Roberta Silerova

Roberta completed a BSc in Chemistry at McGill in 1986, then went to the University of Toronto for an MSc (1988), and then came back to McGill for a PhD (1992). She worked as a post doctoral fellow in Mainz, Germany, at the Max-PlanckInstitute for Polymer Research. Roberta’s pedagogic, academic, curricular, and institutional commitments at John Abbott College are extensive and wideranging; new course design and implementation, classroom management, program coordinator, active learning advocate, High School Outreach representative, board of governors representative, Honours Science coordinator & Science Program coordinator, amongst other initiatives.

The principal focus of her pedagogical approach is to integrate classroom “learning” with the “real research” world, and as such had advocated for a new Capstone Independent Research course that would be cross-disciplinary and multi-faceted. She leads this Science Option course, exposing students to various research opportunities within industry and academia. Roberta’s involvement and dedication to pedagogical innovation is most visible in her classroom.

Roberta uses an active engagement and/or student-centered pedagogical model to foster deep learning and understanding. She engages personal response devices, or clickers, with Mazur’s peer interaction technique to test conceptual understanding, and provide immediate feedback to both students and herself on their level of comprehension. Roberta has also embarked on the creation of video lectures to complement material covered in class; so greatly appreciated by her students!