For the Semester to Come

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I could say many things about my first experience as a professor at Quinnipiac University. We are about to complete the academic calendar for the fall of 2015. I loved teaching this class. The vision and concept of the class fits perfectly with my experience, expertise, and preparation.  I had the opportunity to join a great faculty and to make new friends in the process.  I am proud to say that I had the chance to be the professor for a fine group of freshmen who I’m sure have a great future ahead of them. I’m pretty sure I’ll see them again. I was granted the opportunity to teach in the spring as well, and to join a great group of academic advisors. I am sure this is going to be another fantastic experience.

12091303_10150647909214956_5378018467843313266_oNow that the class is almost over, as an instructional designer I evaluate the processes and results, and the overall sequence and presentation of the class. I don’t only evaluate the performance of my students but also my own. I look through each lesson and how they connect on each phase towards the final product. This is also preparation for the semester to come. I moved lessons around on the calendar with the intention to build a solid foundation in the development of self-regulated, lifelong independent learners.

I hope my students have all the success in the upcoming years and that my participation at this stage of their lives had some significance. I also hope the next two groups are as exceptional as this one. I guess it is going to be almost inevitable to compare all other experiences and groups with the first, but in a good way. I can’t deny the mix emotions as I see these students go. It is a melancholic feeling, but at the same time I am happy for them, and I wish they look back at the experience with gladness, as I am.

A Busy Month

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View from the training site

It has been a while since I posted in this blog. I appreciate the messages from people asking to write and also the viewers who has been visiting the page on a daily basis to catch up with posts they missed. June has been a great month and there are still a few more things coming up to enter July. This month presented a chance to review previous experiences in different tasks as well as preparation for the task to come. I honestly predicted a boring season but it is quite the opposite.

June began with the opportunity to serve as a consultant as needs analyst (as I like to call the analysis process duties of the instructional designer). I like this process because it allows me to act as a detective. Once a problem is presented, it is my job to weight the evidence and figure out if the perceived problem is the actual problem first of all. If that is the problem, then I suggest options to “fix it”. If the perceived problem is not the actual problem, it is my job to figure out what the issue is before suggesting solutions. That is always a fun process.

The agenda charged through the month. I participated in the Creative Chat Cafe online show (watch video here), had a blast in the painting and sculpting parties, set up a few pieces for our Make.Art.Work. Group Show coming up in July in New Haven, CT, visited a show opening at a gallery, and began experimenting with body painting. This week I am training with a fine group of experienced educators at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, as we prepare to offer the First Year Seminar in Inquiry Based Learning this semester. This is a magnificent experience and I am learning so much from the wisdom of my peers and having fun too. It is a great group.

July is going to be a busy month too. I will be mentoring students offering visual arts workshops to kids. I am really looking forward to this opportunity that came unexpectedly. In addition, the painting and sculpting parties are multiplying and spreading in Milford, Monroe, and New Haven. I will be in Shelton too. That is mentioning only those that are open to the public and not the private ones. The New Haven art show will open and who knows what other things will be in store this month.

A Great Night

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Photo Nov 23, 9 40 01 AMEvery night I get to teach is a great night. It doesn’t matter if it is a sculpting or painting party, a computer class, an art lesson for one person or many, a lecture or presentation, I love to teach. It feels good to empower people, to help them try new things and have fun with it. I like to challenge people to break with the fear of trying and to accept their efforts as accomplishments. Interestingly, it was not always that way. Yes, I liked the spotlight since very little and performing was a lot of fun, but teaching was something I didn’t like. It is not the same as just being in front of people, perform, and leave. Teaching requires commitment and responsibility.

When I was working on my masters in education I began looking at instructional technology as a way to teach indirectly. How does that work? Well, I wanted to design online learning environments and allow people to interact with the computer instead of me. To my surprise, the masters took me to new and very interesting teaching experiences. I was teaching art to children with disabilities, computer skills and applications to working adults and seniors, then special education. From there I began training people in different areas during the years I was pursuing a PhD in education. In December 2012, once I achieved the PhD, I applied to many universities to teach either online or on campus. It seems almost impossible to get a faculty job in a university if you don’t have experience. Of course, you are not going to get experience if no one hires you. Then you get the ‘non-qualified’, ‘over qualified’ (not sure what that means), or the ‘we decided to go with another candidate’ thing.

Last week I received notification that I’ve been accepted as part-time faculty in a university, and not an art class. My PhD is in education and for the first time I will be able to use it in the specialty I worked so hard for. I am not going to reveal the name or location until I take a selfie on campus. Although my Facebook friends already know. Teaching just got more serious. I will continue teaching art and the sculpting and painting parties, the workshops, the seminars, and the private art lessons, but teaching 3 times per week in a continuous seminar for a semester is going to be fantastic. I can’t wait to begin. I can’t wait to see the dream of being a college professor come to pass.