• home
• instructional design
• programming
• teaching

• about/contact
• technical writing
• sample work products
• artwork

Teaching

I have twelve years experience designing and delivering traditional, hybrid, and online courses in Computer Science at the Community College level in upstate New York and North Carolina. I also deliver short courses and workshops related to programming and instructional design. I regularly teach Introduction to Programming courses, as well as courses in Java (JDK and also JDBC/JSP/servlets), PHP, XML, and C++. I have always received the highest quality student evaluations, and can provide strong administrative references.

I'm especially interested in the challenges associated with first-level courses such as Introduction to Program Logic and Design. I've taught this type of course over many years using a range of approaches: algorithms-only, Pascal, C++, Java, and now Web-based, using PHP/XHTML. The Web approach has by far proved the most successful. Students become very engaged and achieve more in terms of logical problem solving and their understanding of control and data structures. I have written and published A Web-Based Introduction to Programming textbook to support this approach, based on a free standalone Apache Web server that allows students to perform all work on a portable disk with no need for network acess. I am working on a Java-Based Introduction to Programming textbook that also aims at this audience

My course content is always provided online no matter what course delivery method. I find that approach helps me to create a well-structured, supportive, and predictable learning environment, with clear outcomes, effective learning activities, and accurate assessments. I believe that a carefully constructed, conceptually coherent, step-by-step approach not only goes along way to removing unnecessary road-blocks to learning, but also clarifies roles (I provide the structure and coaching, and the students do the learning).