Teaching Digital Imaging (Advanced Photoshop)

I’m delighted to share the accomplishment and conclusion of this Spring semester teaching Digital Imaging (Advanced Photoshop) at my alma mater, Missouri Western State University (MWSU), remotely via Zoom. My main goals and expectations were for students (12) to have fun, learn something new, develop more confidence using the tools and techniques, and create at least a few quality pieces for their portfolios that they’re proud to share. Overall, I felt like we accomplished those!

What a difference between teaching Interactive Design II (HTML, CSS, WordPress) 9 years ago versus now. Such a change in life experience, personal growth, practice working with people and developing relationships, communication, confidence, understanding processes, and more practice using Photoshop. This gave me a chance to think about those skills specifically and how to document and teach them to someone new. Turns out there’s a whole lot, and I learned at least a few new things in the process, too! Nine years ago, I wasn’t much older than a traditional college student. I remember feeling insecure about whether students would take me seriously or be respectful. I mean… I’m still the same age now; however, I felt a lot more comfortable releasing the imagined need for authority and just being a regular, and maybe even fun, human being.

For the final, I had them submit a combined portfolio of several projects that displayed a variety of skills and creativity. I gave them questions to think about ahead of time, knowing how petrified I get about on-the-spot questions, and each student had about 8 minutes as I scrolled through to view, critique, and discuss their work conversationally one-on-one in front of their peers. 

Here were the discussion questions:

• What was/were your favorite piece(s) this semester?
• Why is it your favorite / what makes this piece successful?
• What was most challenging – a specific exercise/project? particular tools? creativity?
• Was there a challenge you could identify at the beginning of the semester in using Photoshop that you were able to overcome or improve upon by end of semester?
• Was there a particular tool or tools you were unfamiliar with that you feel more confident using now?
• What was something you learned?
• Was there anything that could have been communicated more clearly in the exercises or would have been helpful for me to demonstrate and explain live?
• Did you enjoy the class/would you recommend this class to others?
• Were there any projects you felt like you needed more time?
• Are there any projects from the beginning of the semester that you would revise now after practicing/learning/feedback to improve for your portfolio?
• Do you feel confident that you know the difference between saving for mobile/web devices versus saving for print? (Color mode, resolution, quality)

Throughout the semester, I tried to incorporate time with each student individually in a breakout room. It was a challenge working remotely and feeling like I gave each person enough time and feedback other than visual and written notes. Thankfully, we had only a few isolated technical issues.

Personally, the last year has been by far one of the most challenging mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I’ve turned quite a bit of focus to work on the inner realm versus the external world and career which has been the driving force most of my life. This opportunity came in incredibly fast with little time to prepare. With some fear and no time for hesitation, I leaped into the fire. Thankfully, I had an outline of a syllabus to reference. It was an 8 AM class on Mondays and Wednesdays, close to 3-hour class periods with a break in the middle. There were several late nights of creating lesson plans the night before class (due to life, not intentionally). By end of semester there were about 30 exercises/projects/parts we covered. I started out ambitiously and slowed down quite a bit after the first couple of weeks — not just for their sake; I had to grade all of it! (Ha) The good news is, if I teach this class again, I will be SO prepared!

Thank you to my husband

Thank you for taking our youngest to daycare on those mornings and helping with breakfast! I can’t imagine how much more stressful it would have been having to show up in person to class at 8 AM. Much respect for the students who were in the computer lab and on time.

Teacher Appreciation

So much respect to teachers of the world! The teachers I’ve had hold a special place in my heart. Those relationships are fundamentally important and influence our quality of life and success. Thank you, Teresa, my former Graphic Design professor, for your dedication to teaching, friendship, and support over the years, and for thinking of me for this opportunity. (Even though you know I would have preferred teaching Illustrator and the later class time. LOL) Teaching and learning are reciprocal for both the teacher and the student.

Feedback

I think everyone enjoyed the class, learned something, and had a good response to the projects. A few people even said it was their favorite class, so that’s pretty cool. The final class period was fun, and I’m going to be a little sad. I enjoyed the interaction. There may be the potential for teaching at Drake University here in Des Moines, so I wanted to get some experience. 

Inspiration

I found this quote about the time I started teaching and it served as inspiration.

Just for Fun

Lastly, I couldn’t help but find it hilarious when students emailed me with “Professor Cameron” or “Mrs. Cameron”. Maybe formalities just aren’t for me. I did wear these frames in class once. And I didn’t ever reveal that they’re fake. Lol

Alright. Have a great day and remember to make it fun. Life is short.

With love,
Ashley, a regular human being

P.S. Now, I suppose I will have more time to work on my website from 2016 and get back into business.