Reflective Teaching Portfolio

Ahmed Abdel Moamen http://homepage.usask.ca/~ama883/

MARCH 30, 2017 GRS 982 MENTORED TEACHING 2016-2017

Ahmed Abdel Moamen Reflective Teaching Portfolio

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Table of Contents

Curriculum Vitae .......................................................................................................................................... 2

Teaching Philosophy Statement .................................................................................................................... 5

Course Design and Delivery ......................................................................................................................... 8

Reflections on Feedback ............................................................................................................................. 12

Efforts to Improve Teaching ....................................................................................................................... 18

Appendix A: Course Syllabus ..................................................................................................................... 19

Winter 2016 CMPT 100: Course Syllabus (Original) ......................................................................... 19

Winter 2017 CMPT 100: Course Syllabus (Revised) ......................................................................... 19

Appendix B: Course Planning Materials .................................................................................................... 20

Winter 2017 CMPT100: Constructive Alignment Chart .................................................................... 20

Appendix C: Teaching Materials ................................................................................................................ 21

2016-2017 GSR982: Microteaching Lesson Plan ............................................................................... 21

Winter 2017 CMPT100: Five In-Class Learning Activities ............................................................... 21

Winter 2017 CMPT100: Two Sample Assignments ........................................................................... 21

Winter 2017 CMPT100: Midterm Exam ............................................................................................ 21

Fall 2016 CMPT435: Online Discussion Thread ................................................................................ 21

Appendix D: Student Feedback .................................................................................................................. 22

CMPT100’s Student Feedback ........................................................................................................... 22

Appendix E: Peer Feedback ........................................................................................................................ 23

GSR982 Mentor Letters ...................................................................................................................... 23

2016-2017 GSR982: Microteaching Lesson Feedback ....................................................................... 23

2016-2017 GSR982: Team Discussion Reading Feedback ................................................................ 23

2016-2017 GSR 982 Certificate .......................................................................................................... 23

Ahmed Abdel Moamen Reflective Teaching Portfolio

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Curriculum Vitae

Ahmed Abdel Moamen

http://homepage.usask.ca/~ama883/

Department of Computer Science University of Saskatchewan

176 Thorvaldson Building, 110 Science Place Mobile: +1 (306) 713-2953

Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5C9, Canada Email: ahmed.moamen@usask.ca

Objective

Tenure-track faculty position in the field of parallel and distributed systems.

Education

Ph.D. Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. June 2017-

Expected

Dissertation: Mobile Distributed Services. Advisor: Nadeem Jamali

M.S. Faculty of Computers and Information. Cairo University, Egypt. July 2011

Thesis: A Technique for Improving Security in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks. Advisor:

Haitham Hamza

B.S. Faculty of computers and information, Cairo University, Egypt. September 2007

Upper First Class Honor.

Experience

2012 – present University of Saskatchewan

Research Assistant: Theoretical and experimental study of mobile distributed

services.

Sessional Lecturer: Winter 2017. CMPT 100 Introduction to Computing.

Teaching Assistant: Tutorial leader a marker for several courses. Duties: Give

tutorial lectures, develop tutorial materials and answer students’ questions in

office hours.

Guest Lectures: Give a few guest lectures in both graduate and undergraduate

classes taught by my thesis advisor as well as other faculty members.

2007 – 2012 Cairo University

Research Assistant: Improving the security of routing protocols in Mobile Ad-

hoc Networks.

Instructor: Taught a few courses in the area of computer networks.

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Awards

September 2016 – August

2017

Teacher Scholar Doctoral Fellowship (TSDF) valued at $20,000

September 2015 – August

2016

Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Scholarship (SIOS)

valued at $20,000

September 2012 – August

2015

Department Teaching Scholarship (DTS) valued at $60,000

Teaching at University of Saskatchewan

Semester, Year Course, Title Role

Winter 2017 CMPT100, Introduction to Computing Instructor

Fall 2013, 2014, 2016 CMPT435, Foundations of Concurrent

Programming

Tutorial leader

Winter 2015, 2016 CMPT111, Introduction to Computing Tutorial leader

Teaching at Cairo University

Semester, Year Course, Title Role

Winter 2011, 2012 IT495, High Speed Networks Instructor

Fall 2010, 2011 IT422, Wireless and Mobile Networks Instructor

Fall 2011 IT331, Computer Graphics Tutorial leader

Winter 2010 IT341, Digital Signals Processing Tutorial leader

Fall 2010 IT495, High Speed Networks Tutorial leader

Selected Publications

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Dezhong Wang, Nadeem Jamali. Supporting Resource Control for

Actor Systems in Akka. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Distributed

Computing Systems (ICDCS ’17), 2017, to appear.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. Opportunistic Sharing of Continuous Mobile

Sensing Data for Energy and Power Conservation. IEEE Transactions on Services

Computing (TSC), 2017, to appear.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. An Actor-Based Middleware for Crowd-Sourced

Services. EAI Endorsed Transactions, 2017, to appear.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. Supporting Resource Bounded Multitenancy in

Akka. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN Conference Companion on Systems,

Programming, Languages and Applications (SPLASH ’16), pages 33–34, Amsterdam, The

Netherlands, 2016.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. CSSWare: A middleware for scalable mobile

crowd-sourced services. In Proceedings of the EAI International Conference on Mobile

Computing, Applications and Services (MobiCASE ’15), pages 181–199, Berlin, Germany,

2015.

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• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. ModeSens: An Approach for Multi-Modal Mobile

Sensing. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN Conference Companion on Systems,

Programming, Languages and Applications (SPLASH ’15), pages 40–41, Pittsburgh, USA,

2015.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. CSSWare: An Actor-Based Middleware for

Mobile Crowd-Sourced Services. In Proceedings of the EAI International Conference on

Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services (MobiQuitous ’15),

pages 287–288, Coimbra, Portugal, 2015.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, Nadeem Jamali. ShareSens: An Approach to Optimizing

Continuous Mobile Sensing Workloads. In Proceedings of the IEEE International

Conference on Mobile Services (MS ’15), pages 89–96, New York, USA, 2015.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen and H. Hamza. On Securing Atomic Operations in Multicast

AODV. International Journal of Mobile and Adhoc Network (AHSWN), vol. 28, pages 137–

159, 2015.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen and Nadeem Jamali. Coordinating crowd-sourced services. In

Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Mobile Services (MS ’15), pages 92–

99, Alaska, USA, 2014.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen and Nadeem Jamali. An Actor-Based Approach to Coordinating

Crowd-Sourced Services. International Journal of Services Computing (IJSC), vol. 2, pages

43–55, 2014.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, H. Hamza, and I. Saroit. Secure Multicast Routing Protocols in

MANETs. International Journal of Communication Systems, John Wiley, vol. 27, pages

2808–2831, 2013.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, H. Hamza, and I. Saroit, New attacks and efficient

countermeasures for multicast aodv. In Proceedings of the international conference on High-

Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies (HONET ’10), pages 51–57, Cairo,

Egypt, 2010.

• Ahmed Abdel Moamen, H. Hamza, and I. Saroit, A survey on security-enhanced multicast

routing protocols in Mobile Ad hoc Networks. In Proceedings of the international

conference on High-Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies (HONET ’10),

pages 51–57, Cairo, Egypt, 2010.

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Teaching Philosophy Statement

I consider teaching an important and rewarding part of a faculty position. While there are many

reasons why teaching is important, the most compelling one for me is that it establishes a path for

sharing knowledge, developing critical thinking and stimulating innovative ideas, thus ensuring

that the field of knowledge grows and prospers. Below, I discuss my teaching experience, present

my teaching philosophy and my ideas in teaching and learning.

Experience

As a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Saskatchewan, I have been fortunate to be offered a

lecturer position for an undergraduate course, CMPT 100 (Introduction to Computing) in Winter

2017. CMPT100 is an introductory Computer Science course designed to provide a broad

overview of Computer Science and a foundation for the lifelong use of and learning about

computers. In addition, I have also served as the tutorial leader for two courses – Foundations of

Concurrent Programming (Fall 2013, 2014 and 2016) and Introduction to Computer Science and

Programming (Winter 2015 and 2016) – and have been a marker for several more. I have also

given a few guest lectures in both graduate and undergraduate classes taught by my thesis advisor

as well as other faculty members.

Before beginning the Ph.D. program, I served as an instructor in the Faculty of Computer and

Information Technology at Cairo University from September 2007 to August 2012, and

independently taught few courses, as well as play an active role in setting up assignments/exams

and grading them. Cairo University is a leading university in Egypt, where the medium of

instruction is English.

Personal Philosophy

I have long had a passion for teaching and actively interested in learning to teach well. During my

own education, I was impressed by teachers who were able to share their passion and curiosity for

a subject with students and to stimulate the students’ creativity and critical thinking. I found these

teachers to both challenge students and to be open to being challenged by them. Each student

possesses unique perspectives, sharing of which needs to be actively encouraged. But I also see

that just understanding that does not make you an excellent teacher. Teaching is a craft that needs

to be learned and then improved upon and perfected over time.

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Computer Science is a practical field. Based on my own teaching experience and from the

feedback provided by students, I believe that students should have a hands-on experience in

building systems or working through problems rather than just a theoretical treatment of the

subject. The impact of the practical experience tends to stay for a much longer time (see the

teaching materials for CMPT100 at Appendix C). I also believe that effective teaching requires

both concerns for the learning of students as well as careful planning and delivery of materials,

balancing the need for a degree of order with that of active engagement (see the “binary arithmetic”

and “algorithms” lessons in the constructive alignment chart at Appendix B).

Instead of only covering the material, I use history, examples, and analogies to drive lessons

home. I try to provide the larger perspective of the course material to students, usually bringing

examples from the real-world and trying to make them aware of real-world challenges, practices,

and experiences. For example, when teaching about multicore processors and how they work, I

begin with an analogy of two chefs working together on different counters to create a single dish

that sits between them. Both work in parallel for certain tasks, but certain bowls or ingredients

may be shared, and the chefs need to communicate well to gradually create a final plate.

I also developed my own way to teach students how to do programming from scratch. For

example, in Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, when I began to teach the

tutorials for this course in a laboratory, I used PowerPoint slides to show students how to write a

program in a proper C++ syntax. However, most students just got lost even with a “Hello World”

program except for those who had some programming experiences before. After the first few

lectures, I decided to show them live how to type code, how to compile, and how to debug by

directly typing the programs on my computer and showing them via the projector. In each tutorial

lecture, I began my live programming with one simple example. Then I expanded the example by

introducing more and more syntax. Students told me that they could not link syntax in my slides

to programming until I convinced them with live programming. I have applied the same method

in Foundations of Concurrent Programming on a limited scale. Also, I used live programming in

CMPT100 to illustrate how to program using Scratch programming language, and it produced

similar results.

In my classes, I encourage students to participate actively. I stimulate them to ask questions. I

always comment their questions as “good questions” as long as that would not abuse the words. I

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encourage critical thinking through peer-peer interactivity. Also, I am very conscious of the

challenge of keeping high-performing students motivated, while targeting the class at the level of

average students. For example, in a formative feedback collected in the class (see the stop-start-

continue student feedback at Appendix D), one student said, “You go at a very good pace which

leaves no one behind, but still goes fast enough to not alienate the faster students. Love it.”

Moreover, I include at least one challenging question in my class activities for motivating high-

performing students (see the secret-number activity at Appendix C).

I pay careful attention to students with disabilities. I try to make the classroom environment-

friendly where students with disabilities feel safe and can easily open themselves to learning. I

encourage them to actively engage in the class discussions and participate in different class

activities. For example, in CMPT100, I have one student with a low vision disability. At the

beginning of each lecture, I make sure she is sitting in the front seats so that she can take the notes

on the board comfortably.

The following are a few of the most important skills and abilities that I desire to develop in my

students: (a) To be problem solvers. I would like to convince students to understand concepts and

develop their own vision, reasoning, and practical skills so that they can apply these concepts in a

variety of situations. (b) To be team players. The large-scale projects in the job market are rarely

the work of an individual, so students must be taught how to collaborate with their peers. (c) To

be innovative. I would like to encourage students to discover their passion for research and

continue to graduate studies.

Teaching Interests

I am interested in teaching advanced courses related to my research area, a wide range of core

Computer Science courses, including Concurrent Programming, Programming Languages,

Operation Systems, Software Engineering, Computer Networks, etc., as well as introductory

classes.

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Course Design and Delivery

This section shows the design and implementation of CMPT100, which I have taught in Winter

2017. CMPT100 is an introductory Computer Science course designed to provide a broad

overview of Computer Science and a foundation for lifelong use of and learning about computers.

This course is intended for students majoring in areas other than Computer Science. The group of

students comes from colleges as diverse as Agriculture and Arts and Science.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

My goal in teaching CMPT100 is twofold: first, to make the complexity of computation and

computers accessible to students; and second, to highlight the broader implications of the science

behind computing, with its applications in various professions as well as in everyday life (see the

CMPT100’s course syllabus at Appendix A).

By the completion of this course, students are expected to:

• Explain in general how computers work, including various categories of software

• Define the Internet and what is meant by pervasive computing as a computer user

• Discuss issues surrounding ethics and social responsibility as a computer user of the internet

• Illustrate how computers code and encode data using the binary numeric system

• Practice how to encode letters into binary, and how to decode binary into letters

• Develop algorithms to solve problems in a manner suitable for programming

• Compile the concepts of programming as a realization of an algorithm

• Practice programming using Scratch

Teaching Strategies and Course Design

The CMPT100’s students are making the transition from high school to meeting expectations in a

college class can benefit from feedback, early and often in the semester. Therefore, I used a mix

of teaching strategies which provide such assessment and feedback such as peer collaboration,

think-pair-share and effective questioning (see the course planning materials at Appendix B).

I found the diversity in CMPT 100 both an asset and a challenge. It is an asset because of the

range of perspectives brought by students from different academic backgrounds. It is a challenge

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in part because of the same reason, but also because the typical student enrolled in the class is not

easily motivated by the need for the knowledge for computer scientists. The knowledge should be

placed into the diverse set of contexts relevant to the students’ interests.

Another challenge that I face is that the formal materials for the course are limited to text notes

summarizing topics covered in class. The course relies in large part on the instructor’s presentation

of materials in class using the blackboard. Therefore, I had the opportunity to develop new

curricula for delivery of the course including stimulating assignments, quizzes, tests, and evaluate

and reflect on a course and its execution to improve it in the future (see the teaching materials for

CMPT100 at Appendix C).

Since students have naïve ideas about knowledge and learning, I used to clarify/tune their

expectations for student learning and performance. Help students understand what is expected of

them via description, examples, and feedback on student work. Not only do first-year students not

understand what is expected of them, even when they are clear on those expectations, but they also

do not know how to go about meeting those expectations. Therefore, I helped my students

understand and practice approaches to learning in and out of the classroom such as listening for

key ideas in a lecture, learning from a discussion, reading for comprehension, preparing for exams.

For example, in CMPT100, I developed lesson plans for most of my lectures, designed

participatory activities which were important to keep students engaged throughout the course of

my lectures, gave interesting examples is also essential for grabbing students’ attention, especially

in the bridge-in stage (see the teaching materials for CMPT100 at Appendix C).

We often teach as we were taught, but I was exceptional compared to my student peers as I

went on to graduate school in computer science. So, I am sensitive to the variety of ways that

students excel at learning and include a variety of types of learning experiences (e.g., Kolb -

learning styles) in my course to reach the broadest group of students as I can.

One of the important lessons I have learned from my past teaching experience is students often

unaware of their potential. This leads to lack of motivation and stops them from exploring the

problem. My teaching goal is to prevent this issue from happening by establishing a friendly

environment that fosters collaboration, discussion, and critical thinking. I am also interested in

showing students the application of different theories they are learning. This enables them to

understand the importance of what they are learning and finally motivate them to explore further.

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Assessment and Evaluation

Assessments should provide us with evidence of how well the students have learned what I intend

them to learn. Therefore, I pay careful attention to the assessment criterion in my classes. I evaluate

my students progressively over the semester through assignments, projects, and quizzes rather than

just through tests (see CMPT100’s course syllabus at Appendix A). Assessments provide me with

the evidence of how well the students have learned what I intend them to learn. Therefore, I align

the assessment/evaluation with my learning objectives of the course (see the constructive

alignment chart for CMPT100 at Appendix B).

Class Environment and Activities

I have designed various individual and group activities in the lecture time (see Appendix C). For

example, in the algorithms lesson, I created an interesting activity in which students try to go from

point A to point B in a maze while following a set of rules. Students need to figure out where the

start is, where the finish is, and understand the rules. Then they try to draw paths from the start

and the finish in a trial and error manner. The take-away lesson of this activity was to enable

students to demonstrate the effectivity of their ideas in a democratic way.

Most students can’t develop critical thinking skills along the way in a course that focuses on

content. They need explicit instruction in thinking critically. I tried to model this process for my

students, make clear the rules for critical thinking in computer science, give them many

opportunities to practice critical thinking through activities in-class and out-class, and receive

feedback on their efforts, move from simple, well-structured problems to complex, ill-structured

ones, and do some of this in-class where I can help students sort it all out.

I am strongly in favor of using online discussion boards in my teaching. Discussion boards

provide the ability for asynchronous discussion to occur over a period of time, where students are

able to share their ideas and questions with the class, leading to more reflective responses and in-

depth learning. I have used Moodle and Blackboard discussion boards in my courses as a teaching

assistant. Based on my experience, the online presence and facilitation role of the instructor and

teaching assistants play an essential role in the success of the forums (see the screen shots of an

online discussion thread at Appendix C). In CMPT 100, I tried to encourage students’ participation

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with offering bonus marks, value the discussion boards as a collaborative environment, and refer

to them during my lectures.

Tutorials

I have split the practical content from theoretical one. Specifically, tutorials in a laboratory setting

are mandatory and may include material not presented in class. Lectures cover the general topics

and provide for discussion; tutorials can focus on more detail and greater specifics of the concepts

studied in lecture.

Students Feedback

I have used different assessment techniques, such as minute paper, one‐sentence summary and

muddiest point, for collecting a formative feedback from students about the lectures and activities

on a weekly basis. This gave me a feel for whether students captured the most important points,

and to know which areas need further expansion. The depth of the student feedback indicates their

understanding of the topic to date and provides me with direction for future planning of lessons.

Furthermore, my office hours allowed me to interact with students individually and get their

feedback on various issues. Many such finer details which may not directly get discussed in a

classroom came to my notice through individual interactions.

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Reflections on Feedback

Formative feedback stimulates students' thinking and provides teachers with information to guide

their future instruction. This section illustrates how formative feedback helped me to review,

reflect and improve my teaching performance. Below, the details of two learning activities which

have been implemented in CMPT100 are discussed.

Secret-Numbers Learning Activity

The first learning activity lies in the binary arithmetic topic. This in-class activity matches my

teaching style because it is more directed to technical tasks and problems than social or

interpersonal issues. I like to experiment with new ideas, to simulate, and to work with practical

applications.

Description

The teacher places students in groups of two (pair-share), and distributes a secret numbers

worksheet (see appendix C) for students to complete. Each student creates a secret number and

gives it to a friend to decode. Then the original student checks the decoding and completes the

remainder of the worksheet, which also prompts thought about what numbers in base 3 would be

like.

Materials

A copy of the secret numbers worksheet.

Kolb’s Learning Quadrant

This activity falls within Kolb’s converging quadrant (doing and thinking) in which students with

a preferred converging learning style can solve problems and use their learning to find solutions

to practical issues. Those students prefer technical tasks, and are less concerned with people and

interpersonal aspects.

Objectives and Target Skills

Students with a converging learning style are best at finding practical uses for ideas and theories.

With this learning style, students can develop their problem-solving skills and make decisions by

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finding solutions to questions and problems. Specifically, the first part of this activity gives the

student the opportunity to demonstrate his understanding of the mechanics of changing a number

to binary and back again. The second part asks for deeper understanding of numeric arithmetic

systems.

Formative Student Feedback

I chose the two-minute paper assessment technique for collecting a formative feedback from

students about this activity. I asked students to answer this question “What was the most important

thing you learned during this activity?” The rationale behind my choice was to get a sense for

whether students captured the most important points, and to know which areas need further

expansion. The two-minute memo is a highly effective technique for checking students’ progress,

both in understanding and reacting to the course material.

Implementation

The secret-numbers activity was implemented in-class on January 25th, 2017. The class was well-

attended at that day, with almost all students present. The activity involved some methods learned

in the previous class about binary arithmetic operations. The activity had some humorous aspects

which students enthusiastically participated in.

First, I introduced the activity to students and asked them to begin. It was a pair activity, with

two parts. For the first part, one student had to convert a decimal number into binary, and then the

second student had to convert in back to the decimal notation, and confirm with the first student

that they were correct. It was framed as a spy activity, which kept students’ attention. For the

second part, both students had to work together to develop a communication system to

communicate with the Triyums, a hypothetical alien race where individuals have only one hand,

and three fingers on the hand.

Second, I initiated an open discussion with students about the activity. Most of the students

were actively participated in the discussion, and freely asked for clarifications about the topic

covered in the class. Finally, I used two-minute memo for collecting formative feedback from

students about both the activity and the topic covered in the class. Specifically, I asked students to

answer two questions: (1) write one-sentence summary about this activity? and (2) what is the

most significant thing you learned today?

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Discussion

I think the learning objectives of the first activity were achieved as planned. Students were able to

express their meaningful language in terms of the binary numeric system as computers use symbols

themselves, in ways similar to how students use them. In addition, students were very interested

and engaged in both the activity and discussion.

I was comfortable in implementing this activity because it matches my teaching style. I believe

that students need to be able to show their problem-solving abilities when a problem/situation has

arisen. Accordingly, I tried to provide the larger perspective of the course material to students,

usually bringing examples from the real-world and trying to make them aware of real-world

challenges, practices, and experiences.

The student formative feedback was mostly positive, which reflects the students’ interest in

the activity. For example, one student said, “The activity showed me I understood this class a lot

more than I thought”, another student said, “I like that we do things together”, yet another said, “It

covered the material we have learned up until this point very well.” As shown in the student

feedback at Appendix D, some students’ comments were descriptive and focused on the lessons

learned from this activity. For example, one student said, “the activity was interesting, educational

and helpful. It helped me to identify the type of questions on the midterm and final exams”.

However, there were a few negative comments about the design and implementation of the activity.

For example, one student said, “I enjoyed it, but felt like we were given too much time”, another

student said, “It was confusing to me because I joined the class late, so I missed the explanation”.

For the next time, I will try to address all these comments, alleviate any potential confusion, and

provide a comprehensive explanation for the activity.

I would feel more confident in trying new teaching and learning activities in the future of this

sort. I believe that each learning activity provides students with opportunities to deepen their

learning by applying concepts and articulating new knowledge.

I believe students should be challenged to learn outside their comfort zones. This would

develop students’ abilities to think holistically and critically, and improving their technical skills.

For example, the secret-numbers activity first asks students to consider a real-world problem, and

then provides an opportunity for students to discuss it in pairs, and finally together with the whole

class. The success of these activities depends on the nature of the questions posed. This activity

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works ideally with questions to encourage deeper thinking, problem-solving, and/or critical

analysis. The group discussions are crucial as they allow students to articulate their thought

processes.

Terminologies Learning Activity

The second activity lies in the introduction to computing topic. This activity does not suit my

teaching style because it is more directed to ideas and abstract concepts than problem-solving and

practical experience.

Description

The teacher provides the students with a worksheet of multiple-choice questions (see appendix C)

which assesses the understanding of the key computer science’s terminologies and concepts.

Materials

A copy of the terminologies worksheet.

Kolb’s learning quadrant

This activity falls within Kolb’s assimilating quadrant (watching and thinking) in which students

with a preferred converging learning style are able to understand wide-ranging information and

organizing it in a clear logical format. Those students are more attracted to logically sound theories

than approaches based on practical value.

Objectives and Target Skills

Students with an assimilating learning style prefer readings, lectures, exploring analytical models,

and having time to think things through. With this learning style, students can develop their

listening and focusing skills.

Formative Student Feedback

I chose the one‐sentence summary assessment technique for collecting a formative feedback from

students about this activity. I asked students to write one-sentence summary about the activity. The

depth of the student summaries indicates their understanding of the topic to date and provides me

with direction for future planning of lessons.

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Implementation

The terminologies activity was implemented in-class on January 13th, 2017. The activity involved

a few multiple-choice questions, which assesses the understanding of the fundamental computer

science’s terminologies and concepts, learned in the previous classes.

First, I introduced the activity to students and asked them to begin. I organized students into

small groups. Then I asked students to work in groups to have them recall the important definitions

and terminologies in computing. Second, I initiated an open discussion with students about the

activity. I discussed some important concepts about computers and explained how computers work

and interact with users. Most of the students were actively participated in the discussion.

Additionally, I invited some students to describe a few terminologies written on the board. Finally,

I used the one‐sentence summary technique for collecting formative feedback from students about

both the activity and the topic covered in the class.

Discussion

The main learning objective of this activity was to develop students’ intellectual skills. This

includes the recognition of particular facts and concepts that serve in the development of mental

abilities and competencies. I think that learning objective was achieved as planned. Students were

able to interpret the information presented in class based on prior learning about computer science.

I was not very comfortable in implementing this activity because it does not suit my teaching

style. I prefer students to brainstorm the difference between the fundamental concepts in computer

science, rather than recall these concepts and definitions which are discussed in the lecture.

The student formative feedback, however, was mostly positive. For example, one student said,

“very informative on what we have covered”, another student said, “very helpful for knowing what

the exam is going to be”, yet another said “the activity was challenging in a constructive way”.

However, there were a few negative comments about the implementation activity. For example,

one student said, “it was interesting, but I wasn’t quite clear about the last explanation”, another

student said, “it was a straightforward and relatively easy if you had studied the material.” I tried

to address all these comments in the successive activities as shown by the student feedback at

Appendix D.

Although I was not very comfortable in implementing this activity, I would feel more confident

in trying new teaching and learning activities in the future of this sort. For instance, in the following

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teaching week, I have implemented a similar in-class activity where students, in groups of three or

four, created a poster that lists the ethics and social responsibility of internet users. Each team

presented their poster to the class and explained what they have learned.

I believe students should be challenged to learn outside their comfort zones. For example, the

terminologies activity expects students to participate in class discussions actively, and have the

appropriate responses. Knowledge can be assessed by straightforward means, for example as

implemented in this activity, multiple-choice questions that require the retrieval or recognition of

information.

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Efforts to Improve Teaching

I have participated in GSR 982 (Mentored Teaching), a special program for teaching and learning

excellence offered by Gwenna Moss Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. The participation

into this program offered me a unique opportunity to not only acquire important experience

teaching a university-level course at a North American university, but to also educate myself about

the state-of-the-art in delivering university-level classes.

Furthermore, the opportunity for close collaboration with my faculty mentor specifically about

my teaching, has substantially contributed to preparing me for my future teaching responsibilities.

I consulted my faculty mentor regarding the development of my course syllabus, requirements,

and teaching materials prior to the start of CMPT100.

The main challenge that I have faced in teaching CMPT100 was that the course relies in large

part on the instructor’s presentation of materials in class using the blackboard. I had to change that,

partly to cater to the needs of students with alternative learning styles, and partly to give the course

a structure which would be easier for other instructors to follow (see the teaching materials for

CMPT100 at Appendix C). Furthermore, the existing teaching materials place a strong emphasis

on memorizing facts about computing. I tried to reinterpret it, reducing emphasis on historical facts

and technical buzzwords, and focusing greater attention on fundamental ideas underlying

computing (see the CMPT100’s course syllabus at Appendix A).

I have several goals in regards to improving the courses I have already taught. I am focusing

on improvements I can make in response to student feedback and my own observations regarding

the effectiveness of my courses. For example, in the next iteration of teaching CMPT100, I will

add additional topics, and some topics – particularly related to the history of Computer Science–

may be removed. Topics for possible addition include algorithms for searching and sorting, and

computational complexity. This would increase the practical workload at the expense of the

theoretical background.

I will try to keep myself updated with the effective teaching and learning techniques in delivering

university-level classes. I will be looking for opportunities to attend workshops which focus on

improving teaching skills, maintain abreast of the educational literature and read books on modern

teaching strategies to explore effective teaching and learning in Computer Science.

Ahmed Abdel Moamen Reflective Teaching Portfolio

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Appendix A: Course Syllabus

• Winter 2016 CMPT 100: Course Syllabus (Original)

• Winter 2017 CMPT 100: Course Syllabus (Revised)

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Appendix B: Course Planning Materials

• Winter 2017 CMPT100: Constructive Alignment Chart

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Appendix C: Teaching Materials

• 2016-2017 GSR982: Microteaching Lesson Plan

• Winter 2017 CMPT100: Five In-Class Learning Activities

• Winter 2017 CMPT100: Two Sample Assignments

• Winter 2017 CMPT100: Midterm Exam

• Fall 2016 CMPT435: Online Discussion Thread

A set of screen shots showing an online discussion between the students and me about a topic

in concurrent programming using Moodle learning management system

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Appendix D: Student Feedback

• CMPT100’s Student Feedback

A set of two-minute and stop-start-continue memos collected after a number of classes

involving in-class activity. The feedback clearly indicates that students were very engaged

and interested in both the activity and discussion.

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Appendix E: Peer Feedback

• GSR982 Mentor Letters

Two letters from my faculty mentor with written feedback regarding my teaching in

CMPT100

• 2016-2017 GSR982: Microteaching Lesson Feedback

• 2016-2017 GSR982: Team Discussion Reading Feedback

• 2016-2017 GSR 982 Certificate