Learning

Befuddled

From Teacher to Student to Student Teacher

I am presently acquiring new skills in the digital realm for my job at the University of Colorado Department of Art and Art History where I run the wood shop.  We now have a new piece of equipment, a CNC machine, which is basically a plotter with a 15 hp. wood cutting router at the business end rather than ink jets.  I am taking a Photoshop class at Red Rocks Community College and it has been a much broader education then I could have anticipated.

My educational roots are in photography having received a MFA degree back in 1985--which was during the pre-digital age. During this Photoshop class I have been fascinated by the interface in the program and how it simulates my experiences in printing color in a darkroom.  I find it interesting how the program not only works within the photographers matrix but also has a great deal of tooling for the ways of thinking and making you find within the discipline of graphics, painting, and drawing.

But the most profound influence on me has been becoming a student again and feeling that vulnerability and experiencing the frustrations which are integral to learning.  Perhaps part of my befuddlement is from  my working in, and teaching in, a four year university and taking a class at a two year college.  They have different missions and people they serve, with the two year school focusing on  job training and transfer students; and the university focus on research. I have truly learned the importance of both types of institutions and the needs they fulfill.

 I have learned how critical it is as an educator to be responsible to your students, reach out, be consistent.  In my newly forming opinion the relationship between student and teacher needs to move a bit away from master - apprentice  to collaborators to a shared enlightenment. The quality my of commitment to the students and their learning has greatly increased and in the end, they learn more and I have a fuller life.


The above image is my mid-term project for the Photoshop class which had to be a composite image about an emotion.