CAP Medal Press Release - 2022 Teaching

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2022 CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics is awarded to James Charbonneau, University of British Columbia, in recognition of his teaching excellence and educational leadership at the University of British Columbia, including contributions to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and development of open-source educational software. announcement

Prof. Charbonneau is an extraordinarily gifted, engaging, and award-winning instructor who is deeply appreciated by students. He developed a distance-learning course on Climate and Energy, and transformed several courses to use active learning techniques. He pioneered a fully transitioned online physics course, with labs, in the summer of 2020, and used his experience to help the department and Faculty of Science have a successful online academic year.

Prof. Charbonneau's development of the fully online Climate and Energy course established him as one of UBC's premier experts on online teaching. This course spurred James to co-develop the open-source ComPAIR software, which allows students to compare and rank assignments submitted by their peers, developing their critical-thinking skills. This software is used in many UBC courses and at other institutions nationally.

Prof. Charbonneau transformed the interdisciplinary first-year Science One physics component to use active learning techniques, added a Python-based programming bootcamp, and developed problems designed to tackle the historical lack of inclusivity in physics assignments. In this pandemic year, he introduced Arduino kits to Science One to provide an effective replacement for in-person laboratories.

When all courses moved online in March 2020, James used his extensive experience to help physics colleagues and the entire Faculty of Science implement good online teaching techniques and to develop the Faculty's teaching plans and policies for the 2020/1 academic year. His summer first-year physics course, complete with hands-on and simulation-based remote labs, provided a template for 2020/1 teaching in the Faculty of Science. His adapted labs were presented to the BC Curriculum Committee as a model for what other BC institutions could do for online labs. His deep engagement and excellent advice were vitally important to UBC Science's successful year of online teaching. nominator citation

ABOUT the Medal

The CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching honours faculty members who have a comprehensive knowledge and deep understanding of their subject and who possess the ability to communicate their knowledge and understanding in such a way as to lead their students to high academic achievement in physics. This medal was introduced in 1996.

A series of virtual plenary medal talks will be organized to honour the 2022 medal recipients. The talk schedule will be posted on the CAP's website and notification of each talk will be issued once arranged. The medal will be forwarded to James Charbonneau with the congratulations of the community. medal description

ABOUT the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate, Institutional, and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP, through its charitable arm - the CAP Foundation, also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics. cap description

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For more information, please contact:

Mrs. Francine Ford, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: 343-361-3326
E-mail: execdir@cap.ca
www.cap.ca

The 2022 CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics

James Charbonneau