6- Teaching Performance & Leadership

6.1- Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is to provide students with a solid theoretical foundation combined with a strong link to concrete applications of that theory. Students are encouraged not to memorize facts and formulae, but to learn how and when to apply those facts, and to draw upon knowledge from many sources in order to solve problems. I include teaching innovations in my subjects, such as weekly computing exercises using the MATLAB system in EEB791 to reinforce mathematical concepts, use of computer-based lecture delivery with Powerpoint, and an assignment requiring students to critically evaluate a recent paper in a research journal. I have a keen appreciation and take into consideration the time and family pressures faced by part-time students. I make available a soft copy of the Powerpoint notes on the school computer network, and a hard copy in the library. I design my own lectures and my effort is acknowledged in the school. My strong belief in life-long learning prompted me to enhance my teaching abilities and enroll in the Graduate Certificate course in Higher Education at QUT.

6.2- Teaching Grants (accepted)

  • M. Bennamoun and F. Sohel, “Multi-Disciplinary Problem Based Learning”, UWA Teaching Fellowship Scheme, 2008. Amount Received: $22,000.
  • M. Bennamoun, A. Bodnarova and M. Keir, “Tailored Multimedia Resources for Induction Programs in the School of EESE”, School Teaching and Learning Grants, 2002. Amount received: $2,500. The purpose of this grant was to prepare multimedia resources useful for induction programs of new and first year students.
  • W. Boles, N. Harle and V. Chandran. Associate Investigator: M. Bennamoun, “An Open Learning Multimedia Facility for Image Processing”, CAUT Teaching Grant, 1996. Amount received: $38,000.

 

6.3- Teaching Grants (pending)

  • None at this stage.

6.4- Papers on Teaching & Learning

  • M. Bennamoun, A. Dawood, and A. Bouzerdoum, “A Distance Education Framework For Teaching Elective Subjects”, Proceedings of the “Waves of Change” Conference, Gladstone, Queensland, 26 Sep.-2 Oct. 1998.


The main conference organizers are: Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE), the Australasian Council of Engineering Deans, and The Institution of Engineers, Australia.

  • A. Dawood, N. Bergmann, and M. Bennamoun, “Flexible Learning Programmes to Meet Industry Requirements and Develop Lifelong Learners”, 2nd Asia-Pacific Forum on Engineering and Technology Education, Sydney 4-7 July 1999. Conference organized by the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (UICEE).

6.5- Lecturing Duties

  • Teaching Overseas:


Advanced Undergraduate unit, “Introduction to Robotics and Computer Vision” (ELEC 448), from Jan. 90- May. 92, at Queen’s University, Canada (Obtained excellent student evaluations).  Class size: 45 students in average.

  • Teaching at QUT:


Process Control and Robotics, Postgraduate unit, Class size: 35.
Advance Engineering Computing 2, Elective unit (Neural Networks). Class size: 45 students in average.
Advanced Engineering Computing 1, Elective unit (Computer Vision). Class size: 45 students.
Design I (EEB587), large class.
Telecommunications (EET460), small class.
Electronics 2 (EET570), small class.
Circuits and Measurements (EEB101), Class size: 80 students.
Basic Electronic Devices (EEB271), Class Size: 120-180 students.
Electronics I (EEB375), Class size: 120 students.

In terms of teaching performance, my SET (Student Evaluation of Teaching) surveys undertaken at QUT, and at Queen’s show an excellent rating.

I also coordinated a range of design units, such as Aerospace Design 1 (EEB680), Aerospace Design 3 (EEB780), and Aerospace Design 4 (EEB880). My roles were to ensure that all students (usually around 50) have a design topic and were allocated to supervisors.

6.6- Tutoring

I tutored many subjects at Queen’s University, Canada, as part of my teaching assistantship duties.  At QUT, I tutored the following subjects EEB 602: Signal Processing (for three semesters); EEB620: Control Systems Analysis (for three semesters); EEB 968: Digital Signal Processing (for three semesters); EEB271: Basic Electronic Devices; EET570: Electronics 2; EEB375: Electronics 1; and many more.

6.7- Supervision

Ph.D Graduates.

  1. I. Naseem, “Robust Audio-Visual Biometric Recognition”, Funding IPRS. Joint supervision with R. Togneri, School of Electrical Engineering, UWA. March 2008 – November 2010.
  2. Dr. S. Islam, “Unified Representation of Multi-modal Biometrics for Robust Authentication and Identification”. Principal Supervisor jointly with R. Owens and R. Davies. June Dr. S. Islam was Awarded a “Distinction” to his Doctor of Philosophy thesis by Members of the Board of the Graduate School at UWA. This is a rare award made to only a fraction of theses classified passed by UWA. 2006 – September 2010.
  3. Dr. F. Al-Osaimi, “Fusion and Data Representation for Biometrics and off-road Robot Navigation”. Principal Supervisor. November 2005 – June 2010
  4. Dr. W. Wong, “Ontology Maintenance in a Knowledge-based Question Answering Environment”. Co-Supervisor with W. Liu. March 2006­ – Nov.2009.
  5. Dr. Elizabeth Fox, “Bird Calls identification”, jointly with the School of Animal Biology, UWA. Co-Supervisor jointly with D. Roberts.  March 2004 – August 2008.
  6. Dr. A. Mian, “Representation and Matching Techniques for 3D Free Form Object and Face Recognition”. Principal Supervisor jointly with R. Owens.   Dr Mian was awarded a PhD with Distinction 2006 from UWA, and the Australasian Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award 2007. January 2003 – April 2006.
  7. Dr. George Mamic, “Representation and Recognition of 3D Free Form Objects Incorporating Statistical Techniques”. Principal Supervisor. March 1999 – December 2002.
  8. Dr. J. Williams, “Towards a Generalised Framework for 3D Object Reconstruction Incorporating Sensor Error Models”.Principal Supervisor. July 1997 – May 2001.
  9. Dr. A. Bodnarova, “Texture Analysis for Automatic Visual Inspection and Flaw Detection in Textiles”.Principal Supervisor. February 1997 – October 2000.
  10. Dr. J. Banks, “Stereo Matching for Real Time Mining Automation”.Principal Supervisor. February 1997 – February 2000.
  11. Dr. B. Hannah, “Understanding Multipath Effects in Precision Land based GPS-SPS Applications”. Associate Supervisor. February 1997 – March 2001.

Ph.D Students (Thesis under review).

  1. Nil at the moment.

Ph.D Students.

  1. March 2008: S. Sedai, “3D Human Pose Tracking”. Funding IPRS and UPA. Principal supervisor jointly with D. Huynh.
  2. September 2008: M. Bahdad, “Fraud Detection Using Learning Classifier Systems”. Funding APA. Joint supervision with L. Barone and T. French, CSSE, UWA.
  3. November 2009: Mr. Yinjie Lei, “Improved Image Retrieval using integrated Textual and Image Information”.  Funding: China Scholarship Council. Principal Supervisor jointly with W. Liu and W. Wong.

 

M.Eng (by research) Graduates

  1. May 2004 – April 2005: Mr. D.N. Splithoff, “Development and Implementation of a User-Independent System for the Segmentation of the Hippocampus”. Joint Supervision with Prof. H. Dickhauss from The University of Heidelberg, Germany. Mr. Splithoff was an exchange student from the University of Heidelberg and spent one year at UWA. We collaborated with SKG Radiology on this medical project.
  2. March 1999 – October 2002: Mr. C. Chao, “Dynamic Image Reconstruction of the Human Eye”. Joint project with the Centre for Eye Research, QUT. Principal Supervisor.
  3. February 2000 – May 2002: Mr. A. Pongpech, “A 3D Navigation System for the Visually Impaired Using a Tactile Map” Principal Supervisor.
  4. Mr. A. Cheung, “An Optical Character Recognition System for Arabic Script”. This work appeared in the proceedings of many conferences (see publications J9, I18, and I31). Principal Supervisor.
  5. Mr. W.A. Bower "Motion Estimation for Object Tracking", QUT.  Principal Supervisor.

Current M.Eng (by research) Students

 

1.      September 2008: M. Mehdizadeh, topic to be identified. Joint supervision with L. Barone and T. French.

 

Final Year and Design Projects

I supervise yearly an average of 4 groups (in average 2-3 students per group) in their “final year projects”, and 3 groups in various design subjects. Topics include image processing, neural networks, Time-Frequency Signal Analysis, Texture Analysis, etc. I usually receive tokens of appreciation from these students for my thorough supervision and support. The outcome is usually one publication per project in a refereed conference. Examples include:

  • Feb.2000-Nov.2001: Mr. H. Pandzo and S. Mahadevan, “A 3D Acquisition and Modeling System”, QUT. This work appeared in a couple of conference proceedings (including ICASSP’2001). These students won the best “Computer System” project at Project Expo-2000. They were also nominated to win an IEE/IEAUST prize in 2001 for this project.
  • Feb. 95- Nov. 95: Mr. Y. Yulizar and Mr. E. Yeung “Hardware Implementation of an Automatic Object Recognition System”, QUT. This work was published in the Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA’95) conference.
  • Feb. 95- Nov. 95: Mr. M. Dunbar, and N. Kumar, “GPS-INS-Sonar Integration using a Kalman Filter for Underwater Vehicle Navigation”, QUT. This work was published in the IEEE Southeastcon96 Conference in Florida, USA, and the IEEE Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Technology  (IEEE AUV’96), California, USA.
  • Feb. 94- Nov. 94: Mr. J. Koo " Edge Detection", QUT.  This work was published in two international conferences (see publications I45 and I46).
  • Feb. 97-June 97: Mr. S. Mullens, G. Nicol, and Ms. L. Hapgood, “Edge Detection in the presence of local noise”, QUT. At the end of this design unit, the students were able to publish their work in the proceedings of international conferences (see publications I37 and N3). I assisted in the placement of Ms. Linda Hapgood, and Mr. Grant Nicol in a summer employment program at Boral Aerospace in the USA, and Mr. Scott Mullens at CSIRO, Pinjarra Hills, Qld.

6.8- Supervision Awards

 

  • Awarded commendations in the 2007 “Award for Research Supervision” by the Faculty of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics at the University of Western Australia.
  • Nominated and awarded the Best Supervisor of the Year, 1998, by the Postgraduate Students Association, Queensland University of Technology. 11 academics from the whole university were nominated that year.

Last updated 27 October 2010
M. Bennamoun
CRICOS No 00126G