Peer Reflective Studio 4: Applying for a SoTL Grant
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a growing discipline, A goal to intrude SOTL within AKU is to assist faculty to become reflective practitioners and scholarly teachers to discover new knowledge in pedagogy and reflection about their teaching practices. It is a perfect combination of teaching and research with a focus on improving student engagement and introducing best practices in student learning. In this ‘Peer reflective Studio,’ Dr Almina Pardhan and Ms. Zohra Kurji will share amazing opportunities that the SOTL Grants have provided them to innovate in their classroom practice to advance teaching as a profession in health and education.
Session Chair
Naghma Rizvi
Session Facilitators
Almina Pardhan
Almina Pardhan is Assistant Professor and Lead Early Childhood Education and Development Programmes at the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development, Pakistan. Her doctorate, from the University of Toronto, Canada, explored gender issues in early childhood education in Pakistan. Her teaching and research interests are in early child development, early childhood education, teacher and health professional education, and parenting, with a focus on literacy, gender issues, parent-child interactions, early learning environments, child assessment, and research methods. Her teaching experience and interest are through face-to-face, online, and blended learning modes. She has led research and development projects in Pakistan and globally in early childhood education, early child development, teacher and health professional education, and parenting, including designing and implementing integrated, contextually relevant, community-based early years programmes. She believes in linking sectors for innovative solutions for optimal early child development and collaborates with health professionals in research and teaching on early child development.
Zohra Kurji
Ms. Zohra Kurji currently serving as an Assistant Professor at the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan. she is also an IBCLC certified Lactation Consultant in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the AKUSONAM. She has carried out and published extensive qualitative research on childbirth, breastfeeding, nursing, and blended learning along with simulation-based education. In addition, Ms. Kurji is the first nurse to get clinical privileges to start AKUH’s first nurse-led lactation clinic in Pakistan and has spearheaded the development of the first IBCLC training program in the country. As a core member of the AKUSONAM faculty, She also has extensive experience in teaching and training other faculty members and has contributed to the development of the nursing curriculum with the Pakistan Nursing Council. Her teaching initiatives were supported through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning grant which is a significant competitive process. Currently, She is the recipient of two SOTL grants worth USD 4000 (2018) and USD 3380 (2021). Presently, she is the first South Asian nurse in Pakistan to receive an Advance Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator Certification, which is an award given by The Society of Healthcare Simulation, USA. She is also a member of the international committee of the International Nursing Association Clinical Simulation and Learning. As a leading simulation in the nursing curriculum, she developed the first regional interest group to implement and advocate the standards for best practice in simulation-based learning under the umbrella of INACSL. She also received awards in the recognition of my contribution as the best faculty in teaching theory (2012) and 2 more wards of the best classroom teacher as well as best clinical practice in 2017. At the 2020 convocation, Ms. Kurji again received two awards; one was exemplary clinical teaching and the other was a collaborative teaching award.
