I'm Steve Hudak, a full-time professor in the Bachelor of Interaction Design Program at Sheridan College.

I have always responded to teachers who were excited by the ideas they were presenting, they were able to connect ideas that made the content feel meaningful, it was their influence that shaped my love for problem solving and exploring the ideas that excited me. When I was 20 the opportunity to teach at Sheridan College was presented and I took it, 27 years later I am grateful for accepting that challenge, and the reflective practice it initiated. Teachers played a pivotal role in my life, their effect on me influencing my decision to spend so much of my time doing what they did. Recognizing this transformative effect has become an integral part of my teaching practice. I use lessons I learned from my best teachers every day and I am determined to bring the same energy and vitality they shared with me. This legacy informs my perspective and in doing so pushes me to encourage an active learning environment that promotes transformative learning experiences.

I navigate this objective directly, intentionally, and authentically, I love to teach. However I also recognize that learning is neither singular nor one sided, it requires engagement from both learners and teachers. I operate from the position of a guide, bringing an expertise of subject and methodology to bear. Building on this I eagerly connect with my students and encourage active learning through being genuinely interested in them as learners and as people. I know when I am effective when they acknowledge this relationship; when they pointedly stay after class to ask more questions; when they thank me for a class I taught them; when they take risks and participate in discussion: when they take ownership of the learning experience we share.

Interaction Design is the process of building or reconstructing how humans navigate the connections between the physical and the digital. The content is heavy both in its use of technology and its expectations that students learn how to work together. Interaction Designers are often bridge builders and interpreters between stakeholders. They learn to traverse the spaces between territorial groups and find common ground, collaboration is therefore an essential skill. Equally they need to be able to utilize a wide variety of technologies, forms of both hardware and software. Building a low-risk, active learning, play-based environment that encourages participation and collaboration is the instructional model I work at implementing in each class.

Collaboration has also proven to be an essential quality of a balanced work environment, working closely with administration, technologists, and faculty it is essential in overcoming challenges and building a prosperous program. Being encouraged to cultivate a reflective practice both builds resilience and respectfulness, it encourages deeper and more meaningful collaborations. Being intentional and consistent this way has built strong professional relationships ships with the people around me, maintaining positive connections, improving our work, and developing exceptional peer partnerships. The outcome is greater emphasis on the quality of learning, and deeper dives into what we can do to improve our student’s success.

In the classroom I use a series of methodologies including active learning, play-based learning, flipped classroom, students as researchers, and reflective teaching. These allow me to push the boundaries of what a classroom is as we explore learning together. By making the classroom a place to explore ideas collectively we can deconstruct and actively play with them. Participation is encouraged by demonstration, unpacking, making-sense-of, and playing with whatever is being considered, whether it is a difficult concept, a new tool, or a challenging technology. Play makes the process feel natural. When this functions correctly it reduces barriers of entry: making new and difficult content more equitable and relatable, thus increasing opportunities for risk taking. In this way education can be a process of shared engagement, of student learners being introduced to, and engaging with information and ideas together with me. It can be a process of exploring ideas, provoking engagement and taking risks.

Risk taking is an essential quality in my program, the courses I teach, and the field my students are preparing for. Creativity in both art and design must contend by either taking or mitigating risk. Creative professionals struggle with this in every project they take on and many of the essential qualities of creative work rely on this framework, it is therefore just as essential to prepare students for it. Active and play-based learning build a healthy relationship with risk taking and motivation shifts intrinsically.

Encouraging students to be active learners requires respecting them as individuals, being aware that their concerns and intersections are important variables affecting their engagement and finding a way to balance all of these conditions. A learning environment is not an ideal place but a real place of balance and intentionality, it is dynamic in both flux and flow.