Chris Perumalla, PhD
ACADEMIC STATUS
Departmental Status: Professor Emeritus.
Degrees: B.Sc; M.Sc. M.Sc.; Ph.D. 1986.
Research Interests
- Promoting Educational Development including instructional delivery, design and new innovative programs
- Developing course web pages to promote online and out-of –class learning in large classes
- Designing and testing the efficacy of university programs for high school students
- Developing scholarship in teaching and learning
- Designing new problem-based learning activities and new courses
Latest Awards
National Award by Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)
CIHR Synapse Mentorship Award - Individual Researcher Category, (2014).
This award is given out to emphasize the importance of mentors in developing Canada's next generation of health researchers. The CIHR Synapse Mentorship Awards honor persons who have made exceptional contributions to the promotion of health research among Canadian secondary school students.
University of Toronto (UT) Awards
UT President’s Teaching Award (2013).
This award is given to a faculty member who has shown sustained excellence and leadership in Education. This is the highest honor for teaching at the University of Toronto. With the award comes appointment to the Teaching Academy at the University of Toronto, where individual members of the academy serve as teaching ambassadors, collectively advancing teaching as a valued pillar at the University of Toronto
UT Alumni Association, Joan E. Foley Quality of Student Experience Award, (2010).
This award is given to a student, alumnus/a, administrative staff or faculty member who has made significant contribution to improving the quality of academic or extra-curricular student life on campus. Chris was awarded this honor for his sustained contribution to student life outside the classroom through academic counselling and mentoring.
UT Alumni Association, Northrop Frye Departmental/Divisional Award, (2010).
This award recognizes distinguished achievements in linking teaching and research, and was awarded in recognition of Chris’ visionary and outstanding leadership of the Division of Teaching Laboratories.
Faculty-wide Awards
Sustained Excellence and Innovation in Life Sciences Education (2017)
This award recognizes sustained contributions (at least 15 years of all undergraduate appointments as of December of application year) to any aspect of undergraduate education including Undergraduate student supervision and mentoring, Curriculum development, Regular support of departmental, faculty and university undergraduate activities and undergraduate program administration
W. T. Aikins Faculty Teaching Award – Innovative Instructional Methods in Undergraduate Medical Education (Co-recipient) (2013) Named after the first Dean of Faculty of Medicine, W. T. Aikins Awards are the Faculty's most prestigious awards for sustained commitment to and excellence in undergraduate teaching. The award winners are selected from nominees in a Faculty-wide process that requires support from both faculty and students. Chris was awarded the Aikins in recognition of his innovative instructional methods in undergraduate medical education.
Excellence in Teaching in Life Science Laboratory Courses, (2007)
This award is for sustained excellence in the teaching, coordination and/or development of laboratory based instruction in formal Arts and Science laboratory courses, and was awarded in recognition of Chris’ leadership in revamping PSL 372 (Mammalian Physiology Laboratory) and incorporating innovative technology and surgical skills into PSL 374 (Advanced Physiology Laboratory).
W. T. Aikins Faculty Teaching Award – Individual Teaching Performance (Large Group) (2006)
The W. T. Aikins Awards are the Faculty's most prestigious awards for sustained commitment to and excellence in undergraduate teaching. Chris was awarded this recognition for his outstanding teaching of PSL 302, “Basic Human Physiology” to classes of 1200.
Most Recent Conference Presentations/Invited Lectures
Kee, N., Matthews, S.G., and Perumalla, C. Online courses and social isolation among learners: myth or reality? 2019. To be presented at the International Conference on Education and ELearning (ICEEL) Tel Aviv, Israel. April, 2019
Perumalla, C.J., Khan-Trottier, A. and Jakubowski, A. 2018. A novel summer educational program to prepare high school students to make intelligent career decisions. Presented at the London International Conference on Education (LICE), held at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Perumalla, C.J., Matthews, S.G. and Kee, N. 2018. Do online courses deliver what they promise? A ten-year study. Presented at the World Conference on Education (WCEDU), November 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kee, N., Matthews, S.G. and Perumalla, C. 2018. Comparison of performance and satisfaction between two distinct groups of learners in online course(s). Presented at the 7th International Conference on Knowledge and Education Technology (ICKET). Edinburgh, Scotland. August 2018.
Perumalla, C. and Kee, N. 2017. The impact of a virtual course for online learners in an eLearning environment. Presented at the International Academic Conference on Teaching, Learning and E-learning in Vienna 2017 (IAC-TLEl), Vienna, Austria
Perumalla, C., Jakubowski, A. and Khan-Trottier, A. 2017. A summer program which prepares post-Millennials (Generation Z) to make intelligent career choices. Presented at the Academic Conference in Educational Technology and eLearning (AC-ETeL). Prague, Czeck Republic.
Kee, N. and Perumalla, C. 2017. Online course with global learners. Does it matter when you take the course? Presented at Ireland International Conference on Education (IICE), April 2017 in Dublin, Ireland
Perumalla, C., Kee, N, Andreopoulos, R., and S. Patterson. Impact of eLearning: Looking past the hype. The impact of two Life Sciences courses on global learners. Learning in Higher Education (LiHe), Denmark, May 2016
Nohjin Kee, Jason Hermenegildo, Cathryne Palmer and Chris Perumalla. Comparison of impact of eLearning versus traditional courses in a professional health science program. E-Learn 2015, World Conference on E-Learning
Exposing High School Students to Biomedical Research: A Canadian Case Study. J. Singh, M.Kamleh, J. Mohamed, A. K. Jakubowski & C. J. Perumalla. Presented at World Conference of Educational Sciences (WCES) Conference, Madrid, Spain, Feb 2015