teaching

There's an ancient Hindu belief that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. In my work as a teacher I have found the opposite to be true too. While most people who study for a PhD teach when they finish their studies (and often times even before) when I embarked on my advanced studies, teaching was not necessarily my ultimate goal. What has attracted me to teaching has been the quest for knowledge I've seen in students' eyes in relation to the topics I have specialized in: performance and new media.

My first teaching experiences were with teenage boys in Malta, where I taught Media Studies and Theatre-in-Education. For a while it seemed that the two subjects were on opposite poles of the creativity spectrum, but through my studies (and the advent of the Internet as a popular medium in its own right) I came to realize that there's a need for good courses which bring the two fields together.
What follows is a summary of my teaching philosophy:

My objectives as a teacher are:
- to share acquired knowledge with my students

- to help students find their own voice as they search for their own perspectives on the topic at hand

- to discover new perspectives about my areas of expertise though my work with the students

I certainly want my students to learn the fundamental content of the courses I teach. But beyond that, I also want to foster critical thinking, facilitate the acquisition of life-long learning skills, prepare students to function effectively in an information economy, and develop problem-solving strategies. This applies to all students, even if the responsibilty relationship varies depending on the academic level of the students.

The methods I use to achieve or work toward those objectives include learning by doing; this is often possible to some degree or other in both performance and new media courses. Since my areas of expertise cover live performance and media technology, I use theories from both to make the other subject more accessible, depending on the students' context of study. Performance classes are introduced to the use of information technology for sharing knowledge and resources, while my courses in new media will most likely always include the application of performance theory or aesthetic practice in some way or other.

Performance Studies allows us to embrace all sorts of phenomena which can be studied as performance. The field of New Media is one such example. However, New Media is also directly concerned with performing as such. My ultimate goal as a teacher is to make new media accessible to students of performance, and propose performance as an conceptual framework for people working in new media.

A student presentation for the class Performance Studies: Issues and Methods (NYU - Fall 2000).

Teaching
Experience

     Since Academic Year 2004-2005
     LECTURER IN PERFORMANCE & CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
     University of Hull - Scarborough Campus

       Undergraduate teaching:
      - Introduction to Media Performance
      - Psychology of Internet Behaviour
      - Decoding the Digital Society
      - Film and the Moving Image
      - Digital Video Production
      - Performance on Screen
      - Performance & Creative Technologies Collaboration
      - Digital Arts Independent Study

      Post-graduate teaching:
      - Performance in Digital Environments
      - MA Dissertation

     Spring 2004
     FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
     Digital Communications and Media, New York University
     NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
     McGhee Division - Liberal Arts, New York University
     NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE
     Communications Department, Adelphi University
     COMMUNICATION THEORIES
     Communications Department, Adelphi University

     Fall 2003
     FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
     Digital Communications and Media, New York University
     NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
     McGhee Division - Media Studies, New York University
     MEDIA CRITICISM
     Communications Department, Adelphi University

     Fall 2002
     LIVE ART ON THE INTERNET
     Department of Drama, New York University

     Fall 2001
     POPULAR ENTERTAIMENTS AND VIRTUAL CULTURE
     Department of Drama, New York University

     Fall 2001
     INTERACTIVITY, KNOWLEDGE & PERFORMANCE
     Performance workshop for graduate students.
     Teaching assistant to Dr. Jon McKenzie
     Performance Studies, New York University

     Spring 2001
     PERFORMANCE COMPOSITION: GOING VIRTUAL
     Graduate workshop co-taught with Martha Wilson.
     Performance Studies, NYU.

     Fall 2000 + 2001
     ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION & RESEARCH
     Workshop for Performance Studies Graduate Assistants.
     Performance Studies, New York University

     Fall 2000
     PERFORMANCE STUDIES: ISSUES AND METHODS
     Required course for all incoming graduate students.
     Teaching assistant to Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
     Performance Studies, New York University

     Summer 1999
     THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED WORKSHOP
     Teaching assitant to Augusto Boal
      Performance Studies, New York University

     Winter 1999
     CYBERSPACE AND COMMUNICATION
     Center for Communiction Technology - University of Malta

     Spring 1998
     YOGA & ACTOR TRAINING
     Mediterranean Institute Theatre Program - University of Malta

     Summer 1997
     INTERNET & GENERAL OFFICE COMPUTING
     One-on-one instruction at Class Act Inc. - New York, NY

    1995 - 1996
    THEATRE-IN-EDUCATION (part-time)
    St. Patrick's Residential School for Boys – Sliema, Malta

    Summer 1995
    ACTOR TRAINING & PREPARATION FOR PERFORMANCE
    Integral Yoga Summer Program for Children – Yogaville, VA

    1993 - 1994
    MEDIA STUDIES
    Stella Maris College – Gzira, Malta