Teaching Philosophy

I have long considered sharing and imparting informed knowledge the most important responsibility anyone striving for higher education should perform. In my classes, I start from a theoretical approach and shift focus to practical applications of the course content in the students’ lives. Throughout my experience, I have found that students tend to invest as much into a course as I do, but each class is a unique entity in itself. I typically get to know each and every one of my students on a personal level with weekly blog assignments and daily class discussions. I always give very solid feedback for any writing assignment, and try to have them think about extensions and even perform some of the concepts at hand to show how course materials relate to their lives. No two classes of mine are taught in the exact same manner because the personalities that emerge in the classes drive the assignments and teaching procedures I employ throughout a semester.

I have found that my best teaching attribute is my ability to actually relate to students. There is a clear difference between a student that is participating because he/she wants to, and one that is participating to satisfy attendance or grade requirements. As part of the Flipped Classroom ideology, I have my students join social media for the semester to keep the concepts we discuss in-class salient in their lives throughout the week. However, I do not fully adopt the teaching method, as I believe in-class discussion and demonstration are both integral pieces of higher education, but I do feel it is essential to engage students by means through which they already feel comfortable. I do not like to exercise a strong power distance in my classroom either – I use the space in the room to try and create a conversation among the classroom that I proctor and keep on task. Not only does this make students feel more comfortable speaking, but also increases the frequency with which they participate. While being relatable is very important in the classroom, I always display firm leadership and maintain my authoritative position with respect to the classroom dynamic.

Scholarly Interest

As a budding scholar, I am very interested in the ways that people build and sustain identity and relationships through/with media, and have based my research agenda around this curiosity. My recent work is primarily situated within the realm of convergent media studies and psychophysiology through biometric methods. Imagination has been a core concept of my research, and has been shown to be a main source of social cognition in mediated communication because there is not a face to face connection during most interactions. I would also like to investigate how people form relationships with new media and technology (characters, stories, applications, websites, devices, etc.), as well as the associated behavioral phenomena included. Additionally, I want to integrate my experience in video production and sports broadcasting into more of my research by elevating the design and sophistication of my studies with new applications and more media-specific fundamentals.

COMM 31, Media & Society
COMM 131, Media Production
COMM 132, Writing for Media
COMM 193A, Special Topics: Brand Managament
MEDX 011, Critical Media Making
PACS 2, Social Media Literacy