About Us

As educators of foundational sciences, we strive to improve student learning experiences in the classroom by incorporating innovations and technologies. Over the time we have developed a number of educational tools and incorporated existing technologies in new ways to redefine classroom teaching. We have developed the ‘Beyond the Chalk Talk’ platform to share these teaching tools and technologies with other educators, so others can benefit from our experience and endeavors.

Dr. Ava K. Chow

Dr. Ava K. Chow

Dr. Ava K. Chow is an Associate Professor and Discipline Lead for the Foundational Sciences at the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry, University of Alberta. She completed her B. Sc (Physiology and Psychology double major) at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec before her M.Sc (Cellular and molecular medicine- Physiology) at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Chow completed her Dental Hygiene Diploma at the University of Alberta, prior to beginning her Ph.D (Medical sciences- Paediatrics). During her Ph.D training, Dr. Chow remained active with the Dental Hygiene Program, teaching Oral Biology courses. She later completed her Master of Education in Health Sciences Education. Her primary research focus is now around educational technologies, gamification and the student experience.

Nazlee Sharmin

Dr. Nazlee Sharmin​

Dr. Nazlee Sharmin is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry, University of Alberta. She completed her PhD in Physiology, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of Alberta and later completed a Master of Education in Health Sciences Education at the same university. She is currently involved in teaching foundational science in the Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) and Dental Hygiene (DH) programs. Besides teaching, Dr. Sharmin is actively engaged in research focusing on developing and evaluating educational technologies, gamification, online education, bioinformatics, protein modeling, and genomic data analysis.

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