My teaching philosophy is best described as competency and objective based. I feel that all curriculums must be developed across the spectrum from the basic knowledge, vocabulary and skills level to the creative and analytical level and that all levels can be measured by some criteria.  My classroom techniques vary depending on the subject matter and objectives of the given course. While this may appear to be rigid, it is also open-ended depending on the individual student and the class as a whole.  Competencies in my fundamentals of design course will range from being able to define the principals of design to being able to analyze an image and describe how its prominent design elements are used.  In an Electronic Imaging class, they will be required to know how to achieve a particular effect as well as use it in a way that is creative to the visual and intellectual eye.  My sculpture classes do written critiques, on a form I provide, before we discuss the pieces in open critique to force a focus on the form and content issues.

Teaching in the "arts" requires the broadest blend of both manual and visual skills as well as the intellectual thought processes. With the combination of set skills and individual explorations, I attempt to involve the students in the process of creation. I design projects to teach them tangible skills and techniques as well as challenge their visual and intellectual problem solving skills.  Some problems have fixed outcomes and others are very open ended, allowing for a variety of solutions.  My most important task in the classroom is to challenge the students of all levels to perform to the highest level of their ability, to be self critical of that performance, and to give them tangible measures and critiques that their future artistic endeavors can build upon.  I try to create an environment where learning is a bi-directional process for me and my students.

I also feel strongly that we as educators must teach our students how to survive as artists in the community at large.  This means many things, from how to prepare their work for the professional arena of galleries to how to present ideas to professional boards that might be outside the traditional arts community.  It is also important to have the students see tangible examples of applying their skills to real life uses.  An example could be foundations students painting murals on the walls of grade schools or as my sculpture class did by making molds and casting missing bronze parts of lanterns and letters for a historical building on campus.

Lastly I feel it is important to introduce current technology into all my classes.  Technology can have several meanings from various media techniques to computers.  I feel it is important that they are aware of the tools that are available through industry and on the computer. I introduce the students, where it is appropriate, to the scope of technologies from designing their sculpture on a 3D modeler, to imaging in a photo or illustration program, to using the computer to control space, images or robotics.  In the Theory and Criticism class I taught, the students learned to create their papers in HTML format for submission to our assessment process as part of their critical writing assignments.  My sculpture students did research of other artists and techniques on the net, and my 2D foundations students performed half of their assignments using the computer, blending the hands on skills with technology.