Teaching context and philosophy

I am a passionate educator having vast experience of lecturing and tutoring computing courses at UNSW and Macquarie University. In my current role at UNSW, I do have 20% teaching load which helps me to get involved in teaching COMP9517: Computer Vision in Term 3 2021. With a term of teaching at UNSW, I was able to establish a positive rapport with students and academics. The MyExperience survey showed that students appreciated my enthusiasm and knowledge of the course as well as my ability to lead tutorial discussions in an inclusive manner, with an average of 5.51 out of 6.0 over various indicators. In Term 2 and Term 3 of 2022, I did co-lecturing COMP9517 with Prof. Erik Meijering and COMP9444 with Prof. Alan Blair which further strengthened my experience of learning and teaching at UNSW. 

Before coming to UNSW, I did co-lecturing and tutoring in the School of Computing at Macquarie University along with my research training. I have had the opportunity to do co-lecturing and tutoring for various courses, including Artificial Intelligence, Applications of AI in Cyber Security, Data Science, Machine Learning, Data Structures and Algorithms, Document Processing and the Semantic Web. I contributed to the development of unit guide, lecture material, demonstrations, designing and marking of assessments including quizzes, projects, and final exams. I am pleased that students have provided high satisfaction rate with an average of 4.7 out of 5.0 based on Teaching Evaluation for Development Service (TEDS) surveys. My passion for education excellence at Macquarie University get recognised by becoming one of the most commendable candidates for the Vice Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Award 2021. In June 2018 and July 2019, I delivered workshops entitled “Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence” to NSW Primary and High School teachers for their professional development program and to incorporate these technologies in NSW school’s curriculum.  

Before coming to Australia, I have had 5 years of teaching experience as an Assistant Professor at university in India. I was responsible for teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students in electrical and electronics engineering. I had taught courses including Computer Vision, Digital Image Processing, Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic, Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence. My commitment and approach to teaching had been rewarded with the highest teaching evaluations where I was consistently among the top 5% of all academics in the school. I was awarded “Teaching Excellence Award” to recognise my contributions to students’ services, professionalism, and commitment to teaching. 

The core principles that guide my learning and teaching philosophy include create an active learning environment, collaboration between students, develop intellectual curiosity, design real-world experiences, reflect through experiences, and create inclusive culture through empathy. I inspire my students by focusing on why and how rather than just delivering facts. In my teaching, I find using real-world and contemporary examples help students to relate to, get fascinated, and inspiration to develop technologies improving our planet, our people, and our future. As a teacher, I feel the responsibility to ensure holistic development of students in social, intellectual, and emotional dimensions. I genuinely care about students’ future and know that I must go that extra mile to lead a positive impact on my students. As a scholar in Artificial Intelligence, I believe teaching and research should go hand in hand. When teaching computing courses, I like to incorporate my own research that complement regular class content. I extensively make use of technology and learning tools to promote meaningful, engaging, and collaborative learning. The experience of teaching a variety of computing courses at multiple institutions has made me aware of the needs and interests of a culturally and ethnically diverse cohorts. As a result, I prepare lesson plans always considering the interconnection between the student's own knowledge, cultural and learning abilities, the subject matter discussed in class, and current trends in the industry. 

I greatly value the supportive and caring environment that UNSW provides to educators and students. In my prospective career as a Lecturer at UNSW, I look forward to working in a collaborative learning and teaching environment with both faculty and students, where I can develop courses incorporating innovative teaching techniques and the most recent theories and research through an interdisciplinary approach. I regularly build upon and complement my theoretical and practical knowledge through attending professional workshops, conferences, and courses.  I am really enjoying teaching COMP9517 and COMP9444 in CSE at UNSW and I feel that I could contribute to several other courses at both the introductory and intermediate levels. I would also welcome the opportunity to develop new courses according to the school needs. The reputation of UNSW where students receive a more personalised, high-quality education, while still enjoying student life, is exactly the kind of setting in which I would like to continue my academic career. I am confident that I will deliver stimulating courses to the next generation of computer scientists and professionals.