Mojtaba Ammari-Allahyari

Innovative teaching & learning methods, Assessment design, Education for Sustainable Development, Students mental models of mathematical concepts, Fractals, Mathematics resilience

I believe in active learning theories in teaching and learning at higher education. My main focus of attention is on Constructivism of Piaget from individual learner's mind perspective and also Social Constructivism of Vygotsky from learner's interaction with other inside and outside of the classroom. This theoretical stand will allow students to be in charge of their learning and by taking more responsibility on their learning process, recreate the knowledge themselves. Planning and implementing such a learning environment for learners need a new and innovative design of learning from educators, side.

The classroom environment and management need a substantial change to be able to answer learners' demands and also the needs and requirements of 21st century education. I am very passionate about innovative pedagogies like the Flipped classroom to provide such an active and dynamic environment for learners. 

The other thing which I believe needs a major change is the higher education assessment. Contract cheating is one of the biggest challenges for the contemporary higher education institutes' credibility. to tackle this sophisticated type of plagiarism which can hardly be tracked we - educators at HE sector - have no option except creating new and modern methods of assessment. Authentic assessment is of vital importance in resolving this challenge. I am currently developing authentic models of assessment combined with the concept of sustainable assessment & feedback. 

Mojtaba completed his PhD in Mathematics Education at Warwick University. The focus of his PhD thesis was on Modelling recursion and recursive procedures. He designed an animative visualization domain of abstraction (AVDA) in a Logo-based computer environment to study how university level students form, shape and evolve their mental models of recursion. Mojtaba has MSc in Pure mathematics, in which he worked on the uniquely colourable graphs and their properties. He also has a combined BSc & Teaching Qualification in pure mathematics. 

Mojtaba has more than two decades of experience of teaching, lecturing and senior management in higher education internationally. He has taught a wide range of mathematics modules and research methodology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Mojtaba also has an intensive international experience of curriculum design and development. In his previous role, he was leading mathematics and statistics curriculum design and development in a multi-million pound project between the University of Warwick and Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan.