Educator

Education is an important part of my professional practice that has led to my solid history as an Educator. I have mentored, instructed, and developed curriculum, events, and programming experienced by over 15,000+ people of all ages in Ontario and internationally on the subjects of Graphic Design, 3D Modeling, Game Design, UX Design, Video Production, Animation, Digital Literacy, and Technology. My expertise for mentoring students has been recognized by the Canadian Academy of Cinema & Television and I have taught at academic and government institutions, schools, non-profits, private clients, and more.

I have, in some form, taught and/or lectured at: Humber College, Sheridan College, The Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario Science Centre, Ryerson/Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto, Interactive Ontario, Conestoga College, Toronto Public Library, and Ottawa Public Library, as well as schools in the Toronto District School Board, Pikangikum Education Authority, Moose Cree Education Authority, and the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board. I was also on Interactive Ontario’s Black Youth Action Plan Advisory Board and led their Digital Dive Program from 2020 – 2021.

My long history in Education can be found within my Resume. I offer services in Curriculum Design, Instructional Design, Lecturing, Workshops, Mentorship, and Digital Learning in every subject I specialize in. If you wish to request my services as an Educator for your organization or as a private client, please e-mail me through my contact page.

Humber College

In January 2021, I became a Professor for the Game Programming program at Humber College. There I teach the next generation of game developers how to manage and design their future game projects through original weekly class curriculum and assignments that engaged students on a various topics related to Game Design, Production, Project Management, and Career Paths.

I used innovative presentation strategies to remotely teach classes live for the GAME 160 – Game Production course (2021 – 2023). I also developed asynchronous eLearning videos and performed live Career Coaching for the GAME 314 – Professional Practice course (2022 – Present). To ensure student success, I promoted community building through a special class Discords, designed inclusive class policies, promoted open question periods, created innovative assignments, and committed to responding to all students within 24 hours. Like all my teaching work, I use my personality, charisma, and storytelling abilities into the class to create a memorable, enjoyable, and informative learning experience that students appreciated. Recorded examples of my lessons can be provided to clients upon request.

Royal Ontario Museum

From 2017 – 2022, I was the lead Makerspace Technician/Educator at the Royal Ontario Museum. In this role, instructed ROM Makerspace Digital Learning Programs for school groups, maintained equipment, contributed to digital learning curriculum, led digital skills training sessions staff, developed eLearning, and assisted other ROM departments. Makerspace programs dealt with visiting school groups and had me teach thousands of Ontario students about 3D Printing and Modeling, Digital Storytelling, Flag Making, Textiles, Pot Painting, and more.

One of my largest contributions was being the Lead Technician, Instructor, and a Curriculum Designer for the Hack The ROM (HTR) program. HTR is an annual long-term program for Northern & Southern Ontario Schools (Grades 4 – 8) that inspires students to design interactive video games based on Indigenous knowledge. I worked with Indigenous Teachers and School Teachers to teach Game Design and Technology using Scratch, Twine, and other programs. I visited many schools in-person in the Greater Toronto Area as well as teaching schools in remote Indigenous communities, both in-person and through video-chat. At the end of the cohort, students are invited to the ROM to play games by participants from other schools, resulting in hundreds of new student games every year. Through HTR, I successfully engaged over 20 classrooms from Toronto & GTA, Pikangikum, Moose Factory, and Thunder Bay. In 2018, I also temporarily worked as a seasonal ROM Trailblazer Leader to co-design and co-teach a 10-week curriculum for weekly Boys & Girls Club visits at Regal Road and Bala Avenue Public Schools; engaging kids to be inspired about science, history, technology, and space through various creative activities and experiments.

Through the ROM I successfully engaged over 5000+ students of all ages and backgrounds to learn about Science, Art, History, Culture, Technology and more using inclusive and innovative teaching methodologies that decolonized education spaces and allowed for hands-on physical and digital learning.

Hand-Eye Society

The Hand-Eye Society (HES) is one of the world’s first Video Game Arts Non-Profits that promotes and advocates for a more inclusive game community through events and education. Originally working as a Contract Educator from 2017 – 2020, I was promoted to be the new Director of Technology & Workshop Coordinator in 2020.

As the Director of Technology, I command the technical aspects of all major online initiatives, create digital strategy, manage technical content, execute our public workshops. and organize most initiatives and events. I also curate our many festivals alongside my team and communicate with many stakeholders to ensure our success. Coming into this role in the start of the global COVID-19 Pandemic, I used my expertise to successfully shift HES, a formerly in-person exclusive organization, into a fully online organization, transitioning many old programming into digital spaces and creating several new online initiatives. This included, among many other things, creating online educational workshops, leading the Ontario Creates Futures Forward program, managing Co-Op students, directing our new Twitch broadcasts, and inventing the FEST platform (As detailed in Interactive Media). My work continues to be HES success, especially in the age of COVID-19. My efforts and leadership have not only increased the HES’ capacity as an organization, but has greatly grown our outreach beyond the confines of Toronto as a more well-known organization, making us seen by patrons around the world through our many events and festivals and partner with new organizations that allow us to better educate and serve the game-curious public.

Interactive Ontario

In 2020, I was hired by Interactive Ontario as the Lead Instructor for their Digital Dive Program, a Game Development education program targeted at Black Youth. Through Digital Dive, I designed and instructed my own curriculum to teach Black students in Toronto and Ottawa how to use the Unity and Twine game engines in-person prior to the 2020 pandemic and remotely afterwards. I was subsequently invited to join Interactive Ontario’s Black Youth Action Plan Advisory Board alongside several prolific local Black artists to help the organization develop Black Youth education programs from 2020 – 2021. As part of this, I created a series of e-learning videos for the 2021 edition of Digital Dive to teach students how to use Twine, including the video example below, alongside other educational content from fellow board members.

Sheridan College

Since January 2017, Sheridan College/University Of Toronto professor Jason MacIssac has invited me to be a Guest Lecturer for the Principles of Game Design course every semester. As a Guest Lecturer, I discuss my acclaimed An/Other game, share my research into Games For Social Change, and expose new game making perspectives to classes of College students. I continue to do this multiple times each year.

Guest Lectures

In addition to all my other Educational Roles, I am regularly invited to speak at a multitude of Institutions across Ontario for events, panels, and more. Common subjects of my talks include Game Design, Games For Social Change, Interactive Art, Technology Workshops, Design, and Mentorship in Education. I am skilled at performing talks for students both in-person and remotely. The provided videos are examples of my talks I performed in 2020 for The Canadian Academy of Cinema & Television and Ryerson University’s Converge Lecture Series (before the pandemic).

 

STEAM Labs

From 2017 – 2018, I was a Maker Educator that monitored the STEAM Labs Makerspace, assisted patrons, instructed 3D Printing and Laser Cutter Safety Training classes, and was Lead Instructor and Curriculum Designer of the Unity Game Development program. I instructed numerous students (Age 10 – 17) how to successfully make their own video games using Unity 3D, C# Programming, Autodesk Maya, and TinkerCAD while providing mentorship and promoting the importance of creative thinking, communication, ethics, and teamwork.

Additionally, I worked at the STEAM Labs Maker Place at the Ontario Science Centre in 2017 as part of Canada 150 celebrations. There I directly engaged thousands of patrons, including schools and families, during regular hours and special events. I shared my knowledge on 3D Printing and Laser Cutting to families as well as invited them to participate in our interactive ‘critter-making’ and lantern-making activities throughout the year.

Game Maker’s Union

The Game Maker’s Union (GMU) was a game development student group at Ryerson University. I was on the executive team for over 3 years as the Public Relations Executive (2012 – 2013), Vice-President (2013 – 2014), and finally as President (2014 – 2015). As the most prominent leader of the GMU from 2012 – 2015, I directed all marketing campaigns, managed website content, and restructured the club to focus on education. I organized and instructed many new educational events and initiatives, and independently founded the annual Checkpoint Conference from 2013 – 2015 that featured various guest speakers from across the local video game industry, with support from Nintendo of Canada and the Yorkdale Microsoft Store.

I organized events and workshops from 2012 – 2015, including some I led and instructed. Popular events I instructed included 3D modeling, Photoshop, and Interactive Design workshops. My mandate since the day I joined was to make a safe and accessible game development community at Ryerson University. My community management ensured all students who came to our meetings felt confident they could learn game development, regardless of age, gender, background, academic program, or experience. As a result, we became well known within the Ryerson Community and attracted members from the wider Toronto games community.

My leadership in education, social inclusiveness, and marketing drastically transformed the GMU from a small group of under 10 students to a diverse community of over 500 members by the end of my Presidency in 2015. We earned awards from the Ryerson Students Union for Educational Events, Community Outreach, and Membership Engagement.

Checkpoint – Annual Game Industry Conference

Checkpoint is an annual conference I founded and organized during my tenure as an Executive and President of Ryerson University’s Game Maker’s Union (GMU) from 2013 – 2015. Checkpoint features several professional video game developers as inspirational guest speakers in a 3 hour conference for the student community. Diverse guest speakers would share their knowledge and experience in the industry to students, followed by Q & A, in the GMU’s biggest and most popular event. Each year I organized and directed Checkpoint, including arranging the venue, securing guest speakers, promoting the event, hosting the conference, and consulting with companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo of Canada for raffle prizes and donations.

The above video is from the last Checkpoint I hosted and organized as President of the Game Maker’s Union in 2015. It featured an amazing, gender-balanced roster of guest speakers: Diana Arruda from Gameloft Toronto, Freelance Game Designer Rebecca Brooker, and Wei Zhang and Karl Merten from Vinyl Games. Special thanks to Treasurer Matthew Holzapfel as the Assistant Manager of the event and Videographer Wil Noack for documenting the event that I later edited into the above video.