I AM SAM—a design educator and academic leader at Arizona State University’s Design School. As an architectural, graphic, interactive, and environmental designer, I have worked across design industries and the academic landscape. As a design educator, my primary pedagogical approach has focused on collaborative learning experiences, uniting the theories and practices of multiple design disciplines into cohesive communicable concepts.
My creative research has examined context and behavior in developing different educational materials and how these can be applied to varying design deliverables in physical and virtual learning environments. An early iteration of this research, Knowhere: Finding Ways to Teach Wayfinding, has achieved regional recognition from the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers (SEGD) and national recognition from the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC). It has additionally been presented at conferences for both organizations and to students at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design.
More recently, my research has turned toward building experience equity for online design students, creating a culture of sharing using communities of inquiry and participatory action research. Applications for this include in-person, online, and hybrid academic models and the development of stackable learning assets for use in delivering recurring content in traditional and alternative learning environments. Beyond content generation, this research holds the potential to change how online courses and degrees are built by establishing a more personalized learning experience.
For further information, please email me or visit my LinkedIn profile.
