Teaching

My teaching journey began at KFUPM in 1999 when I started teaching Circuits Laboratory. I continued building on my experience through teaching different labs. At Virginia Tech, I taught the Microwave laboratory. I had also replaced my adviser in teaching senior level classes. I rejoined KFUPM in 2003 as an assistant professor and started building my real teaching and coordination experience through 20 different courses. I have taught and coordinated four different graduate courses. I have developed two new courses’ curricula and one Communications Engineering laboratory with full content and supporting material. The laboratory was honored with a visit by Prince Saud bin Nayef, the governor of the Saudi kingdom's Eastern Province. I also have developed two online courses. I have developed the undergraduate research experience in the EE department at KFUPM. I have supervised 12 Master and PhD students. I have examined 27 others. I have also supervised more than 20 senior design projects with an average of 4 students per project, 20 Coop students, and 25 summer trainees.

Throughout my teaching progress, I have adopted few techniques to excel in teaching. Due to the advances in technology and life style, students’ behavior and characteristics are dynamically changing. I make sure that I put myself in the student position to understand the proper expectation and load assignment. This is why my courses are dynamic and adaptive. Second, I make sure that students have general view of the course. They should know what the main components of the course are and how they are linked instead of dealing with the course as disconnected components. To achieve this, I emphasis the link between the last section and the new topic. For example, before introducing “Laplace Transform”, I explain what is missing in “Fourier Transform”, why we have more than one transform, and when to use each one. I usually draw a diagram for the entire course that shows the topic as blocks with arrows indicating the transition and reason for that transition. I also start the lecture by stating where we are and what the objectives of the current class are. Moreover, I find linking the class content to how our body works attracts the attention. For example in communication and signals and systems course, we view the eye as a bandpass filter with bandwidth between red and violet. We question; do we all have the same bandwidth? Why do we have two eyes? What is the difference between male and female voice? Can we measure our brain processing speed? etc.

My philosophy in teaching is based on active/fun learning. I always maintain a strong link between theory and practice. I emphasize group work in my classes and I have seen the fruits. I am also building a rich website/Blackboard for all the courses that I teach. I invited senior engineers from industry to give lectures in senior courses. I also arranged many site visits: Saudi Aramco, Yokogawa, Research Institute, Fabrication Laboratory (FABLAB), in addition to visiting the Center of Energy and Geoprocessing (CeGP) and the Telecommunications Research Laboratory (TRL). Respect is a pillar in the relation with all my excellent or even failing students. I always maintain early feedback through frequent quizzes and exams. I am transparent in sharing solutions, (max, min, and average) grades of every exam to keep the student updated about their performance relative to others without scarifying their privacy.

To improve my teaching skills, I have attended some classes at KFUPM, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech. I enrolled in a four years Junior Faculty Development Program organized by Deanship of Academic Development (DAD), KFUPM. I also attended some additional workshops and programs organized by them.

Teaching experience gained through teaching at both KFUPM and Virginia Tech. Teaching experience includes teaching lecture classes, instructing laboratories and advising senior projects. I maintained a constantly high student evaluation. I also attended classes at both KFUPM, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech to improve my teaching style.

I have used WebCT/Blackboard in all the lectures that I have taught. I have prepared course files and supplementary materials for the students. Interactive electronic discussion group was also used to promote collaborative learning. I have used TABLET PC in order to write notes electronically. Some of the notes are published on the internet. See supplemented video link (https://youtu.be/qwpeBbiwO40). I have implemented active and collaborative learning (e.g., use groups to solve problems in the class, involving students to summarize the covered material).

The awards that are related to teaching are re-listed below. Sample certificates are provided as supplied documents.

  • Awarded College of Engineering Short course award (End of year party 2005)
  • Nominated for the University (KFUPM) short course award 2006/2007
  • Nominated for the University (KFUPM) short course award 2007/2008
  • Awarded Excellence in Teaching (KFUPM, CES) 2007/2008
  • Instructional Technology Award (KFUPM) 2008/2009
  • Awarded Excellence in Teaching (KFUPM, CES) 2011/2012
  • Awarded Excellence in Advising (KFUPM) 2012/2013
  • Adviser: Best Senior Project Awarded in First EXPO (University Student Mall 2014)
  • Awarded Excellence in Teaching (KFUPM, CES) 2014/2015
  • Instructional Technology Award (KFUPM) 2014/2015

For the details of the teaching evaluation, please refer to teaching evaluation,(private link)