At QUT in 2020, I was nominated for the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence; for demonstrating teaching and research excellence. I also won the Teaching Innovation and Excellence Superstars Award in Creative Industries Faculty. In 2021/22, I received QUT’s deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president (Education) congrats and recognition for the high response rate and level of student engagement I achieved in the Student Voice Survey.
Through the years, I received very kind feedback from students on my teaching. In 2022, almost half of my class participated in the voice survey, and 100% responded Strongly Agreed to the question, “Overall, Dr Leo Rezayan’s approach to teaching supported my learning.” Some of the qualitative comments from recent years are as below:
“I received a low 4 in the first assignment and was feeling rather down about the unit. Leo’s enthusiasm, knowledge and charisma have turned that around, and I have really been enjoying the second half of the semester.”
“Leo and [name deleted] are an amazing teaching team! I had a lot of fun and felt I was very supported throughout my class. I wish all my tutors were as clear, relatable and friendly as they are. It goes a long way when tutors are approachable.”
“Thank you Leo and [name deleted] for the semester. I felt that the unit was taught really well, even throughout Covid-19. I felt the in-person tutorials to be very engaging.”
“Very impressed by the level of passion and interest shown by the tutors, as it definitely influenced the students’ engagement with both the unit and our peers. It was a very enjoyable unit to take part in, and I believe I got a lot out of it.”
“Dear Leo, thank you for your dedication to the positive learning outcomes of your students during this unit. I found this unit to be very engaging; I have learnt valuable skills and have been exposed to relevant tools, which I believe will directly help my future career. I very much enjoyed your style of teaching; you and [name deleted] make a good team. I liked the relaxed environment of the studio sessions, and I really appreciate your efforts to encourage us to mingle and collaborate with the other students. Ultimately it is very helpful and socially makes for a much more enjoyable time at university.”
“Felt genuine passion and enthusiasm for the unit and the student’s learnings!”
“You were approachable and seemingly knew the right things to say to get ideas moving from a standstill. You were supportive when necessary and critical when required. This helped create an awesome experience.”
“Very knowledgeable lecturer; he was extremely helpful in giving feedback as well as weekly teaching materials. I love the fact that he is very open-minded, polite and positive about what he and his students are doing; finding him to talk about concerns isn’t something to worry about. Additionally, I honestly learnt a lot of new views and perspectives on augmented interaction after listening to him share information and experiences in class. Now I can’t forget this class for being one of the best top units I have taken in QUT.”
“One of my favourite teachers in a long time always provided support and constructive feedback throughout the semester. Loved his optimistic outlook; very rarely do I see that kind of positive mindset at uni nowadays.”
“Leo is a fantastic tutor. He is engaging with his design teachings and beliefs and prompts you to always do better. I have enjoyed having him as my tutor.”
“Leo provided constructive feedback and made such an effort to keep the studios engaging”
“Leo is so relatable and makes the unit so fun you naturally want to do the work and don’t feel like it’s a chore. He is very knowledgeable and passionate about the industry, and it comes through.”
“Highly engaging and a pillar of support throughout the unit. Managed to bring guidance and seek constant feedback, which demonstrates a great commitment to teaching these subjects.”
“Very helpful in terms of providing feedback and options for improvement. Very constructive in terms of what worked and what didn’t within project elements.”
“Really valued the support provided during the semester. You provided my group and I with a lot of assistance in refining our ideas and producing a proposal that we were proud of. I valued the ‘devil’s advocate perspective, in which you challenged our ideas to see if we were confident in them - at times, we didn’t know whether our ideas were good, but it motivated us to keep refining them until we knew everything about our idea.”
“Always an amazing experience and fun unit when you’re the unit coordinator Leo. Thanks for the effort you’ve put in this semester.”
“Was incredibly supportive and engaging in class.”
“You are a lovely tutor, and I’ve enjoyed every unit you’ve taught. You select interesting topics for us to study, and you always make the content interesting and promote discussion. Thank you for all the learning opportunities you’ve given me :)”
“I appreciated how you spoke about/announced different opportunities in the real world throughout the class and on the blackboard. I joined the Reality labs club, and it’s been great to get involved. I also appreciate how you had both videos and readings each week, it definitely helped me connect with the content even when I didn’t have a lot of time.”
“When Leo came into our tutorial, he provided our group with helpful feedback for our final project, which was greatly appreciated”
“Leo is great lecturer with a lot of passion. He gives quality useful constructive feedback and makes himself very available in and out of class time to answer questions or emails quickly.”
“Leo was the students advocate and support. He was easy to talk to and knew when to help you stabilise your idea and when to challenge you on it. Leo sees great potential in all of his students and helps them to see this potential in themselves. With his wealth of knowledge and clear technical ability he is also able to provide invaluable support and feedback.”
“Leo’s feedback and teaching methods were informative and consistent”
“I really love how Leo teaches. He’s very down-to-earth and approachable and presents topics in a way that’s easy for everyone to understand. If I didn’t understand something, I felt comfortable asking, and Leo made it clear that it was okay and actually encouraged us to ask questions. Leo also asks the class questions and makes it more of a discussion rather than him just talking at us for an hour. I really like this open-air discussion style; I feel a lot more engaged with the content when others are participating and involved in a conversation.”
“The contents you provided and the passion you have shown in class is really inspiring and engaging. This is my second unit with you, and your enthusiasm has not changed, so I’m lucky to have this unit with you.”
“Leo’s broad understanding of abstract design and innovative thinking and capacity for drawing out specific teaching concepts in a comprehendible way is greatly helpful for understanding this unit. He intentionally strives to encourage and support his students and gives specific directional advice to benefit their learning experience.”
“I will always love Leo! thank you Leo for the last 3 semesters!”
“I found Dr Leo Rezayan’s insights and feedback very beneficial, however I would have liked to see more of Dr Rezayan at tutorials, even if just briefly.”
“I appreciate the way you deliver content. The integration of youtube videos are always really snappy and engaging. I can see how much you care about your units.”
“Dr Rezayan has done a great job in creating the lecture content - they have been very informative and engaging. Thank you Leo! One suggestion is that it would be amazing if more interactive sessions could be introduced, for example, a short weekly drop-in session, to address some questions or issues in the IxD world in real-time with the lecturer. Otherwise, thank you for a great semester!”
“He has helped with allowing us to understand concepts and helping students individually during both assessments.”