Zahia Marzouk

Department Chair

Dr. Zahia Marzouk’s career in teaching, learning, and instructional design spans more than twenty years. She holds an MA in TEFL from the American University in Cairo and an MA and PhD in Educational Psychology from Simon Fraser University. As a postdoctoral fellow in the Educational Psychology Lab at SFU, she contributed to the design and study of an online learning environment developed to support and scaffold individualized learning.
Dr. Marzouk’s research focuses on self-regulated learning, motivation, and the cognitive and metacognitive processes that shape how students learn. A central question running through her work is how we can design learning environments that help students become more thoughtful, strategic, and active participants in their own learning.
More recently, her research has turned to generative AI and what happens when students begin sharing their cognitive work with tools such as ChatGPT. She is particularly interested in what students choose to think through themselves, what they delegate to AI, and how AI can be designed and used to support learning without replacing the cognitive and metacognitive processes that are essential for learning.
Dr. Marzouk currently leads an SSHRC-funded research project with collaborators from Simon Fraser University, George Mason University, and Monash University examining the relationship between motivation and learning as it unfolds in real time. Using surveys, digital traces of students’ learning activities, and chatbot coaching, the team studies how motivation, cognition, and metacognition interact before, during, and after learning. This work will contribute to the development of AI-based supports that can recognize and respond to students’ learning and motivational needs in the moment.
Curiosity is at the heart of Dr. Marzouk’s approach to research, teaching, and life. She loves asking questions, especially questions that lead to more questions. In her classroom, she encourages students to wonder, challenge assumptions, and think with her rather than simply look for the “right” answer. Some of her favourite teaching moments happen when a student asks a question that makes her reconsider something she thought she understood.
That same curiosity shapes many of the things she enjoys. She loves classical novels that transport her to another place and time, thoughtful conversations, and spending time surrounded by nature. She enjoys forest bathing and is not above hugging a tree. Her perfect day includes good coffee, a captivating book, a long walk among the trees, an interesting conversation, and enough quiet time to wonder about the next question she wants to explore.