Higher Education Course Subjects Taught
*Sole Course Curriculum Development
in three-year bachelors degree programs at the Art Institute of California San Diego. All courses consist of technical and theoretical lectures, in-class individual and group creative exercises, one-on-one (instructor to student) critique and evaluation sessions, and student project presentations according to deadlines.

Advanced Design*
Brand Campaign Design for Graphic Design majors, focused on target market driven conceptual approaches and visual experimentation, copy writing, and creative briefs.
Senior Project Design Studio*
for students in their final quarters before graduation, an environment structured as Creative Director (Instructor) to Designer (Student). During this course, each student choses portfolio-required projects to improve the strength of their individual bodies of work and completes their own established set of milestones with regular feedback from instructor.
Senior Project Lab*
an extension of Senior Project Design Studio, an environment structured as Creative Director (Instructor) to Designer (Student). During this course, each student choses portfolio-required projects to improve the strength of their individual bodies of work and completes their own established set of milestones with regular feedback from instructor.
Introduction to Packaging*
for 2nd or 3rd year Graphic Design majors, focused on basic branding principles, materials and prototypes, usability and user experience, manufacturing processes, and environmental concerns.
Image Manipulation* (Basic Photoshop)
first-year students learn all aspects of creating digital imagery for use in design mediums from print to web, including resolution, color, retouching, collaging, and advanced Photoshop capabilities.
Advanced Image Manipulation*
(Advanced Photoshop & ImageReady)
for 2nd year graphic design, multimedia, and animation majors. Emphasis is on expanding creative and conceptual abilities in visual communications using advanced Photoshop and ImageReady techniques as a secondary tool. Focuses on visualizing time sequence, surrealism, professional craft, and personal expression.
Advertising Design*
for 3rd year Graphic Design and Advertising majors focuses on developing strong concept and typography for extremely diverse range of subjects for a range print media contexts. Emphasis is placed on high-volume turn-around according to deadlines (students complete 25-30 concept driven, refined print ads and 3 ad series in 10 weeks).
Fashion Application-Branding
fourth-year graphic design majors learn advanced design and development of mock-ups for branding, display, promotion, and signage relative to fashion campaigns. (team teaching, taught lab instruction in partnership with lecture course)
Independent Study
(Intermediate Dreamweaver, Flash, & Director)
for fourth-year Digital Media majors. Guide and critique students in developing multimedia projects to enhance/strengthen their exiting body of work, primarily in the form of interactive promotions and websites.
Environmental Design Lab Instruction
Ad Campaign IV Lab Instruction
Corporate Identity IV Lab Instruction
Publication DesignI & II
Survey of Media and Design
Production II, Electronic Production

Adobe Creative Suite Training Instruction on Digital Applications

Over Ten years of software experience and passion for technological tools is applied in professional training courses, primarily with Sterling Ledet & Associates, a national software Adobe Authorized Training Provider. These are my Adobe Specialties:

InDesign CS3 and CS4 Basic
InDesign CS3 and CS4 Advanced
Illustrator Basic
Illustrator Advanced
Photoshop Basic
Photoshop Advanced
Acrobat Professional Basic
Acrobat Forms & Interactivity
Adobe Bridge (also Integrated into ALL courses)

As for Dreamweaver and Flash, I have a near-expert working proficiency in these essential programs, but am still 'practicing' successful teaching of them to others.

The 'students' who take training courses with me are working professionals coming from a very diverse range of employers and job functions. Their individual objectives coming in to these courses are just as diverse. Years of instructing customized training have provided an immense amount of teaching methodology development, an understanding of technical learning styles, and how to keep learners engaged.

For more in-depth information on my technical training, including Lesson Note Samples and my higher education curriculum/course samples, Student & Client Reviews, and more, visit my Squarespace Blog Site!
A Snip from this site:
I will admit that I am a bit of a technical nerd, at least on the software and aesthetic side of things. I have been using Adobe apps since the beginning of time.
It's true, I was a Quark Dork back in the day as well, but I abandoned it entirely when I installed InDesign vII, years ago.
I will say that I AM an expert...however, my energy is focused on exploring ways to teach the applications in the most hands-on, retainable methods of learning. Although I have a near maniacal nerd-love for creative software, I am far more motivated by someone's genuine desire to learn, grasp, and retain concepts, whether they are trying to learn the tools or expand their creative capabilities. > read more