Jonathan Welch
Digital Media Designer

I place a high value on student ownership through discovery. I use a Socratic Method for technical instruction and circular group discussion for critique, concept presentation, and group assignments.   
The one constant in digital media is change. It is more important to understand design philosophies than the layout of a piece of hardware or software. While I show examples of hardware and software, my discussions, assessments, and tests revolve around the fundamentals of design. For example, I may show the class how to control color settings, but I emphasize additive color theory and hue, lightness, and saturation because these are the principles that transcend a particular software. A student can always look up where the buttons are located, but they first need to understand the design principles of what they want to do and why.  
I try to incorporate Socratic Method into a class by asking “How would you do it if you were making this software/hardware?”.  I like to begin 3D modeling by asking the class how they would describe a physical object in the room. Answers like “It is X by Y inches” and it is “X feet from the front wall of the class, Y feet from the wall with the door, and Z feet from the floor” lead to a description of the cartesian coordinate system and 6 degrees of freedom used by Maya, Cinema 4D Blender, and every other 3D modeling software.   
A student’s concept presentation often starts with articulating what they wanted to achieve with their work and is followed with a circular class-wide discussion of the perlocution and possible alternative ways to achieve the goal. It is important that the work and ideas are the students’ design, so I try not to impose my design choices on the students’ projects. I often have an example project and/or a prompt, but I encourage deviation as long as they show mastery of the material.