Teaching
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Curiosity and Rigor
In my role as instructor it is always my first goal to model positive behaviour by exhibiting enthusiasm, curiosity, and being rigorous about the subject at hand. When I reflect on my time as a student, the most positive and intrinsic motivation came from those teachers that modelled these behaviours to me. As a mentor both academically and professionally I have had great results employing this technique.
Experimentation, Risk, and Failure
For the most part students coming into post secondary school are leaving a system that penalizes experimentation and failure. As a consequence, it does not expect mastery but a reasonable level of rote knowledge. In my role as instructor to those engaged in creative scholarship I work to flip this paradigm by creating a space for students to participate in experimentation. In addition, I encourage risk and failure to help students form an identity, confidence and ultimately a mastery of the subject matter. Students are expected to embrace this model by showing exploration in their rough work, exploring off brief skills and concepts, or creating shadow projects.
Co-Creating Meaning
I acknowledge that differences in how students learn has a significant impact on how they approach these principles. To manage these differences I ask my students to set personal goals and expectations for the class. When setting these goals, I encourage students to think outside the context of the class and to develop strategies that incorporate class material with their lives outside the classroom. In addition, students are asked to consider how they will contribute to the class and how they can participate in creating a classroom environment that is stimulating and respectful of diverse views and experiences. By clearly stating their goals and expectations as well as considering those of their classmates, students are empowered to engage critically with the materials presented. This also allows me to understand their readiness to work with the concepts and procedures and their needs as active players in the co-creation of meaning in the classroom.
Meta-Disciplinary Practice
Design students must be able to draw on experience and knowledge from a broad range of disciplines, including social sciences and humanities in order to solve the ever-expanding scale and complexity of design problems that will face them as designers. In the classroom I take every effort to engage my students in discussion covering a wide range of topics. When the course allows I have the students keep a journal/sketchbook and assign optional readings/design challenges to broaden and deepen their experience.
Feedback and Assessment
For work in progress I facilitate peer review, lead critiques, and give one on one review. When giving open critical feedback I ask myself: 1) How do I want the student to feel?, 2) What do I want the student to know?, and 3) What do I want them to do? This usually leads me to an honest and constructive critique of their progress. When work is presented for final evaluation I assess it using straightforward and transparent guidelines presented and discussed at the commencement of any project. When possible the rubrics are broken down into Technical, Conceptual, and Engagement verticals. Technical measures acquired skills and technique. Conceptual measures the effectiveness, quality, clarity and synthesis of ideas presented. Engagement measures the student participation in peer evaluation, critique and discussion during the production of the project.
The development of this philosophy of teaching and its continual refinement through self-reflexive, student and peer evaluation will lead to my continuing growth as an instructor and most importantly the ever-increasing success of my students.
Summary of Teaching (append outlines)
Courses Taught
IXD - VDES 11322 Visual Narrative
Third Year. First Semester. 3 hour Class. 1 hour lecture component followed by 2 hours of demonstration, exercise, critique and self-directed learning.
IXD - VDES 45892 IXD Collaborative Workshop 1
Fourth Year. First Semester. 3 hour Class. 3 hours of facilitated collaboration and design activity.
IXD - VDES43921 Collaborative Workshop 2
Fourth Year. Second Semester. 3 hour Class. 3 hours of facilitated collaboration and design activity.
IXD - VDES45738 Interaction Design Studies 2
Fourth Year. Second Semester. 3 hour Class. Second Half of the IXD Capstone. Students produce a research based design project to address a problem or knowledge gap of their choosing. Teaching methods are adapted depending on the research being done and the nature of the student projects.
YSDN 1006 Interactivity Design 1
First Year. Second Semester. 4 hour Class. 1 hour lecture component followed by 2 hours of demonstration and exercise finishing off with 1 hour of 1 on 1 and self-directed learning.
YSDN 2005 Interactivity Design 2
Second Year. First Semester. 4 hour Class. 1 hour lecture component followed by 2 hours of demonstration and exercise finishing off with 1 hour of 1 on 1 and self-directed learning.
YSDN 3006 Interactivity Design 3
Third Year. First Semester. 4 hour Class. 1 hour lecture component followed by 2 hours of demonstration and exercise finishing off with 1 hour of 1 on 1 and self-directed learning.
YSDN 4002 Type in Motion
Third/Fourth Year. Second Semester. 4 hour Class. 1 hour lecture component followed by 2 hours of demonstration and exercise finishing off with 1 hour of 1 on 1 and self-directed learning.
YSDN 4104 Professional Aspects of Design
Fourth Year. Full Year. 3 hour Class with 3 hour mentored meeting. This is the YSDN Graduation Showcase course. Students produce a any and all elements required to organize and mount the program graduation showcase. This course also includes extensive industry collaboration through a portfolio review day and industry sprint days.
YSDN 4004 Design Workshop
Fourth Year. Full Year. 4 hour Class. This is the YSDN capstone course. Students produce a research based design project to address a problem or knowledge gap of their choosing. Teaching methods are adapted depending on the research being done and the nature of the student projects.
Feedback Documents / Highlights
Selected 2014 Student Feedback
“I found Myles' energy infectious; his enthusiasm for the subject matter he’s teaching and the potential he sees in his students lends itself to generating stimulating conversations and developing skills in motion graphics. He has a way of encouraging individual students to their strengths, since the projects were solo efforts, he made it feel somewhat like a collaboration of ideas and feedback between mentor and learner.” YSDN 4002 Type in Motion
“Myles always brought a happy and positive attitude to the classroom. When lecturing he was well spoken and his delivery was easy to understand. His knowledge of the material covered in Interactivity 3 was well rounded and his approach to discussing the material was very professional. He is a friendly and approachable person, I was able to communicate with him about anything whether it be a personal or school related subject.The feedback Myles would give during critiques helped me to build off of my own ideas and direct my projects in a more successful direction. I really hope I am able to have him again in future classes.” YSDN 3006 Interactivity Design 3
“Myles was an amazing prof. super energetic and excited about about teaching even though the overall class attitude was poor since it was interactivity. Interactivity is my least favourite course but Myles is by far the best prof I've had and heard of to date. He really cares about everyones learning outcome and was available 27/7 for help over email or Skype. He really gets involved and is passionate about teaching design and because of his enthusiasm he made interactivity more fun for everyone. He did such an amazing job I can't praise his efforts enough. He's a A++ prof.” YSDN 2005 Interactivity Design 2
“YSDN is lucky to have Myles. He was always enthusiastic in class and made the material engaging, which makes it a lot easier to learn! He was always willing to meet with students outside of class (or even over Skype to make it easier), and he was always willing to give individual critique. He was very knowledgeable about the material, and the class was a lot of fun! My ONLY critique is that we never really got any reports back of our marks. He did go around the class halfway through to let everyone know where they stood, but it would have been great if each student got their own copy of their marks as a reminder. I'm a little unsure of how I ended off in the course because I'm not sure of my marks throughout the term. Other than that though, it was a wonderful class and I feel prepared to move on to Interactivity 2.” YSDN 1006 Interactivity Design 1
Reflection on Student Feedback
Strengths - Flexibility, Approachability, Focus on Student Success, Students acknowledged my focus on encouraging breadth and depth of learning
Areas for Improvement - My engagement and attentiveness is not a substitute for a timely record of their assessment. In some cases I need to work more effectively to get feedback and grades back projects and help those students that may have missed classes etc access those assessments.
My enthusiasm sometimes makes me move quickly and I need to be cognizant of the fact that I may be moving too quickly for some.