Can you introduce yourself a little? What’s a hobby or two you enjoy?
Hi! My name is Eric Brinkman, and I prefer they/them pronouns. I know it can be hard or seem strange for people at first, but it’s actually quite simple and grammatically correct!
I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but I haven’t lived there since 1992, so I consider myself to be from wherever I currently reside. I have lived in Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Columbus (OH), Indianapolis, Ithaca, and all over Arizona. I finished my undergrad in English in Columbus at Ohio State and then moved to Indianapolis for my first job; I worked for Macmillan Publishing as an indexer and then as a page layout tech. Eventually, after working in publishing, IT, and event production, I decided to go back to graduate school and got an online Master’s from the Shakespeare Institute. Once I started I couldn’t stop, so then I went on and finished my Ph.D. in Theatre, Film, and Media Arts from Ohio State in 2020 with a dissertation on gender, sexuality, and race in the performance of Shakespeare in theater and film.
I started working in Teaching and Learning while still in graduate school at the University Center for the Advancement of Teaching (UCAT) at Ohio State. I graduated and then started full time as a consultant there (which by that time had been rebranded the Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning), providing consultations, midterm assessments, and workshops on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Contemplative Pedagogy, and Trauma-informed Teaching.
I was also a lecturer at Ohio State where I taught television and film criticism. I am obsessed with the representation of gender and race in visual media, so I spend most of my free time watching films, especially horror, which make highly visible some of the roles gender and race play in society. I have published several book chapters and articles, including “Iago as the Racist-Function in Othello” in the spring 2022 issue of the Shakespeare Bulletin.
What’s a moment from teaching you’ve really enjoyed?
Like my colleague Megan, I live for those lightbulb moments in the classroom when you see the light turn on for a student. I also really enjoyed working with undergrads devising theater pieces. Perhaps my favorite example was when a group of students devised a scene with Disney characters trying to get through U.S. immigration. Each Disney character represented the concerns of a minoritized community seeking to receive equitable treatment as they attempted to enter despite barriers thrown in their way by the legal system.
What’s a piece of advice you would give to any graduate student or faculty member teaching at IU?
I always say there’s only one thing we really know about teaching: being reflective about your teaching is what makes you a better instructor. We try something, it works, we keep it. We try something, get some feedback from students, improve what we’re doing. That’s really the only way to improve as an instructor. We’re all different people, and so how we teach will also look different, based on our strengths and weaknesses. So you do not have to just copy the way your instructors taught: there is research on what improves teaching. So try to add an active teaching or learning exercise, add some transparency to your teaching, or redesign an assignment or course outcome or goal using backward design. If you have questions, we’re always here to help!
What are you looking forward to doing at the CITL?
My academic background is in teaching and pedagogy, but I also used to work in IT, so I’m exciting to have an opportunity to use all of my experience to help instructors implement technology in their courses in a way that is rooted in research-based pedagogy. Although the last few years have been challenging (!) we have also learned a lot about how technology can make our teaching spaces more equitable. UDL principles and the current research on transparency say offering our students choices and designing our classes for the most marginalized student in the room improves outcomes for all of our students and we can use new, emergent technologies to help us accomplish our teaching goals.
Eric and all our CITL colleagues are available to meet with instructors virtually or in-person. Just complete this contact form to explain your needs. Also, check out our Events page for upcoming workshops, especially as the fall semester approaches.
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