My Teaching Philosophy

As a teacher, I feel my primary responsibility is to put students in the best position to succeed – both in class and in their future endeavors. Beyond presenting students with information on a subject, this also means helping them develop skills relevant to their personal and professional goals. In addition to technical skills, I seek to help students build soft skills such as independent problem solving, interpersonal communication, time management, conceptualization, and handling critique, which will serve them well in any pursuit. This development is facilitated by three major areas: in-class instruction, in-class activities, and coursework, each of which I will now discuss in detail.

Possibly students’ least favorite aspect of attending school is sitting through lectures. While some amount of lecturing is necessary to provide instruction, I aim to make this component of my courses as engaging as possible. I treat lessons as a conversation between me and my students, rather than a form of one-way communication. I include discussion questions spaced between my talking points, asking students to reflect on their own experiences and provide their own perspectives in order to connect the subject matter to them personally. This has resulted in some stimulating discussions.

While class discussions provide students with a theoretical framework for what they will be learning, game and interactive media design is a subject best explored in practice. I devote a good portion of class time to group activities where students can study game structures by playing classic board games; playtest their own game prototypes; brainstorm; or create small, experimental projects. I try to keep group sizes small (two to three students per group) so that no one individual gets left out or is able to “hide” from participating in the activity. These activities give students a safe space to explore and apply the concepts they will need to understand to complete assignments.

Assigning a grade to each student’s performance is probably my least favorite aspect of teaching. I know students can get very wrapped up in the need to earn good grades, and while they should rightly be focused on succeeding, I hate to see the grade get emphasized at the cost of the learning experience. Each of my assignments is an opportunity for students to learn, grow, and possibly even generate a portfolio piece. Again, game and interactive media design is best studied through practice, and so most of my assignments are projects where students build something. The creative process can be quite rewarding, so coursework is designed to provide students with a chance to express themselves.

While at the end of the day, I must assign a grade to each assignment, I strive to minimize the stress students experience with receiving a grade. I emphasize the creative process as an end in itself rather than framing it as a means to an end (the grade), and I remain flexible when it comes to deadlines. Under reasonable circumstances, I allow students to resubmit assignments if they received feedback that can improve their work. I also have a very lenient late work policy where students can still receive up to 90% of the credit for an assignment no matter how late it is. That may sound extreme, but I’ve found it incentivizes students to complete the work. If, for example, an assignment seven weeks late were subject to a 70% lateness penalty, the student would have very little reason to make an effort at that point. They would thus be missing out on a potentially rewarding learning experience and the opportunity to add something to their portfolio. In that same vein, if a student requests a reasonable extension, I am inclined to grant it if it will allow the student to do work they are proud of. I have had many students tell me the extra time afforded them precisely that chance, and to me that is really the best possible outcome in this discipline: to help students create something they are proud of.

In addition to developing course content and pedagogical techniques best suited to facilitating student success, I also aim to be a supportive presence in my students’ lives. We are all human beings, and college can be an extremely stressful time. It is not uncommon to deal with mental health issues at this stage in life. Because of this, I include emergency contact info (such as Public Safety and Health and Counseling Center phone numbers, locations, and email addresses, as well as the national 988 mental health crisis hotline) and links to student support resources (such as tutoring and accessibility services) at the beginning of my syllabi. This is information I also discuss in class the first week of each semester so that students are aware of where they can go to seek help. Additionally, I like to start each class with a few minutes of casual conversation: I’ll ask my students if they’ve played anything good lately, how their other classes are going, etc. This creates a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere in which to learn.

Outside of class, I maintain a strictly organized Canvas page for each course, posting class slideshows to the Files section where students can easily access them (and thereby have access to anything I link to in my lessons, as well as have a resource to help them make up any material missed due to absence). I use the Modules section to provide quick links to any assignments, readings, or other resources, organized chronologically by week, and I provide detailed rubrics for all coursework in the Assignments section. I aim for redundancy so that there are multiple ways students can find the information they are looking for. This organization has been favorably received, and I’ve had many students mention in their course evaluations how the slideshows in particular were a valuable resource for them. I also use email to keep students informed and on task between classes; I send reminders each week ahead of class time (usually a day or two in advance), reiterating which assignments will be due, giving an overview of what to expect in class, and linking to or attaching any files such as the slideshows so that students have access to those resources prior to class.

In short, I aim to put students in a position to succeed by leading engaging class sessions with plenty of activity and discussion; assigning coursework that best gives students the opportunity to learn, express themselves creatively, and build a portfolio; and emphasizing the process of completing that work over the grade, allowing students time to do each project justice. I also seek to provide my students with whatever support they may need, whether that is having a conversation about something stressing them out; providing reminders for class sessions and assignment due dates; providing learning and support resources accessible outside of class; or simply letting them know I care and am available to talk to about anything they wish.

Finally, I never view my teaching as a “finished” thing; I am continually striving to improve and perfect my courses. I offer a survey after the fourth week of classes where students can provide feedback on what is helping or hindering their learning, and what changes they would like to see. This allows me to make changes on the fly and tailor my courses to my students’ needs. I also take notes throughout the semester on things that I notice could be improved, and use student feedback at the end of each semester to point to any potential modifications to course content.