Sadia Rain Sharmin
Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream Department of Computer Science University of Toronto
Hello, visitor! Here is a little summary about me: I have been part of the U of T Computer Science community for many years, in a variety of roles: undergraduate student at the U of T Mississauga campus, Teaching Assistant, part-time professor at the Mississauga campus starting from 2015 to 2021, and now a full-time Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the St. George campus.
Currently, I am –
teaching:
- CSC110: Foundations of Computer Science I (Fall 2024*)
- CSC111: Foundations of Computer Science II (Upcoming – Winter 2025*)
Below is a list of other courses I've taught in the past.
Courses taught at St. George campus
- CSC110Y: Foundations of Computer Science (Fall 2023*)
- CSC111H: Foundations of Computer Science II (Winter 2024*)
- CSC108H: Introduction to Computer Programming (Winter 2023*, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023)
- CSC148H: Introduction to Computer Science (Winter 2022)
- CSC300H: Computers and Society (Winter 2023)
Courses taught at Mississauga campus
- CSC108H: Introduction to Computer Programming (Fall 2015, Winter 2017*, Winter 2018*, Winter 2019*, Winter 2020*)
- CSC148H: Introduction to Computer Science (Winter 2016, Summer 2016*, Summer 2017*, Summer 2018*, Winter 2019, Summer 2019*)
- CSC490H: Capstone Design Course (Winter 2016 – Topic: UX/UI Design*, Fall 2020 – Topic: Video Game Design*)
- CSC207: Software Design (Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2020*, Winter 2021)
- CSC236: Introduction to the Theory of Computation (Fall 2015, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019)
* All courses marked with an asterisk are those I was in charge of coordinating. As course coordinator, I was in charge of managing all course material and overseeing the work of co-lecturers, as well as managing the teaching assistants of the course. I also handled any special considerations requested by students, coordinated the development and evaluation of all assignments, tests and examinations, and calculated and submitted final course grades.
mentoring:
First-year CS Faculty Advisor
Since August 2023 (continuing into next year – 2025), I have been the First-year CS Faculty Advisor, which means I am responsible for giving advice to CS students on their first-year academic journeys, both within and outside of the introductory CS courses which I teach. This has been a valuable opportunity for me to make meaningful connections with students, and provide one-on-one care and support, reflective of my teaching philosophy to recognize students as individuals who can benefit from empathy and personal guidance.
PRISM Research Workshop Coordinator
I have been co-coordinating PRISM since 2021 (upon first joining DCS). PRISM is a program which involves 6 interactive workshops running bi-weekly throughout the Winter semester that aims to teach students from diverse backgrounds about basic research skills. Each workshop involves a presentation by guest speakers and an activity working toward the completion of a research proposal (with guidance from graduate mentors) on any Computer Science related topic of the students’ choice. The program is now in its fourth year, and just completed its second run as entirely in-person.
researching:
My primary research area is Computer Science Education.
Currently, I am most interested in alternative grading practices and pedagogies of kindness.
My PhD dissertation focused on the idea of making education more personal for students through creative, open-ended exercises. More specifically, I explored the idea of incorporating creativity and exploration into undergraduate computer science courses to increase motivation and satisfaction among first-year students. In 2019, a conference paper related to my PhD studies titled "The Impact of Open-ended Assignments on Student Self-Efficacy in CS1" won the ACM Program Chairs’ Award for Best Paper at the Global Computing Education Conference (CompEd).
In addition to improving introductory computer science courses, I am interested in a pedagogy of kindness, mental wellness initiatives and promoting diversity within computer science and STEM.
You can find a list of my publications here.
Do you want to collaborate on something? Let's chat!
having fun:
writing some poetry every now and then, maybe playing some video games, and certainly playing with my many fur-babies