Courses
Fall 2010
Navigating Digital Narratives
Spring 2011
Time-Based Media
Interactive Media for Visual Communications
Digital Foundations
Fall 2011
Interactivity + Art
Techniques in 3D Modeling & Animation
* All courses were taught and designed
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Teaching Philosophy
Teaching lets me contribute to a community that thrives on being at the forefront of groundbreaking experiential technologies in art and design. The intuition and refreshing views of students often motivates me to explore overlooked realms within my own field. This intuitiveness in students is something that I look to foster and use as a basis for a reciprocating relationship – I want to show them how their ideas can decide the topics brought up in class. Creating an environment where I am able to reflect on what my students do with the knowledge and skills that I impart to them is one way I can measure my effectiveness as a teacher throughout the course.
While teaching students the potential that digital media brings to art and design, the class frequently becomes divided. In my experience, there are often those who choose to embrace only technology/craft or only concept/design. Part of my aim is to bridge this divide between concept and technology in order to create a cohesive output by students. I like to teach technological skills bearing in mind the relationship of craft and art. It is important to use them only when needed, explore their limits only when necessary, and show the process only when intended. I think technology can open up an entire new realm of inspiration and conceptual bounds for students to use in their practice.
When I have taught students how to use microcontrollers like the Arduino in conjunction with software environments like Max/MSP, I try to show how beginning with something simple and playful can lead to something of higher conceptual value. The first thing I have students build when creating a hardware interface is a video mixer based on something like hand positions or body temperature. Asking students to “play” by mixing found footage via the body relates the classroom to what student might experience on the weekend when watching a VJ perform on stage. By introducing an established practice, I allow students to try out the standard uses of the hardware and software platforms first. Then I push students to experiment by building upon the established norm to create new experiences. I believe it is important for students of digital media to develop a phenomenological understanding of how people use technology to interact with their environments. Rooting conceptual and technological achievement with a sense of play plants the seed for a motivated and sustaining future practice for the student.
One of my goals as a teacher is to inspire confidence in my students to continue an artistic or design oriented practice on their own. No matter what field students come from or plan to go into I want them to be aware of how digital media can augment their craft. By giving students a foundation in the hardware and software skills that are pertinent today I strive to prepare them for the skills that will be required of them in the future.
In student work I look for an awareness of the history and potential of the craft they use. As I critique student work in class over time I want my voice to become something that students can recall and use to critique their own work. This is something that I am thankful for from the exceptional teachers that I have had in the past. I want to give students the confidence after my class to develop a practice that is mindful of a world of technological innovation. As new technology becomes available it becomes the duty of artists and designers to explore how it can be used to create new experiences. As a digital media researcher, practitioner, and educator I want to help grow communities that continue to push the potential of human experience in accord with technological discovery.