Derivatives: product and quotient rules, chain rule, derivative
of exponential, logarithm and basic trigonometric functions, higher derivatives,
curve sketching. Applications of the derivative to life sciences. Discrete dynamical
systems: equilibrium points, stability, cobwebbing. Integrals: indefinite and
definite integrals, fundamental theorem of calculus, antiderivatives, substitution,
integration by parts. Applications of the integral to life sciences.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples supplementing the
material covered in the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Main Instructor: Angelika Welte, awelt037@uottawa.ca
Winter 2011
MAT 1322: Calculus II
Course Description: Improper integrals. Applications of the integral. Separable
differential equations. Euler’s method for differential equations. Sequences, series.
Taylor’s formula and series. Functions of two and three variables. Partial
derivatives, the chain rule, directional derivatives, tangent planes and normal lines.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples from the text book.
Main Instructor: Angelika Welte, awelt037@uottawa.ca
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Summer 2011
MAT1300: Mathematical Methods I
Course Description: Review of elementary functions. Limits. Geometric series.
Differential and integral calculus in one variable with applications. Functions of
several variables. Partial derivatives.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples supplementing the
material covered in the lectures.
Main Instructor: Termeh Kousha, tkousha@uottawa.ca
Fall 2011
MAT1300: Mathematical Methods I
Course Description: Review of elementary functions. Limits. Geometric series.
Differential and integral calculus in one variable with applications. Functions of
several variables. Partial derivatives.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples supplementing the
material covered in the lectures.
Main Instructor: Termeh Kousha, tkousha@uottawa.ca
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MAT1320: Calculus I
Course Description: Intuitive definition of limits; continuity, statement of
intermediate value theorem. Quick review of basic derivative formulas: products,
chain rule, exponentials, and trigonometric functions. Derivatives of quotients,
logarithms, inverse trigonometric functions. Finite difference approximations of
derivatives. Analysis of functions via the first and the second derivatives;
statements of extreme and mean value theorems. L’Hôpital’s rule. Implicit
differentiation, related rates, optimization, linear approximation, Newton’s method.
The definite integral and the fundamental theorem of calculus. Antiderivatives of
elementary functions, techniques of integration (integration by parts, substitutions,
partial fractions). Numerical integration: mid-point, trapezoidal rule and Simpson’s
rule; error analysis.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples supplementing the
material covered in the lectures. Instructing the students in the use of Maple TA.
Main Instructor: Steven Desjardins, sdesjar2@uottawa.ca
Winter 2012
MAT1302: Mathematical Methods II
Course Description: Solution of systems of linear equations. Matrix algebra.
Determinants. Complex numbers, fundamental theorem of algebra. Eigenvalues
and eigenvectors of real matrices. Introduction to vector spaces, linear
independence, bases. Applications.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples from the book, and
supplementing the material covered in the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Main Instructor: Alistair Savage, alistair.savage@uottawa.ca
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MAT1308: Introduction to Calculus
Course Description: Review of elementary functions. Introduction to limits.
Geometric series. Introduction to differential and integral calculus in one variable
with applications. Linear approximations, applications to optimization.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
worked through examples and exercises from the textbook.
Main Instructor: Weixuan Li, wli@scs.carleton.ca
Summer 2012
MAT1341: Introduction to Linear Algebra
Course Description: Review of complex numbers. The fundamental theorem of
algebra. Review of vector and scalar products, projections. Introduction to vector
spaces, linear independence, bases; function spaces. Solution of systems of linear
equations, matrix algebra, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Gram
Schmidt, orthogonal projections. Linear transformations, kernel and image, their
standard matrices. Applications (e.g. geometry, networks, differential equations).
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
worked through the concepts covered in the lectures and examples and exercises
from the textbook, and supplementing the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Main Instructor: Guy Beaulieu, gbeau032@uOttawa.ca
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Fall 2013
MAT1341: Introduction to Linear Algebra
Course Description: Review of complex numbers. The fundamental theorem of
algebra. Review of vector and scalar products, projections. Introduction to vector
spaces, linear independence, bases; function spaces. Solution of systems of linear
equations, matrix algebra, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Gram
Schmidt, orthogonal projections. Linear transformations, kernel and image, their
standard matrices. Applications (e.g. geometry, networks, differential equations).
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
worked through the concepts covered in the lectures and examples and exercises
from the textbook, and supplementing the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Marking the exams and assignments.
Main Instructor: Kirill Zainoulline, kirill@uottawa.ca
Winter 2014
MAT1302: Mathematical Methods II
Course Description: Solution of systems of linear equations. Matrix algebra.
Determinants. Complex numbers. The fundamental theorem of algebra.
Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of real matrices. Introduction to vector spaces, linear
independence, bases. Applications.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples from the book, and
supplementing the material covered in the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Main Instructors: Alistair Savage, alistair.savage@uottawa.ca
Fabrizio Donzell, fdonzell@uottawa.ca
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MAT1341: Introduction to Linear Algebra
Course Description: Review of complex numbers. The fundamental theorem of
algebra. Review of vector and scalar products, projections. Introduction to vector
spaces, linear independence, bases; function spaces. Solution of systems of linear
equations, matrix algebra, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Gram
Schmidt, orthogonal projections. Linear transformations, kernel and image, their
standard matrices. Applications (e.g. geometry, networks, differential equations).
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
worked through the concepts covered in the lectures and examples and exercises
from the textbook, and supplementing the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Marking the exams and assignments.
Main Instructor: Wanshung Wong, wanshung.wong@uottawa.ca
Winter 2015
MAT1341: Introduction to Linear Algebra
Course Description: Review of complex numbers. The fundamental theorem of
algebra. Review of vector and scalar products, projections. Introduction to vector
spaces, linear independence, bases; function spaces. Solution of systems of linear
equations, matrix algebra, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Gram
Schmidt, orthogonal projections. Linear transformations, kernel and image, their
standard matrices. Applications (e.g. geometry, networks, differential equations).
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
worked through the concepts covered in the lectures and examples and exercises
from the textbook, and supplementing the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Marking the exams and assignments.
Main Instructor: Eric Hoa, hxinhou@uottawa.ca
13
MAT 1322: Calculus II
Course Description: Improper integrals. Applications of the integral. Separable
differential equations. Euler’s method for differential equations. Sequences, series.
Taylor’s formula and series. Functions of two and three variables. Partial
derivatives, the chain rule, directional derivatives, tangent planes and normal lines.
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
reviewed the course material and worked through examples from the text book.
Running biweekly in-class online quizzes using Lecture Tools.
Main Instructor: Kirill Zainoulline, kirill@uottawa.ca
Summer 2015
MAT1341: Introduction to Linear Algebra
Course Description: Review of complex numbers. The fundamental theorem of
algebra. Review of vector and scalar products, projections. Introduction to vector
spaces, linear independence, bases; function spaces. Solution of systems of linear
equations, matrix algebra, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Gram
Schmidt, orthogonal projections. Linear transformations, kernel and image, their
standard matrices. Applications (e.g. geometry, networks, differential equations).
My Responsibilities: Conducting discussion group classes once a week where we
worked through the concepts covered in the lectures and examples and exercises
from the textbook, and supplementing the lectures. Running the midterm sessions.
Main Instructor: Pieter Hofstra, phofstra@uottawa.ca
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Evaluation and Students’ Comments
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Certificates in University Teaching
Courses
Blended Course Design
Technology and University Learning
Workshops
Blackboard Learn Essential
Conducting Research on Teaching and Learning
Creating Accessible Websites and Contents
Engaging Students in Abstract Thinking
Innovative Strategies to Engage Students in Large Classes
Multimedia- An Essential Tool for Teaching
Tools to Engage Learners and Encourage Students-Professor Interaction
Using Student Feedback to Enhance the Teaching and Learning Experience
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