Teaching Statement and philosophy

Teaching Experience

I have been teaching mechanical engineering since 2000. My first teaching experience has begun in the department of mechanical engineering at National School of Engineers of Monastir in Tunisia. My teaching experience has started as lab instructor during my PhD
thesis preparation. I was offered a part-time Assistant professor rank. During three academic years, I have taught variety of lab work materials for graduate students: Especially, Materials Science, Metallic materials, Strength of materials, Mechanical testing, Metallurgical testing and Heat treatment of metals. I always believe in a quotation of the famous physicist A. Einstein when he said:”The only source of knowledge is experience”. Therefore, I enjoyed teaching lab works, and I have done my best to convey my theoretical background and hands-on experience unto my students. Besides, and based on knowledge acquired in my own research field, I taught to senior graduate students, sheet metal forming lectures. 

In 2003, I have been hired by the Tunisian ministry of higher education and scientific research as an Assistant tenure in the department of mechanical engineering at the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology in Sousse-Tunisia. As more experienced instructor, I have taught the following spectrum of courses: Metallic materials, Strength of materials, Materials science and Engineering statics and dynamics for undergraduate students. In 2007, I have been upgraded to the Assistant professor rank at the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology of Sousse. I have also taught Continuum mechanics, mechanics of materials, Selection of materials, Technology of metal forming processes, modeling and simulation of metal forming processes for graduate students and senior graduate students (master levels). During several years of my teaching experience, I supervised several ends of study internships for students at graduate level and professional masters. Often, the undertaken projects are achieved with partnership of the local industry, in order to extend the horizons of the students to thorough their understanding of the narrow relationships between theoretical and practical issues raised in industrial environment. In my view, this kind of teaching helps to prepare the students for immediate entry into professional careers with more confidence. Moreover, the trainees will gain their ability and take a chance to discover real-life issues encountered in industry. Through supervising projects, I guide and instruct the students for helpful approaches that they can apply to figure out solutions by themselves. On the other hand, it is worth noting that I have written Lab work guides of Solid Mechanics and Materials science.
These documents serve as guidebooks for practical working sessions in the lab of mechanics. In addition, a practical guidebook has been written and used by my students in lab work of computational mechanics for practicing numerical simulations using ABAQUS (commercial finite element code). After several years of research and teaching experience in the mechanical engineering field, I received “Habilitation” a post-doctoral dissertation (HDR in the academic ranks in France), and then I have been recruited to an Associate professor faculty position at Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology. Accordingly, I have acquired effective teaching skills at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Teaching Interests

Based on my teaching experience, I eager to teach courses related to Solid mechanics, Metallic materials, Mechanics of materials, Selection of materials, Numerical methods and applied mathematics for solid mechanics, Technology and metal forming processes, Mechanical behavior of sheet metal forming, Finite element method for numerical simulation of metal forming for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Teaching philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based on my educational experience, from which I have inspired a lot of lessons that influence my teaching methodology. Herein, I sum up the chief points that I consider very important for the successful job of an instructor:

- I always use intuitive examples related to real world issues to explain difficult concepts to illustrate the basic laws under them.
- I incite students to focus on fundamental principles rather than memorizing formulas.
- I assign homework and assess students’ performance to check whether or not the taught materials are well assimilated and mastered.
- I strive to stimulate the students’ curiosity and I always do my best to transfer my enthusiasm to the students for the course materials.
- I strongly encourage students to ask questions and to actively participate in the teaching and learning process, because I believe that is the right way to guide students to solve problems themselves.
Finally, I believe my great passion for research and teaching activities, long and diverse teaching past experience with strong academic background make me well-prepared to teach, to perform high quality research and to share what I have learned during several years of hard work with those young and fresh minds.