Classroom & Courses

Courses Taught

Below is a list of the main courses I taught at several different colleges and universities:

Professor Introduction

The online platform for learning can sometimes make students seem distant from their professors and their classmates. In order to help close this gap, I provide my students with a detailed biography of my educational background and work experience. To personalize my bio, I also include a “video introduction” at the start of each term. Students are able to put a “face to a name” and learn a little bit more about me, my teaching style, and what is expected of them during the term.

Teaching Approach

The online platform for learning can be challenging for students. In attempts to combat the challenges, I take the three following things into consideration: strong communication with students, maintaining a positive learning environment and a sense of flexibility with students during the learning process.

Course Home Announcements

At the start of each term, students are greeted with a variety of announcements within the Course Home section.  The topics vary throughout these announcements although they are all intended to help the students succeed throughout the course.  The topics which are covered in the Course Home section are:

Initial Post in Discussion Thread

The Discussion Thread is a section of the classroom where students can upload their assignments and comment on their classmates’ work. At the start of each Discussion Thread, I include an initial post that contains tips that may relate to the assignment or task.  The additional information or tips may be posted directly into the “initial post” or it may be available to students as a downloadable PDF.  This same initial post may also gently remind students to post their work directly into the discussion thread.

Detailed Instructions

Each assignment is listed clearly within the online classroom, although the directions for these assignments can sometimes seem confusing to students, particularly in a learning environment where the students cannot speak to the instructors face to face.  In order to help students better understand what the assignment is asking for and more importantly, what I as their professor am looking for, I provide students with additional help noted in green within the body of the assignment.

Resource Section

In many online classrooms, there is a section dedicated to uploading helpful resource materials for the students. Within the Brightspace platform at The Art Institutes, this section was called the “Learner” section of the classroom. Within this area of the class, students could access the faculty bio, the textbook(s), a link to the Questions for the Professor section, and Ai Help. I also use this section to upload vital documents that may need to “stand out” in the classroom. Below is a screenshot from PH450: Time Based Media II:

Questions for the Professor

Within my online classroom, I always try to provide additional information and resources - outside of the classroom yet still relevant to the course material - to my students.  The weekly modules and readings are rich with information although I also find it helpful to students if s/he is learning from outside sources.  Within my personal blog titled, The First Years Focus and Fire – I provide students with a variety of different posts covering topics related to several classes. Below is a video to show a few of the different posts within the blog.

To access the “Question for the Professor” section of the First Years Focus & Fire blog, please click “here”.  You can use the “search bar” on your internet browser to search for topics related to contact sheets, handheld light meters, lighting schemes, the Sekonic L308s, paper backdrops, depth of field, focal length, composition – and much more!

Inspirational Photographers

For all of my classes, I start each week off with introducing my students to a new historic or contemporary photographer.  Depending on the weekly module, I will choose a photographer whose work is relevant to what the students are studying. For example: during Week 2 of “PHOA113: Lighting” at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division, students learn the difference between hard light and soft light.  Shelby Lee Adams is a great contemporary photographer for students to study during this week because he uses mainly hard light within his environmental portraits.