Know Your Profs is an ongoing series of articles helping you get to know the instructors at Camosun College a bit better. Got someone you want to see interviewed? Email editor@nexusnewspaper.com and we’ll get on it. This time around we caught up with economics instructor Bijan Ahmadi and talked about robot teachers, cell phones, and taco night.
1: What do you teach and how long have you been a teacher at Camosun?
I teach in the economics department. Micro and Macro, mostly. This September I will have been here a year.
2: What do you personally get out of teaching?
I like to watch the students applying what they have learned to the real world. That’s when they start thinking like economists.
3: What’s the one thing that you wish your students knew about you?
I see patterns in everything, kind of like that Numb3rs guy. But I’m not such a dorkÉ or maybe I’m more of one.
4: What’s one thing you wish they didn’t know about you?
I might seem cold and calculated, but I’m actually a big softie at heart.
5: What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you as a teacher here?
I had a student change their schedule so they could take my class the next term.
6: What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you as a teacher here?
I recently read a scathing review on ratemyprofessors.com and it really hit me hard.
7: What do you see in the future of postsecondary education?
Robot teachers. Well, hopefully not, but I definitely see the virtual classroom idea opening up.
8: What do you do to relax on the weekends?
I pack in as much fun and excitement as my kids can handle. There’s lots of running around and screaming.
9: What is your favourite meal?
Innovation is the cornerstone to gastronomy, but I do love build-your-own taco night at our house.
10: What’s your biggest pet peeve?
The intrusion of cell phones into the classroom, and our lives in general, has led to a real socialĘdisconnect. I’m all for digital learning, but it still irks me to watch a student staring blankly at their phone the whole class.