From MSSM to KVCC: FES Prelude
June 5th, 2008 | by admin |This is part two of my month long series about my work. Part one can be found here “From WVU to MSSM” and sets up what follows.
While I had a crazy idea brewing in my brain dealing with Video Games and Education, an idea which could eventually revolutionize education, while I await the revolution, this modern day educational Che Guevara had to pay the bills. And for me paying the bills means teaching and for me teaching means love…
Previous to formally receiving my PhD but after defending, I obtained a job at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (AAC) teaching “Topics in Physics” or as I like to call it “Physics for Artists”. At the same time, I was hired by Northern Kentucky University (NKU) for one term as the person they had lined up did not get her Visa in time and thus they hired me (I guess they like foreigners!). At NKU, I was in charge of teaching Thermodynamics and Astronomy. This was a great time for me for I did not even have my PhD and yet I was teaching at two schools for two widely different audiences. At AAC, I relied on “The Cartoon Guide to Physics” by Larry Gonik, which I felt was a great textbook for the class, very visual and very amusing and very non-mathematical. At NKU, we had a more traditional course with traditional textbooks and traditional math. It was great to be at NKU as I taught at AAC for I could borrow equipment from them (such as dry ice, Van-de Graff Generators, and Air Tracks) and perform fun demos for my students at AAC. Likewise, having to take all of math out of Physics for my students at AAC as well as trying to reach an artistic, visual audience was a real learning experience and helped me understand myself, teaching, and physics better.
By the summer of 2002, I had formally received my PhD, but really didn’t have a job. Fortunately, NKU liked my performance so much that they decided to take me on as a Non-Renewable Non-Tenure Track (NR-NTT) adjunct which, to me, meant this was a job, not an opportunity for advancement or permanency (This assumption would eventually bite me in the ass). From 2002 through 2004, I taught three courses: a Trigonometry Based Introductory Physics class, a Trigonometry Based Intermediate Physics class, and an Algebra Based Introductory Physics class. This was the first time I had a full time class load and I loved it. I had a rough time at first though.
For example, during the first semester I taught, I had a bunch of biology students who would constantly complain about the workload. I would assign 20 problems to do over two weeks and in ANY Physics class this is normal and minimal: I simply can’t have them understand the material with any less. However, they would constantly berate me as to how unfair this was, as to how they were bio not phys and so why should they do this, blah, blah, blah. One day, I “lost it” (very uncharacteristic for me) and stated: “The content and what we do in class is not up to public vote. Understand that this class is not a democracy… This is a DICTATORSHIP AND I AM EL GENERALISIMO!”. Yikes. No fallout from this comment but much amusement among the staff and class. While I had incidents like this which I just chalked up to learning the ropes, I still excelled by my virtue of my teaching style. I have lots of energy and enthusiasm and I love teaching and I love Physics and this definitely carried through in my all classes. I was also an innovator. In 2003, I bought my TabletPC and hooked it up to the class projector. This was a great tool for it allowed me to write and edit class material such as equation solving and content, on the computer and while LOOKING at the students, never turning around and having my back to them as I would have done with a WhiteBoard. Eventually, I managed to use my TabletPC’s wireless card to project the screen directly to the projector and thus I would walk around class with my TabletPC in hand, solving equations, writing down content, all the while walking around the class and on occasion giving the Tablet to students for them to interact. I never had to erase the board and everything I wrote was saved permanently and I could post them on my website when I was done so students had access to EVERYTHING I wrote as soon as class was over. Students responded really well to this approach and it really solidified our Physics department as “high tech”. I also had the opportunity to do several outreach programs such as a Summer Science Camp for grades 5 through 7 inner school children and a special retreat for Hispanic youth (which my good friend Rebeccas (AND OLIVIAS) brother Ben attended and it was pretty neat seeing him there). These are fun events for it lets me try to reach and solidify what I believe is a childs natural love of science and discovery before life and hormones bitch-slaps these precious elements away from them.
In any case, 2004 was the end of many things. In May, I was told that I would not be rehired for a third term.
Since local schools weren’t hiring, I decided to try something else out: online teaching. Didn’t really know if Physics was taught online, but I was pretty sure that Math would be. So while it took me some time to tap into the online market, I eventually found, applied, and was accepted into the ITT online program to teach introductory math. It was pathetic. The classes were little more than discussion forums with email. No homework to turn in, no math to speak of, and the questions asked on the forums were sad. I basically “milked” ITT for all they were worth and did the best I could for my students with what I had, but the old theory of SISO applied (shit in; shit out) and there was no helping that ITT was putting shit in for teaching and so shit came out for learning. So while I taught for them for most of 2004, I didnt enjoy it and didnt get much out of it and the program was eventually disbanded in 2005 as a failure.
However, around summer 2004, I responded to a email request for a Video Game Online instructor at Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) and I responded and they liked what they saw (how I got into Video games will be made clear in the next installment “From MSSM to MMUSCLE”). Point is that this little old physicist ended up teaching Video Game Design and the Business of Video Games for a little ol school up north and I LOVED it. It is the first time they have offered this class so I have a real opportunity to effect change and make a difference. I met some wonderful students in the class (some of which are reading this right now!) from all walks of life and we had some really fun discussions. The classes themselves where not as smooth as I felt they could be (for they were not designed by me and it shows: the choice of books for The Business class was abysmal) and given that it was the first time offered, its not surprising that some adjustments will have to be made for next time. But I have already been given the position to teach it again next year in the fall and I welcome it and will give some thought over the summer to how we can improve this already wonderful class.
But wait! Theres more! Next week, I start to teach an Online Physics class for
Also (did I say I was done?), Im currently in a four week training program to teach a Math for Game Programmers class for DeVry. This is great for DeVry is a VERY strong school, they pay incredibly well ($2700 for an eight week class), and this could be an opportunity to teach other physics and/or science classes for them. While they have strict limits on how many classes you can teach for them, I could still stand to gain an easy $20K teaching for them and more interestingly, another instructor is Mark Baldwin who in the eighties created a game called EMPIRE! For those of you into video wargames, you will recognize this game as a classic, as a legend, and it is really amazing that he is going to be teaching the same class as I and its really amazing that I would get to meet him as equals (a 30 year veteran vs. a 4 year newbie!).
Finally (now Im done), I am also applying to teaching Physics for the Art Institute Online!
The reason why I have to apply to so many schools is because all online classes are assigned based on attendance and need and thus there is no guarantee that I will get ANY classes during any period. Thus I have to have as many online gigs under my belt as possible to guarantee a steady cash flow. And here is the punch line: if I can keep even one class from each of the above schools, I could pull in $70k a year doing a 50 hour a week job that realistically would only take maybe 20 hours of concentrated effort a week. Uncertain, but worth it!! And this frees me up to do my REAL work, the one that will earn me MUCH more than $70k a year once realized…
…but that is a story for next time.
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