Category: Clark College

And I’m Back

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I’m delighted to be part of Clark College for another year. This marks my fourth year at the college teaching web development. Here’s a list of all the courses that I have taught:

  • Intro to Programming and Problem Solving with Python (CTEC 121)
  • HTML Fundamentals (CTEC 122)
  • JavaScript (CTEC 126)
  • Business Web Practices (CTEC 165)
  • PHP with SQL 1 (CTEC 127)
  • PHP with SQL 2 (CTEC 227)
  • API & Advanced Integration (CTEC 228)
  • WordPress Development (CTEC 260)

On Teaching

As a college instructor, there is one thing that I rarely have ever talked about and that is how I have improved my skills. Every day in class I am constantly being asked to help solve student programming problems and demonstrate and explain my solutions. There has rarely been a time when I couldn’t come up with a solution.

The other skill that I have developed is solving problems “over the air”. What this entails is being able to solve a student’s problems without even seeing their code. I ask a series of questions and by the time we get to the second or third question the student has resolved their own problem.

I highly recommend that you give teaching of any kind a try. It will not only help your students but yourself.

What I’m Teaching this Summer and Fall at Clark College

Registration for Clark College summer and fall quarters is now open! I’m teaching HTML Fundamentals (CTEC 122) this summer, and in the fall, Intro to Programming and Problem Solving (CTEC 121), PHP/MySQL (CTEC 127) and Business Web Practices (CTEC 165). If you are interested in taking any of these classes, please let me know.

Please share this with your friends who might be interested in taking any of these classes.

Did I mention that I’m approaching 3.5 years of teaching at Clark? Man, how the time goes by…

Updated List of College Classes I have Taught

Here’s an updated list of the courses I have taught at Clark College in Vancouver, WA over the past 4 years:

  • Web and Interface Design 1 (CTEC 270)
  • Web and Interface Design 2 (CTEC 271)
  • Programming Essentials (CTEC 112)
  • HTML Fundamentals (CTEC 122)
  • JavaScript (CTEC 126)
  • Intro to Programming and Problem Solving with Python (CTEC 121)
  • PHP with SQL 1 (CTEC 127)
  • PHP with SQL 2 (CTEC 227)
  • Business Web Practices (CTEC 165)
  • API & Advanced Integration (CTEC 228)
  • WordPress Development (CTEC 260)
  • Applied Web Development (CTEC 265)
  • AI, Robotics and 3D Printing 101
  • Web Skills Portfolio (CTEC 293)

There are some new courses on the horizon as well that I may be teaching. Stay tuned.

I’m Bringing IBM Bluemix and IBM Watson to the Classroom

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I am very happy to announce that students enrolled in my “Intro to Programming and Problem Solving” class at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington will be using IBM Bluemix and IBM Watson this week in class. Students will be building a language translation program and a tone analyzer program using the Python programming language.

Many thanks to IBM for their “Academic Initiative” program which makes it easy for educators to get access to IBM Bluemix for a limited time.

Students in my other programming language course will also soon be using Bluemix and Watson.

Stay tuned.

Say What? IBM and Education

Last night the Dean of my divison at the college sent an email that she received from the Washington State, Center of Excellence. In the email were many things, but one of those things caught my attention. Here it is:

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The IBM BlueMix team offers IT instructors to enroll in a “no-charge” program called “IBM Academic Initiative for Cloud/BlueMix“. I’m going to see where this takes me. Stay tuned for details.

We Made it Onto the “Best List”

SEATTLE — Nine Washington community colleges, including Clark College in Vancouver, are on list of the 150 best in the nation.

The Aspen College Excellence Program picks its top 150 by doing a data review. It picks the schools that show the most student success, in term of persistence, completion and transfer.

The program wants to see consistent improvement over time, as well as equity in outcomes for students of all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

This web development insructor is very proud of Clark’s students, administration, staff and faculty.

More >

Year 4

Today marks the beginning of my fourth year as a college instructor at Clark College. I’m amazed at how quickly the time flies by. Here are a few things that I have learned about teaching at a community college that I thought I would share with you:

  • Seeing students graduate from your program and getting jobs is awesome.
  • Office hours are a thing of the past. Virtual office hours are seven days a week.
  • 10-30% of your students truly want to learn and the others simply go through the “motions” of school.
  • Teach to the “middle” of the class.
  • Teaching people who range in age from 13 to 75 is extremely rewarding and challenging; especially when they are all in the same class.
  • Excuses are a constant.
  • Classroom management is not as easy as people think it is.
  • Developing the right mix of assignments, testing, labs and other assessments takes time to develop and constantly needs tweeking.
  • I love what I am doing.
  • I’m always learning new things.

I highly encourage anyone who is thinking about teaching at a college or university to do it. Your first couple of semesters will be rough but, once you realize the impact you make on students lives,  you will embrace and love doing it.

I’m always available if you want to talk about becoming a college instructor or want to learn more about the web development program at Clark College.