My teaching/supervisory experience is detailed below, in addition to a small rant against grading systems at the very end.
Supervisory experience
- External co-supervision of PhD student Hans Moravej from Queensland’s University of Technology, Australia (successful)
- Supervision of five undergraduate students’ final year projects at the University of the West of England (successful)
- Co-supervision of one Master’s final year group project at the University of Warwick (successful)
- Co-supervision of three undergraduate students’ final year projects at the University of Warwick (successful)
University of the West of England, UK
During my appointment as a Lecturer in Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of the West of England I have worked on the teaching of seven modules. Two of the modules had to be developed from the ground up, i.e., they did not exist in the Civil Engineering programme.
| Year | Module name | Module year | Hours/week | Number of students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/2021 | UBGMQP-30-3 Individual Civil Engineering Project | 3rd year | 3 | 5 |
| 2019/2021 | UBGMW9-15-3 Computational Civil Engineering | 3rd year | 6 | 65 |
| 2019/2021 | UBGMM3-15-3 Advanced Structural Modelling | 3rd year | 2 | 53 |
| 2019/2021 | UBGMUA-15-M Nonlinear structural analysis | Masters | 4 | 5 |
| 2019/2020 | Architecture Design Studio 1 | 1st year | 1 | 320 |
| 2020/2021 | UBGMXQ-30-1 Engineering Principles | 1st year | 4 | 91 |
| 2019/2020 | UBGMSQ-15-1 Engineering Graphics and Communications | 1st year | 7 | 78 |
University of Warwick, UK
I have been appointed as a teaching fellow at the University of Warwick, School of Engineering. Survey results have shown an overall student satisfaction of 100%.
Duties and responsibilities:
- Contributed to the educational goals of the School of Engineering, including appropriate management and administrative responsibilities related to programme delivery. Taught civil engineering undergraduates an introduction module for Concrete Structures informed by the Eurocode suite of design standards.
- Marked coursework and examination assessments.
- Fulfilled student facing roles including: personal tutor, placement supervision, fieldwork (surveying) support.
- Undertook specific departmental roles, and contributed to departmental activities, that included outreach work, student recruitment, open days, as required.
- Actively participated in the academic environment including attending Civil and Environmental Engineering stream and School of Engineering meetings.
- Ensured compliance with health and safety in all aspects of work and other University regulations and good practice in all aspects of work.
- Supported and complied with the University and School of Engineering teaching quality assurance standards and procedures, including the provision of such information as required by the School of Engineering or the University.
- Engaged in external academic activities that could be working with a professional institution and development of industrial links and other related activities.
| Year | Module name | Module year | Hours/week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/2018 | ES3D10 - Concrete Structures | 3rd year | 6 |
| 2018 | ES192 - Civil Design Project | 1st year | 4 |
The table below highlights my working load as a demonstrator at the University of Warwick, School of Engineering.
| Year | Module name | Module year | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015/16 | Engine strip (CAD) | 1st year | 12 |
| 2015/16 | Wind Tunnel (fluid dynamics) | 2nd year | 35 |
| 2015/16 | Design for function soldering of electronic components (electronics) | 1st year | 20 |
| 2015/16 | Failure of I beams under mid-span point loads (civil) | 3rd year | 2 |
| 2015/16 | MATLAB signal processing | 4th year | 12 |
| 2015/16 | Pulse-width modulation (electronics) | 2nd year | 22 |
| 2015/16 | Introduction to elementary electronic components | 1st year | 19 |
| 2016/17 | Engine strip (CAD) | 1st year | 16 |
| 2016/17 | Wind Tunnel (fluid dynamics) | 2nd year | 26 |
| 2016/17 | Pulse-width modulation (electronics) | 2nd year | 18 |
| 2016/17 | Bending moment diagrams, statics (civil) | 3rd year | 12 |
| 2016/17 | Warwick Bridge Lab (civil) | 4th year | 6 |
| 2016/17 | Free and Forced Vibration Lab (MATLAB) | 3rd year | 10 |
| 2016/17 | Failure of I beams under mid-span point loads (civil) | 3rd year | 9 |
Nova, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Appointed as a teaching assistant at Nova, University of Lisbon, Faculty of Science and Technology.
Engineering degrees have 10 semesters. Students questions were answered during classes or online. Marking of exams also amongst teaching duties.
| year | Module | Semester | hours/week | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010/11 | Analysis of structures 1 | 6 | 2 | teacher |
| 2010/11 | Statics | 2 | 4 | teacher |
| 2011/12 | Solid Dynamics | 4 | 2 | teacher |
| 2011/12 | Continuum Mechanics | 3 | 6 | teacher and demonstrator |
Grading, grading, grading…
Marks are given too much relevance, comparatively to what a student has actually learned and can apply in his/her future life. However, marks are still used extensively by universities and the industry as a primary way to assess academic performance. In most universities marks follow an absolute grading system (AGS). This website explains the difference between an absolute and a relative grading system (RGS). Each system has its own pros and cons, but I believe that the RGS provides a better academic assessment overall and should be adopted worldwide. One of the main advantages of the RGS is that marks are not biased due to more severe or lenient instructors. The key problem is that when candidates across different universities, or from different countries, are compared their assessment is often extremely biased because of the AGS system.
Students should be aware that their marks depend of a multitude of out-of-their-control factors, and that the commonly used grading system is far from perfect. In summary, I think that 1) universities should switch to the RGS system (because it is the less biased grading system available), and 2) academic institutions and companies should be aware of the aforementioned issues and use/develop more reliable assessment methods. End of rant.
