Thursday, September 20, 2012

A guide on how to use "The Functional Art" in the classroom

A class project by my UM student Morgan Visalli

When I was writing The Functional Art, my editor asked me for an article in which I explained how I organize and teach my own classes. The article is available for free already. You can download it here. It's a .zip file containing a Word document —the Instructor's Guide itself— and several images.

The contents of the guide are similar to the ones I use in my own classes at the University of Miami's School of Communication:

• An intro, explaining that my courses are mainly about thinking, structuring, and planning, although we do plenty of exercises.
• A sample syllabus (grading policies, lesson plans, etc.)
• A week-by-week schedule, outlining the main topics covered in each session, software issues, etc.
• Details about the kinds of projects my students create, and several examples of them (those are the image files).

I hope you'll like it.