After teaching for more than 25 years at universities and colleges in Los Angeles, I am now looking forward to the possibility of new teaching opportunities.
I was fortunate to create a course in art, innovation, and creativity skills, called Visual Thinking/Art 350, which I taught at Loyola Marymount University from 1997 until December 2021.
I have also taught 3-D design and an introduction to interior design at Otis College. And a few years after I graduated from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-arc), I co-taught an intensive introduction to architecture called Making + Meaning, to future graduate students with no background in design. The methodology of this course was based on the principles of The Bauhaus, and the innovative approaches of Black Mountain College. The five-week program had 40 hours of class time per week (!), and quickly got students up to speed with architectural drawing skills, the theory of design, and a basic history of contemporary architecture.
In 2020 I relocated to the California desert, and I’m now spending 75% of my time there, and 25% of my time in Los Angeles. During my first 12 years at LMU, I taught face-to-face classes. After extensive research on the various strategies for effective online learning, I focused on VoiceThread,*, and NearPod, along with other apps, evolving Visual Thinking to a hybrid format class. https://edtechexplore.wordpress.com
I am now seeking new opportunities for online teaching. I believe there are several subjects that I am highly qualified to teach. Visual Thinking (Art 350) fulfilled a core requirement at Loyola in “creativity.“ I taught a diverse mix of students who were focused on various majors from science, to business, and the arts. The essence of my message is that all of us can benefit from growing our creativity to express ourselves and get us through the tough moments that inevitably come up. Confidence in our own creativity can help us to prosper, and to be open to new directions as our careers evolve. I have written about this extensively and shared projects from my courses at CreativGrowth.com
-Michael
*I first learned about VoiceThread at a teaching conference presentation by Michelle Pacansky-Brock. She had just won an award for the innovative, creative use of VoiceThread. I was inspired when I met her at the MoblEd online learning event at Pasadena City College in 2009. Thanks to her, I now have an archive of 150 VoiceThreads. https://voicethread.com/blog/voicethread-effects-on-learning/
