One aspect of being a teaching assistant that Parisa Behnamfar really enjoys is the active teaching and learning that happens during lab supervision hours. “Experimental setups usually bring up challenges, contradictions, discussions and eventually solutions. During the labs, I share my knowledge with passion which also enhance my confidence about the concepts that I am teaching.”
As a TA, Parisa values fairness and constructs reasonable marking rubrics and provides constructive feedback to enhance the overall learning experience for students. She also values inclusivity in the classroom. Students come from different cultural and educational backgrounds. “Avoiding pre-assumptions is critical when I am explaining a subject. I also try to address different learning styles in my teaching.”
Parisa is a PhD candidate working with Prof. Shahriar Mirabbasi in the System-On-Chip lab. She has extensive teaching experience with ECE in electronics, circuit design, electromechanics and radio frequency electronics. Her research field is mainly analog IC design for biomedical applications and her current research project is designing analog transmitter and receiver circuits for ultrasound imaging probes. She also helps to train new TAs in the Faculty of Applied Science and has been one of the ECE’s student ambassadors since 2011.
The Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Prizes recognize the valuable role that teaching assistants play in our undergraduate programs. The university annually awards teaching prizes to sixteen UBC Teaching Assistants to send the important message to both undergraduate and graduate students that UBC values teaching.
