My teaching philosophy is informed by a passion for creativity, critical thinking, and sound research principles. I have 20 years of experience teaching college writing to diverse individuals, including first-generation students, international students, dual credit students, adult learners, and military veterans. I use active learning principles combined with new technologies to meet students where they are. My expertise in online course delivery compliments my experience in the traditional college classroom.

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Active learning exercises create an engaged classroom and this sets the tone for my instructional approach. I regularly utilize think-pair-share activities, minute papers, discussions, case studies and writing prompts in class. Fostering a community-based, democratic classroom is my goal each day and principles of the growth mindset underpin my overall teaching ethos. 

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Some of the teaching certifications I have earned include: Brightspace D2L Best Practices Certification, Quality Matters Peer Reviewer Certification, Applying the QM Rubric, Deque Accessibility Training, ACUE Teaching Effectiveness Certification, and Canvas Certified Educator Training. 

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I have designed numerous web-enhanced courses in Blackboard, Canvas, and Brightspace D2L with high enrollment and strong student success rates. In my First-Year Writing courses, students write traditional academic essays and create web-based content like blogs, presentations, films, and video/audio files rooted in written material. The curriculum is delivered through a variety of means including traditional lectures, carefully selected pedagogical sources and web content, as well as original audio/video tutorials developed with Quick Time Player and Kaltura Media.

 

Students are introduced to digital tools like WordPress, Blogger, and Wix.Com to deliver visual and textual content in my courses. These tools help engage them by embracing the technology that shapes their world. At the end of the semester, learners come away with a solid portfolio of work that gives them confidence to succeed in college and beyond. In Composition, instruction is provided over the ethical use of Ai for writing and research. In Technical Writing, students are introduced to Ai writing tools to create web-based professional documents like resumes, cover letters, memoranda, technical reports, websites, lab reports, business proposals, and presentations.

 

Software Expertise

Microsoft Office Suite

Brightspace D2L

Blackboard

Canvas

Zoom

Descript

Adobe

SnagIt

Kaltura

Screencast

QuickTime

Google

Jing

Prezi

SafeAssign

Skype

WordPress

Wix.com

YouTube

I-Movie

MyMediaSite

SurveyMonkey

RapidTables.com

Turnitin.com

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