I strive to lead learning in a way that embraces new pedagogical
techniques, particularly through the integration of technology in the
classroom. In addition to some experience teaching, as seen on my vita,
I have also sought the mentorship of Daniel
Krier and Stephen B.
Gilbert in informing my teaching as well as formal training
through classes to acquire new active learning strategies. When
possible, I work to integrate my research interests with my teaching,
creating both a graduate level HCI course and an honors seminar to
explore topics of intellectual interest to me that integrate ideas from
HCI and sociology.
The teaching style I strive to achieve is one that reduces the power
distance between myself and the students, recognizing that every
student has a unique view that can contribute to the class's overall
understanding of topics. In order to accomplish this, I try to get to
know my students on an individual level (when possible) and taking an
informal tone and mannerism in the classroom. In large lectures where
it can be difficult to get to know each individual, I strive for
individual accountability by randomly calling on students from the
roster as well as having students participate in learning pairs within
the classroom.
A
clip of me developing rapport with the class during my first time
leading a class.
I have had a diverse range of teaching experience from one-on-one
tutoring of basic computer programming concepts to leading learning
within a large lecture of around three hundred students. Additionally,
I have taught courses with off-campus students who attend
simultaneously as on-campus students and distance education courses
where the off-campus students do not connect live. Further, I seek to
simultaneously give students a practical, applied grounding to topics
while simultaneously encouraging them to challenge their assumptions
and seek deeper understanding. This last point is illustrated by an
e-mail I received from an off-campus student while teaching HCI 596:
Emerging Practices in HCI (a course I created):
I took this class to
understand how to
determine user requirements,
usability requirements, etc. These lectures are blowing me away. The
Phenomenology of Dourish, etc. Is HCI about improving designs (for
"human's sake")? My entire way of thinking and everything I have been
taught is being challenged in this one class...are you getting this
from any of your other students that have an engineering background?
The syllabus and archive of all course materials from the first course
I developed, under the supervision of Stephen B. Gilbert, can be found
on the HCI
596: Emerging Practices of HCI course website.
Course Evaluations
While
the HCI program does not have official course evaluations, I created
anonymous assessments through SurveyMonkey and asked students to
fill them out. The evaluations below are in PDF format.