teaching and learning
Teaching to me is a way of learning. My teaching at CCA's IxD department is a way to expose myself to contemporary best practices for UX and IxD; a supplement to my volunteering at IxDA SF events and a context to the front end web development classes I take at a local hacker space.
I’ve been teaching intermittently since 1999, mainly at private art and design colleges in the Bay Area. I see students as developing colleagues, who will soon reach a level of independent creativity.
I ask students to show generosity toward each other, and to adopt an open-source approach to their work while in school. List servs, open blogs, wikis and shared documents are also teach students to employ available technologies in their own practice at the conception stage.
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Interactive Color Seminar: SFAI Fall 2004
The goals of this class were to enhance students’ literacy of color theory and technique, to develop their understanding of how both scientists and artists actively explore color, and to facilitate experimentation with color in students’ own work. Some time was also devoted to technical demonstrations of methods and equipment such as lighting, optics, and simple electrical devices.
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Closing The Gap: SFAI Fall 2012
I created a course on user experience principles useful for fine arts undergraduates. I used a tumblr blog to create a digital classroom that was also the class collaborative project. Each lecture was posted online as an agenda, with links to blog content. This made the blog a dynamic text and invited the class to contribute to their own teaching material.
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First Light: CCA IxD Spring 2013
First Light was a review exhibition I organized for junior IxD students. The tumblr blog was used as the students' exhibition catalog. The blog format works well for teaching as the collaborative format allows the project to form and document itself through its participants' contributions.
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First Light: CCA IxD Spring 2013
The First Light IxD students mounted an ambitious exhibition with several interactive artifacts. Guest reviewers and faculty were guided through the work by students, whose task it was to portray their developing design point-of-view.
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Trajectory: CCA IxD Spring 2013
Trajectory was a review exhibition I organized for CCA's sophomore IxD students. I used this tumblr blog to organize the 14 students' work into a cohesive format without robbing students of authorship. The 3D rendering of the gallery allowed students to visualize the exhibition while still focusing on their own work.
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Trajectory: CCA IxD Spring 2013
Even as sophomores the CCA IxD students turn out sophisticated work. Working with them was a stimulating exercise in storytelling: presenting their multi-faceted work and themselves as budding professionals and design unicorns.
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IxDA SF
IxDA SF has provided me with an opportunity to develop myself professionally with series of workshops and public talks. I take active part as a volunteer and speaker.
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a thank-you note to my students
Learning is better when it is life-long. I find teaching and learning to be essential to my professional life.