Teaching Statement

My approach to teaching is aimed at empowering students through the creation of student-centered learning communities. These communities are strengthened through development in three major areas: the creation of unique content, an understanding of the design process, and informed critique. Knowledge of subject and self are attained through directed learning and self-development. These tenets are supported and enforced through selected readings, in-class instruction, discussion, out-of-class assignments, and projects.

The creation of unique content is at the heart of any production course I teach. Students should complete the semester with at least one complete, polished, and portfolio-ready work of art they are pleased to put their name to. Students should be able to tailor class assignments to reflect their own interests and fit to their unique vision as an artist. I am a firm believer that assigned projects should gauge a student’s ability to think creatively rather than test their mastery of the technology. Class assignments, readings, and discussions should expose students to the potentials of the medium by introducing them to various artists, theories, and practices that can inform their own work.

I believe in cultivating thorough and informed work through a four-mode design process. Those four modes are:

Conception – A truly wonderful, provocative, and well thought-out concept is crucial to a project’s success. The ideation phase starts by asking a question, that question is then fleshed out and examined closer.

Designing – The design phase addresses the aesthetic choices that must be made. This mode considers form, color, object orientation and audience as well as navigation, narrative, and user experience. Students’ aesthetic choices will be shaped by their own creativity, in-class readings, discussions, and presentations by their peers.

Implementation – The implementing mode is the placement of all assets. All elements detailed in the conception and design modes are situated into the environment. Understand that this mode requires the most technical prowess. Students should rely on their established learning community, drawing on the skill-sets of their peers to work through issues.

Operating – Does it work? Is the user able to interact with the piece? What elements of the finished product relay your concept effectively and what do not? The operating mode allows for bug fixes and changes to the implementation. While you may fully understand the intent of the final product, one must always consider the viewer’s perception.

I believe that an understanding of the process described above allows students to take a good idea and transform it into a strong, well-though-out, finished product.

To ensure the creation of a student-centered learning community, the critique process must function as a democratic discourse. The back-and-forth of an instructor asking a question, the student responding, and the instructor judging the response, causes students to fish for a right answer rather than discuss their work intelligently. For critique to work effectively, the entire class, including the professor, must be on equal ground. This can be crafted as easily as situating the classroom so that everyone sits in a circle, or the instructor comes from behind his or her desk and sits with the students. I believe that fostering an environment where students can speak about their work comfortably can lead to more effective critiques.

Students’ ability to speak intelligently about their work and the work of their peers is a key element in the creation of student-centered learning communities. Assigned readings and class discussions help cultivate the necessary vocabulary to defend their own work and provide constructive criticism for their peers. As each class is unique, it is important to allow the dynamics of class discussions and critiques to form organically while promoting the creation of thoroughly developed unique content.