Lindsey French
Name: Lindsey French, MFA
Title: Assistant Professor of Art
Department: Department of Art
How long have you been teaching? 12 years.
How long have you been at UMaine? 1 year
SEATLE Award for: “The Art of Arrival”
Meet Lindsey
Courses you Teach
ART 250: Graphic Design I
ART 350: Graphic Design II
IMD 530: Topics in Technical Development
Expanded Listening Practices
Art & The Senses
Data Translations
IMD 562: Research Studio III
Tell us a bit about you
What’s something you have always wanted to learn, but haven’t yet?
I’ve always wanted to learn to SCUBA dive!
If your teaching (or research) had a theme song, what would it be?
I hope you’ll allow me to stretch the rules a little for the album, “Watering a Flower,” by Haruomi Hosono (it’s only 3 songs long)
What’s something you would secretly love to teach, even if it has nothing to do with your field?
I’d love to teach a course on vegan baking
Tell us a bit about your approach to teaching
How would you describe the changes to your course design or approaches to teaching?
With the support of the CITL, I’ve been able to design my courses, especially my graphic design courses, to support students with a truly wide range of experiences and previous knowledge coming into the class. This has included things like producing how-to videos so that students can watch and rewatch a demonstration at their own pace, or structuring the flow of assignments so that students have the option of repeating an earlier project with more confidence and skill. Working with Gemma, an amazing instructional designer, I’ve had support designing courses to meet a wider range of learning styles, and to provide practical and accessible learning materials for students with a range of backgrounds.
Students can now access technical resources on their own, leaving more in-class time for peer and instructor feedback, exchange of ideas, and a deeper development of concepts. While it’s a little more work up front to develop these practical materials, it allows for a more enjoyable and engaged classroom environment for me as well, because I love supporting students as they pursue their artistic goals!I
What would be a piece of advice you might give a new instructor at UMaine?
I would highly recommend meeting with an instructional designer and joining a learning community!! There’s so much I learned from the CITL and from my colleagues in the community of practice.