Engineering professors receive top teaching awards
Several professors from the Faculty of Engineering have been recognized with awards from Lakehead University this semester acknowledging their outstanding contributions to teaching and learning.
Dr. Abdelhamid Tayebi has received Lakehead University’s Distinguished Instructor Award for 2024. This is Lakehead University’s most prestigious teaching award and recognizes an outstanding individual who has made a significant contribution to teaching excellence and educational innovation and leadership at the University over a number of years. Professor Tayebi has been honored with this award in recognition of his innovative teaching methods and dedication to student success.
In recommending Dr. Tayebi for this award, the Senate Teaching and Learning Committee praised his innovative pedagogy and the incorporation of advanced research into his teaching. The Committee noted that Dr. Tayebi’s teaching evaluation scores are uniformly excellent, and that he has actively pursued professional development opportunities to enhance student learning. In his nomination, students commented on his “clear, interesting, and insightful” teaching style and the “challenging but rewarding” content of his engineering classes.
This is the second year in a row that a member of the Faculty of Engineering has received this top award, after Dr. Mohammed Uddin, also from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was honoured last year.
At September’s Senate meeting, two more professors from our Faculty were honoured.
Dr. Amir Ameli and Dr. Shafiqul Hai, also from our Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who are based at our Barrie Hub, were each awarded the Contribution to Teaching award. The Contribution to Teaching Award is a student-nominated award that recognizes instructors who have demonstrated high levels of teaching performance at Lakehead University.
Dr. Ameli’s citation praises his commitment to student learning through innovative course design principles emphasizing well-defined learning objectives and assessment strategies, in addition to prioritizing a positive and inclusive classroom environment. Students highlighted the specialized and highly technical nature of his courses, and that he presents class material in an “engaging and concise” manner.
The citation for Dr. Hai acknowledges his “instrumental role in the development of the Engineering program in Barrie” and remarks on his innovative classes that combine advanced simulation software with comprehensive instruction in theory. Students emphasized that his courses are “very applicable to real-world applications” and that he “did a great job of delivering the topics in a way that allowed us to learn them with ease.”
Dr. Ahmed Bediwy, from Lakehead’s Department of Civil Engineering, received the Teaching Innovation Award at October’s Senate meeting.
Lakehead University’s Teaching Innovation Award recognizes the development and/or implementation of innovative pedagogical practices and technologies. The Senate Teaching and Learning Committee recognized Dr. Bediwy’s development of innovative gamification strategies in his courses, which have improved student engagement, participation, and motivation. In his citation, the Committee noted that Dr. Bediwy has embedded gamification pedagogy within the curriculum and implemented a hierarchical bonus point systems that rewards students for accomplishing specific course tasks, and that these approaches have “demonstrably impacted the learning experiences of your students through significant increases in participation rates for course activities.”