I really enjoyed my time working at the International Academy of Design and Technology, Detroit. A career in education is really fulfilling with many challenges. Meeting, learning from, and hanging out with a lot of interesting and creative people was one of the best perks of the job. I was the Program Chair of the Digital Media Production department and taught a few classes as well (Web/Interactive Media/Video Production/and more). I ran the fastest growing department in the college and worked around the clock trying to constantly learn while teaching an ever evolving craft. The primary responsibility of the Chair position was to design and implement various instructional courses and techniques into the program, manage instructors, and forecast/manage a yearly budgets. I reached out to my students in numerous ways and used various digital mediums. I found many innovative ways of inspiring, teaching, and reaching out to the students and staff.
Managing education for an eclectic design culture was a really fun and engaging journey. I ran the Digital Media Production department, but was encouraged to work with all other departments in the schools as well (Fashion Design/Merch, Interior Design, Game Design). We combined efforts on many conferences and events to help students showcase their talent and learn more along the way.
I setup and helped facilitate many projects and events where the students collaborated on ventures based on their crafts and desired career focus. This included lots of collaborative events and conferences with industry speakers and more. We also partnered with the Fashion Design department on filming and providing all media content for their large Imagine Fashion show (at the Masonic Temple and Fox Theater in Detroit). Students would help film, photograph, and work on post production for these events as well.
During my time at IADT, I formed a club called the Detroit Digital Movement where I would bring together a bunch of eager students to learn more and collaborate on projects outside of their normal classes. The Detroit Digital Movement brought many opportunities like filming concerts, fashion shows, MMA fights, and more for anyone interested in further developing their crafts. We also taught each other lots of things including how to repair PCs, flash computers with different operating systems, show new coding and software tricks, and more!
The students and the creative environment is what I miss most about working in this role. Managing a department with over 200 students and about a dozen instructors had many challenges, but this was definitely a time I really enjoyed and grew to understand how to empathize with individuals and their struggles. My students were the best and always inspired me to learn more and push my creativity as well.
During my last year in my role as Program Chair, I started a daily blog/email for the students where I tried to showcase or teach something new about the world of Digital Media. I did this because I realized that everyone was coming from a different experience level and some seemed too lost while others felt the pace was too slow. The WORD blog/email I would send out to the students gave them an opportunity to explore new technologies on their own time. Many thanked me for this extra step I took to share relevant information to the world of digital media.