茄子直播

Meet two 茄子直播 faculty members honoured by OCUFA for outstanding teaching

Photo of Fiona Rawle
鈥淥ur students deserve to be taught in ways that are shown to be effective, that are engaging and exciting and linked to the real world,鈥 says 茄子直播 Mississauga's Fiona Rawle (photo by Blake Eligh)

One faculty member has a policy never to lecture for more than 20 minutes at a time; the other has students understand DNA in a very physical way.

Two University of Toronto associate professors have been named among Ontario鈥檚 outstanding university teachers by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA).

Michelle Craig, an associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of computer science, and Fiona Rawle, an associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of biology at 茄子直播 Mississauga, received the 2017-2018 OCUFA Teaching Award at a ceremony on Saturday in Toronto. The two were recognized for their passion and dedication as teachers as well as their commitment to active learning in their respective disciplines.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty members and academic librarians in 29 faculty associations across the province. The annual awards recognize exemplary contributions made to the quality of higher education in Ontario.

"Michelle Craig has a long and distinguished teaching record and demonstrates contagious enthusiasm for her work," says Judy Bornais, chair of OCUFA鈥檚 award committee. "Her impact extends well beyond her classes, with both students and fellow faculty members viewing her as a mentor.

鈥淔iona Rawle is a passionate teacher whose enthusiasm for the field of biology excites her students and encourages them to dive deeper,鈥 Bornais adds. 鈥淪he believes in fostering critical thinking and using active engagement to help students improve their understanding of the subject matter.鈥

Rawle, who is also associate dean of undergraduate education at 茄子直播 Mississauga, says that winning the OCUFA award 鈥渞eally enforces for me how lucky I am to have the colleagues and students that I have. Everything we do in the context of teaching and learning is collaborative; it鈥檚 a partnership.鈥

Craig (pictured left) is equally honoured to receive the award. 鈥淚t鈥檚 satisfying to have my work recognized,鈥 she says.

A native of Puslinch, Ont., outside of Guelph, Craig has an undergraduate degree in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo and a master鈥檚 in computer science from 茄子直播, where she focused on artificial intelligence. She is an avid runner who has run the Boston Marathon and swims regularly in Lake Ontario with a local open-water swimming group.

She joined the computer science faculty in 1990 and teaches undergraduate courses. She鈥檚 also deeply involved in the relatively new field of computer science education research, looking at how people learn computing and the best way to teach it so that it is understood. She sits on the board of directors of the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education.

Craig鈥檚 work in the field includes a project that analyzed the repetitive patterns that knitters use, applying some of their principles to the instructions given to beginner computer programming students. In another, she added 鈥渨rappers鈥 to marked exams handed back to students, asking questions about things such as the effectiveness of their preparation strategies, particularly given their results.

She says that doing such research gives her an opportunity to mentor individual students involved in the projects and it is 鈥渧ery relevant to my job. I think it makes me a better teacher.鈥 She feels strongly about active learning in the classroom as opposed to the old-model 鈥渟age on the stage鈥 鈥 standing at the chalkboard or computer. It is why she never lectures for more than 20 minutes at a time.

鈥淲hen you teach someone something, you have to ask them to do something with the information you just told them,鈥 explains Craig, who has applied that principle by 鈥渇lipping鈥 or 鈥渋nverting鈥 some of her courses such as second-year Software Tools and Systems Programming, with two sections of 120 students. Before each class, they watch a series of videos that she prepared, then in the classroom they complete exercises together and 鈥測ou see the lightbulbs going on,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderfully fun to see people suddenly understanding something they came in not understanding.鈥

Rawle embraces active learning in the biology classes she teaches, even her massive first-year Introduction to Evolution and Evolutionary Genetics course, with 1,100 students. In one class, she gets everyone to stand up and adopt the orientation of a nucleotide 鈥 鈥渢he left hand becomes a phosphate group, the back becomes a sugar and right elbow becomes a base" 鈥 so that everyone can 鈥渂ind together鈥 to form one long DNA molecule.

The exercise helps them understand the principles of DNA, she says. 鈥淚n the final exam, I'll even see students extending their hand and elbow in that same configuration to check they have the structure right.鈥

Rawle grew up on Vancouver Island, where a life in the outdoors got her interested in science, nature and animals. She earned an undergraduate degree in genetics at the University of Victoria and McMaster University, received a PhD in pathology and molecular medicine at Queen鈥檚 University and then came to 茄子直播 Mississauga in 2010. She鈥檚 an avid hiker and traveller and plays volleyball.

A 鈥渇ull-fledged science geek,鈥 she was especially drawn to the classroom by a desire to 鈥渟park kids鈥 curiosity鈥 to solve global problems such as climate change and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. She was also determined to address misconceptions surrounding those issues, and is currently researching how to educate the wider population about science.

She鈥檚 working on a project on 鈥減roductive failure鈥 and tells her students that 鈥渋t鈥檚 okay 鈥 even great 鈥 to fail,鈥 with examples in science from the discovery of penicillin and the development of anesthesia to the invention of the pacemaker and the slinky.

She maintains that 鈥渟cience is creative鈥 and is determined to take a scientific approach to teaching it.

鈥淥ur students deserve to be taught in ways that are shown to be effective, that are engaging and exciting and linked to the real world,鈥 Rawle says. 鈥淚 don't want my students to remember lists of facts. At the end of the day, I want them to be able to ask questions and find answers.鈥

 
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