Annalisa Scacchioli Receives Prestigious National 2024 ASEE Teaching Award
Annalisa Scacchioli, an associate teaching professor in the School of Engineering Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), received the prestigious 2024 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Jeffrey Ray Memorial Award in June 2024.
Previously known as the National Engineering Technology Teaching Award, it recognizes Scacchioli’s “distinguished accomplishments (and) individual achievement in innovative teaching in engineering technology and/or applied engineering education.”
“I am deeply honored by this award that recognizes my efforts to advance engineering education at Rutgers,” says Scacchioli. “I’m proud to support our mission of student success while making a societal impact by preparing the next generation of engineers.”
“My teaching has always been driven by my deep desire to connect and help others to grow,” she adds. “I hold my students in the highest regard, and it’s this connection that fuels my passion for teaching.”
A Recipe for Student Success
Fostering student success is Scacchioli’s primary goal. “To achieve this, I focus on addressing technological, academic, and societal needs, while continuously innovating my teaching practices,” she reports.
Scacchioli combines active learning pedagogy with instructional technologies to make her large-enrollment courses inclusive, supportive, and accessible to all students, while ensuring they meet learning outcomes.”
As an innovator, she has led the implementation of a digital assessment platform, which provides consistent and immediate feedback while mitigating unconscious bias when grading. Additionally, she applies research-informed personalized learning strategies and technological tools to improve course accessibility, schedule clarity, and to offer some flexibility in assignments to support all students, including those with diverse learning needs.
Scacchioli also uses several types of polling devices in class to enhance learning by enabling students to self-assess their progress. She reports that “by incorporating conceptual questions in polling platforms during lectures and connecting students through group work activities, I support student engagement and real-time interaction.”
According to Scacchioli, furthering student success in class requires ingredients such as building a collaborative learning environment, incorporating peer-learning assistants to facilitate the learning process, and using examples from cutting-edge research projects to ignite students’ curiosity and imagination.
The ASEE Jeffrey Ray Memorial Award has strengthened Scacchioli’s dedication “to continue innovating in my teaching, with a reinvigorated goal of making an even greater impact on student success – as well as inspiring fellow educators to advance teaching innovation.”
