Teaching

My research and work in the creative media industry as a video producer and digital designer influence my teaching. My teaching, whether it is for a large introductory course or for a study abroad course with 15 students, helps students learn to be knowers and doers. Knowers and doers go into the media industry and change cultures, tell amazing stories, and lead teams well. So, the question that drives my teaching is: How can I take any student, regardless of the course, and help them know what to communicate and how to effectively communicate it?

I have taught across three content areas within the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University: the media and communication track—referred to as the common core or knowledge courses, the electronic media/creative media industries track—which places a heavy emphasis on making and creating media, and within our graduate program. These courses have ranged from several hundred students in Introduction to Digital and Social Media, to taking 15 students into the wilderness of west Texas and southern New Mexico in Adventure Media. I have taught in the class room, in the research lab, in the production lab, on the top of the London Eye, and in the middle of Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Specifically, my undergraduate teaching focuses on training students to effectively tell stories and examine the meaning of these stories for both the individual and the society. My undergraduate Introduction to Digital and Social Media course invites students to think about the role that we allow media to play in our lives, both individually and collectively. These students are asked to think more than they are asked to remember facts. In my advanced courses, such as Principles of Digital Media, Multimedia Development, and Foundations of Post Production, students are taught how to apply their knowledge to the craft of making creative and innovative media. These skills are then applied in courses such as Adventure Media or Story Telling via Smart Phones by taking students out of the classroom and into real-world situations with actual clients who need the students to create media that appropriately tells the story of their brand, product, or lifestyle. In addition, I teach courses related to the general practice of communication science for graduate students as well as courses that allow the students the opportunity to take their knowledge and apply it to the creation of media across a variety of contexts.

While the method of information distribution might change from course to course, my pedagogical approach and teaching objectives do not. One way that I attempt to help students become knowers and doers is by setting aside time in each course for something other than lecturing. In my photography courses, I take the students out of the classroom and go find interesting visuals on campus to photograph. In my digital media courses, we spend time doing “highs and lows”, where we compare effective designs to ineffective ones and discuss the theoretical explanations for effective design. In my graduate courses, we spend time discussing research and theory not as abstract concepts, but in how they apply to real world problems that are pulled from that day’s headlines. These exercises allow the students to feed off each other’s enthusiasm and excitement and open time within each class session to talk about the connections between knowing theory and creating media. I received the Professing Excellence in Teaching award in 2015 and the L.U. Kaiser Innovation in Teaching Award in 2018 for my innovative teaching efforts.

Courses Previously Taught

Undergraduate

Introduction to Digital and Social Media: Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2019

Introduction to Media Production and Composition: Fall 2018

Foundations of Digital Post-Production: Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2018

Principles of Photography: Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Fall 2016

Principles of Digital Media: Summer 1 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015

Multimedia Development (now called Motion Graphics): Spring 2014, Spring 2015

Special Topics in Media & Communication (Story Telling via Smart Phones; Study Abroad, London, UK): Maymester 2016, Maymester 2017

Special Topics in Media & Communication (Adventure Media, Editorial Photography and Bike-packing): Spring 2017, Spring 2018

Graduate

Digital Media Production: Fall 2015, Summer II 2016, Spring 2018

Research Methods: Fall 2014

Mass Communication Theory: Spring 2018

Digital Media: Summer II 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017

Psychophysiological Measurement and Meaning: Summer III 2015, Spring 2019