Having an impact — it’s at the core of what motivates Soroush Sabbaghan to teach

For Dr. Soroush Sabbaghan, PhD'15, the privilege of witnessing a student’s "a-ha moment"—the few seconds when everything clicks— is the moment he knows that his teaching has made an impact on a student’s life. 

“Experiencing that moment; it’s why I go to class. It’s very motivating for me,” says Sabbaghan, an associate professor in the Werklund School of Education.

“Early on in my career, I just wanted to have an impact on one student. After teaching thousands over the years, I hope that in my own way, I’ve helped contribute to a better future.”

Sabbaghan is the 2024 recipient of the University of Calgary Teaching Award for Experiential Learning Initiatives. The award recognizes an educator who has integrated meaningful experiential learning opportunities into two or more of their courses.  

In his teaching, Sabbaghan helps students across disciplines to bridge the gap between theory and practice, developing micro-projects where learners can engage with real-world challenges using simulations and apply their knowledge in authentic and inclusive ways. 

“One of the barriers that our graduate students faced was that they did not have the opportunity to enhance their interviewing skills. Recruiting human participants would require a lengthy ethics approval process, this meant that our program lacked that human interaction component. When artificial intelligence came around, we realized that we could overcome this barrier by creating personas that people could interview instead.” 

“We now have the opportunity for our students to think iteratively, reflect, and constantly improve. We didn’t have this before and it’s a major shift in experiential learning that we now provide to our students. 

For Sabbaghan, his choice of classroom lessons and material all centre around making a lasting and broad impact. To him, this is the philosophy of education. 

“If we can create a future where everyone has the opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are, that’s a better future in education.