Who I Am
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Being an educator has been one of the most fulfilling and rewarding roles of my life. On the very first day of class, I knew teaching was the profession for me. Being in higher education has been a most rewarding and fulfilling experience. I take great pride in helping shape, prepare and inspire students’ educations and careers in photography. I believe that through teaching, I am helping to mentor students and improve the quality of their future.
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My History
Diversity & Inclusion
Knowledge & Skill Development
Active Learning Through Classroom Engagement Techniques
Effective Course Management
Student Focused
Online Teaching
I teach, I learn.
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As a student, I was fortunate enough to have several professors in both my graduate and undergraduate studies that inspired my professional growth and development. As an adjunct, I have been privileged to receive mentoring and support from my department chairs and peers that has furthered my teaching skill development and guided my teaching philosophy. My teaching philosophy has matured over the years, as I too learn while I teach. I consider exemplary teaching to be a developmental process, one that is malleable, where my pedagogy and teaching methodologies evolve based on reflection through feedback, learning outcomes, technology advancement, current research, and changes in the field. I believe a teaching philosophy should be based on a reciprocal feedback system. I learn, I teach. I teach, I learn. My students change, so should my approach to teaching. Change also occurs when new courses are assigned, or out of a desire or need to develop new content. At the core of my pedagogy are five interrelated principles and values: Diversity & Inclusion, Knowledge & Skill Development, Active Learning Through Classroom Engagement Techniques, Effective Course Management, and is Student Focused.
I believe that we learn best when given an inclusive environment based on respect for others’ differences, and appreciation for unique individual contributions. My student population has been a mix of traditional and non-traditional undergraduate students, majors, certificate-seeking and non-majors, many of whom hope to begin their career in photography or further their education by transferring to a bachelor’s degree program. Some are seeking to develop their photography skills to utilize in other professions, and some are simply interested as a hobby or following their passion. While their goals might be different, they are all looking to obtain the necessary technical and creative skills in photography. The current generation of learners face different challenges than previous ones. With accessible information through technology, there are greater demands on the breadth of knowledge and access to finding it in a timely manner, while trying to manage the distractions that technology can also bring. On top of being students, countless undergraduates are balancing heavy work hours, and some are balancing family life. We are also seeing an increase in students who have learning disabilities and other mental health disorders. While many students have similar goals and demands, they make up a diverse community in terms of culture, race, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. I believe our school must continue to recognize our diverse student body and continue to find ways that allows every student to feel they belong and are given an equal opportunity to strive and meet their education and career goals. In addition to recognizing cultural diversity, I feel it is important to adapt my course delivery methods and curriculum, to better serve our diverse group of learners. I draw upon Vygotsky’s framework by making use of scaffolding, skilled peers and instructor support and observational learning, to accommodate different learning styles and learning disabilities (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). Diversity is a core pedagogical value of mine that embraces inclusion through student engagement by understanding a multitude of perspectives, identifying challenges, and discovering solutions that work effectively for the diverse student body.
It is a fundamental belief of mine that knowledge is more valuable when shared with others. As a dynamic professor, I strive to create an inclusive and interactive educational atmosphere whether on campus or online that will lead to personal satisfaction or profession success within the field of photography. One that is creative, challenging, and promotes technical and aesthetic skill development, strong visual literacy, and communication skills, both verbal and written, personal self-expression, and a well-rounded portfolio. To facilitate students’ attainment of these skills, my presentations and assignments are goal-oriented, and I engage students in participatory and analytical pedagogical practices that coincide with learning objectives. New material is introduced through lecture, further developed through literacy and video activities, and crystallized through practice and photographic projects. Grading criteria allows students the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills they have already developed, while simultaneously working on new ones. Lessons and assignments are also designed to allow the student to analyze images’ strengths and weaknesses. This will help them to learn, grow, and evaluate their own artwork more objectively. I also utilize my own photographic experiences and work to help students learn more about the professional industry and I use the work of the masters to provide opportunities for my students to engage a deeper level of processing and expression, to connect material to real life experiences. This learning experience will also allow students to analyze how photographs have impacted and will continue to impact the development of our society. After a class session or a module completion, I use reflection of discussions, critiques, assignments, and assessments to weigh student’s learning outcomes and skill development against my teaching strategies. I draw heavily on workshops and research to stay current on changes in the field of photography and education.
Learning should be an active process, with the goal of acquiring knowledge and the ability to apply information now and into the future. To create an active learning environment, my teaching style makes use of a variety of creative instructional strategies to increase student engagement. One of the most effective ways I have found to engage students is through riveting class discussion starter questions and creative photography assignments. During lectures, I incorporate student centered learning through audiovisual presentations, interactive demonstrations, and multi-media that illustrates photographic and artistic concepts that have both an entertaining and educational approach. Other teaching techniques I use in my courses are experiential and hands-on based learning whether in the darkroom, using Photoshop, in the studio, on field trips or through live or online demonstrations. To build our program, I seek to point out ways photography skills can assist students in variety of academic disciplines and career fields which sometimes leads those students outside the photography program to consider getting the certificate or even switching majors. I want students to be excited about and see the potential use for photography in both their professional and personal life. I also want students to know, whether they are going into the photography field or not, that what they are learning is practical knowledge and will be of value regardless of their career path. I believe my passion for photography and enthusiasm for learning drives my course delivery so that students want to actively participate and learn, whether face to face or online. I design photo projects and written assignments that require imaginative thinking so that they are challenged and continue to be engrossed with the learning material. To help with student retention I try to foster an enriching creative environment in my courses and recommend other photo courses that will assists students in developing their artistic vision, photographic style, find their passion, and achieve their career goals. It is my strong belief that quality instruction and teaching effectiveness requires active learning, excellent student engagement techniques and successful course management skills.
I feel that at the heart of running an effective and efficient classroom, takes planning, organization, clear communication, and integration of technology. At the course developmental level, I spend a great deal of time organizing and preparing every aspect of the course through detailed lesson plan strategies. Making use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the guidelines ultimate goal is “to develop expert learners who are, each in their own way, resourceful and knowledgeable, strategic and goal-directed, purposeful and motivated” (The UDL Guidelines, n.d.). The organizational flow of the class is outlined in my syllabus, where course objectives, classroom policies and grading criteria are made clear. With each assignment or photo project, I believe it is important to include my rational. I want students to know why I am asking them to do something, and for what purpose it will serve in their learning. I see planning, teaching, and assessment as a mutual process that should reflect the course objectives. Assessments are a necessary means of measuring learning outcomes and gauging students’ abilities. With every photo project or written assignment, I provide objective rubrics to clearly communicate requirements and expectations, so that students can effectively demonstrate their learning. I also provide personalized feedback with my subjective interpretations of their artwork. The use of online technology is an integral component of contemporary society and an important tool for keeping materials organized and communication transparent. I use the Blackboard Management System heavily and efficiently so students always have access to course information, additional resources, and can track their progress. I view effective course management as a continual process of instructional planning, practice, and reflection, revising my courses as new advances in photographic technology and more effective teaching methods and technology come about.
It is important that my students feel that I am approachable and accessible to interact with them both during and outside of class or online through email, messaging, or video calling. I am available to give each individual student learning support when requested and want my students to feel my expressed interest in their academic success. When meeting new students, I draw upon my counseling skills to build an interpersonal student-teacher relationship and utilize the methods off Carl Roger’s person-centered theory (Haertl, 2008). I use strategies of rapport building to get to know each other, build trust and collaboration, have an understanding for each person’s diverse nature and situation, and have unconditional positive regard to reassure students that learning is a process and that mistakes are learning opportunities. I want my students to not only experience me as their teacher, but me as a professional photographer, mentor, and encourager, by creating an environment where we can collaborate to attain our goals as simultaneous educators and learners.
Technology is evolving at a rapid pace becoming an immense part of our everyday lives, and a more important and integral part of education. During the pandemic of 2020-2021, I was able to swiftly convert my on-campus courses to online courses, as well as be a resource and assist other faculty with their transition due to my eight years of online teaching experience. I was also quick to revise my online courses to accommodate the impact of the pandemic on students’ lives. In the 21st century, our students expect technology be incorporated in the learning process, to communicate, inform and inspire. From my educational training and online teaching experience, I understand the theoretical impact and practice of utilizing technology and multimedia to enhance student learning. My online course framework revolves around what I call the “3 E’s”. For online learning success, a course must be developed and designed as an efficient, engaging, and effective online learning environment. My experience through designing an online course from infancy and producing all the multimedia, has taught me the importance of knowing the inner workings of the LMS, current apps, and technology tools to assure a seamless and smooth platform for students to work efficiently. I apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create and build a learning environment that is equitable and inclusive to address the needs of diverse student populations by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression (The UDL Guidelines, n.d.). It is also imperative the content flow within each module and throughout the course and be extremely well organized so students have clarity on the expectations and course requirements. In a virtual classroom, students are required to be more independent thinkers and learners, than in a traditional on-campus course. To keep students engaged and on-task, I assist students by having continuous communication through announcement reminders, an organized and visual schedule, and timely responsiveness to student questions via email. It’s also important that the course content be presented in a way that will keep students engaged in learning the material. While the use of multimedia tools can help engross students, for information to be processed on a deeper cognitive level and be effective, I have learned that multimedia must follow best practices by incorporating the principles of coherence, contiguity, modality, redundancy, personalization, and the basic elements of visual design. The more effective the information is presented, the greater the retention and application of information. I believe when an online course is efficient, engaging, and effective, online learning can be equally successful as traditionally delivered course experiences, while allowing the flexibility that our current student learners require to balance their work, family, and educational lives, and to help them meet their professional career goals.
My own photography creation, education and many years of teaching has helped shape and form my pedagogical views and methodologies. It is through these five interrelated principles and values, that best explains my current and ever evolving teaching philosophy. More importantly, it is the students themselves that have shaped and inspired my teaching philosophy. I teach, I learn. I learn, I teach.
Haertl, K. (2008). From the Roots of Psychosocial Practice-Therapeutic Use of Self in the Classroom: Practical Applications for Occupational Therapy Faculty. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 24(2), 121-134. doi:10.1080/01642120802055168
Johnson, D., Johnson, R., & Smith, K. (1998). Cooperative Learning Returns to College. What Evidence is There that it Works? Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 30(4), 26-35. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091389809602629?journalCode=vchn20. The UDL Guidelines. (n.d.). (CAST) Retrieved May 2021, from UDL Guidelines: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/?utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=none&utm_source=cast-about-udl |