Case Jam: Facebook in the Classroom
I’m really excited and fortunate to be involved in a whole lot of stuff at Algonquin College these days. In addition to teaching part time in the Interactive Multimedia Developer program, I’m also teaching online courses in Digital Communication and Social Media in Business, and Jester Creative is working with the college to produce a […]
For the Love of Teaching
I kind of fell into the whole teaching thing. It was never my plan to be a teacher. I had no desire to attend teacher’s college. In fact, when I was growing up, I was never really even that fond of school. I liked to learn, but was more self-guided. I didn’t enjoy the structure […]
My Online Back To School Toolkit
It’s that time of year again! I love back to school. I’m excited to meet my new group of students (I always have first-years in the Fall), and look forward to helping some future web designers and developers learn some new skills. Teaching is one of the most rewarding things I do. With all of […]
How to Incorporate Emerging Technologies to your Teaching Today
I was thinking back to the first time I was in college, back in 1988 (ooh. I’m really dating myself now). There were no computers in the classroom. We lugged around armloads of textbooks and binders with foolscap clicked into them. There were no text messages coming in on our mobile phones to distract us […]
Want to Learn? Learn to Teach
I sort of fell into the whole teaching thing. I never had aspirations to actually BE a teacher. I wasn’t a great student, after all. Sure, I didn’t skip classes, mostly got my homework done on time, but my grades were a mess – partly from being a military brat (Canada’s education system is not […]
What My Dad Has Taught Me
My Dad is a pretty cool guy. He’s one of the youngest-at-heart people I know. We have a running joke in our family – when talking about Dad’s age (71), we say he’s “Older than Dirt”. He thinks it’s hilarious. I think it’s ironic. Dad may be in his 70’s, but he sure doesn’t act […]
What My Students Taught Me About Online Communities
As some of you may know, this semester I’m teaching a course at Algonquin College on Web Media. We’re talking about and doing everything from blogging to podcasting to social networking and anything else that falls under the Web 2.0 umbrella. What I love about this course is that though I was given a basic […]
On Teaching
Yesterday was the last class of the semester prior to the Christmas break. For the past 15 weeks, I’ve been teaching video production to 84 first-year future web developers and designers. It’s designed to be an introductory course, covering all the technical basics of lighting, shooting and editing but also emphasizing video as a visual […]
First You Learn the Lesson….Then You Teach
Life is full of lessons. Every day I learn at least one thing that I didn’t know the day before. I would say we probably all do. The past 5 years or so have been a time of tremendous learning and growth for me. I’ve bought a house, gotten married (yes, in that order – […]
Why It's Important to Keep the Well Full
I spend a lot of my time teaching other people things. I might be teaching my clients how to envision their perfect web or video project, or teaching them about what options and technologies are available to them. I might be teaching (more coaching) staff on projects. This Fall, I’ll be teaching college students the […]