About me

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My values as an instructional designer are to encourage curiosity, to foster community, to build creativity, and to foster empathy.

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I’m drawn to Fink’s Taxonomy thanks to its focus on growing as a person as well as a learner, and then connecting your learning to the world (and people) around you.

I also think play is a great catalyst for engaging learners, and in my own projects I tend to channel play via improv (which is also an excellent tool for building bonds between people, as “Yes, and” asks participants to lift one another up).

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“In a world continuously presenting unique challenges and ambiguity, play prepares these [learners]* for an evolving planet.”

from Play : How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.

* In the original quote, this word is “bears,” as they’re discussing polar bears playing. I happen to think it also works for learners.

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I’ve taught online courses since 2006, and because I never stop learning, I’ve been on the other side of the LMS a fair amount as well. (See below for more details.) I’ve also taught in-person classes, whether they are full-semester courses, or short one-offs on a particular topic.

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Teaching Experience

• Gotham Writers Workshop
  Online Instructor, July 2006 – present

• Instructional Connections
  Academic Coach, July 2011 – December 2011

• ITT Tech
  Composition Instructor, March 2010 – November 2010

• Columbia University
  Adjunct Assistant Professor, Spring 2007

• Grub Street Writers
  Instructor, August 1999 – January 2000

Education

• University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
  Bachelor of Arts and Sciences, Cum Laude

• Vermont College of Norwich University, Montpelier, VT
  MFA in Writing

• Harvard University Extension School, Cambridge MA
  ALM, Dramatic Arts Thesis title: “What Just Happened? : Technology, Play, and Redefining Theater.”

• Harvard University Extension School, Cambridge MA
  Learning Design and Technology Graduate Certificate (Pending - expected June 2021)

Other Skills

I have extensive experience working with technology, particularly in the field of higher education. I’m comfortable working with faculty, staff, and/or students whether it’s troubleshooting an issue, or helping them determine the best course of action to follow with a project or course.

HTML, CSS, Javascript, and P5.js are my friends. (See Garbage Is Magic for an example of making a Canvas course visually interesting, even within the limits of the “Free For Teachers” version.) I’m not afraid of the command line, either. This site was made with Hugo, out of Markdown files.

A fair amount of my tech experience has been working with artists and art students. I know my way around the Adobe Suite (especially Photoshop and Premiere). I ran a recording studio out of my basement for a few years, so I’m familiar with audio editing and recording techniques, especially with a limited budget and under less than ideal circumstances.

As an undergrad I did several internships in video production, and that has come in handy both in terms of working with artsy types, as well as in terms of having yet another creative outlet. I’m also a writer and illustrator.

As a theater director, I am well-versed in juggling the impossibly different schedules of actors. My project management skills have grown considerably in the theater, and I’ve also developed a reputation of someone who’ll take on the productions that seem impossibly complex. I also have the reputation of being the guy who is going to show up with a bunch of ridulous props that he made himself, just for fun. This is where the idea for Garbage Is Magic came from.

I’ve also run the technical side of complicated Zoom theater shows, when it became clear that 2020 was not going to be kind to live theater. I also did most of the graphic work used in these shows, even if they got a little silly at times.

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Works Cited
Brown, Stuart L., and Christopher C. Vaughan. Play : How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Avery, 2009.