•COURSES TAUGHT•
2025
SDS3340 Introduction to Career Development
Elective course that develops the necessary skills to engage in life/career planning.
2020 – 2021
ENGL123 English Level 2 Listening
Undergraduate English skills courses building towards academic literacy in listening.
ENGL122 English Level 2 writing
Undergraduate English skills courses building towards academic literacy in writing.
2017 – 2020
EAP115 English Language and Study Skills III for Mathematics
Undergraduate course designed to improve university English skills such as listening to lectures, reading academic material, writing academic essays and reports, and giving professional presentations.
EAP105 English Language and Study Skills II for Business
This course was designed to extend students’ general and discipline- specific English language and study skills, with an emphasis on critical thinking and independent learning, in order to allow them to function more effectively in other university modules, as well as in their overall academic career, and to raise their language skills to CEFR B2+ level.
EAP034 Seminar-35 English for Academic Purposes
This module is designed to teach students to identify and critique ideas from spoken and written texts, summarize spoken and written texts, engage in groups discussions, present researched ideas, and produce written passages and essays.
2015 – 2017
Listening and Speaking
Undergraduate course for English majors and pre-service teachers. Academic and professional aural and oral competency through mediums of debate and presentations.
2013 – 2015
English communications II
Integrated skills course focusing on the functions of grammar in context for the intermediate level.
English communications I
Integrated skills course focusing on the functions of grammar in context for the beginner level.
English Expressions II
Conversational English with an emphasis on grammatical forms, listening competency, and dialogue practice.
Introduction to Academic Writing
Sentence, paragraph, and essay structure and organization for academic purposes.
2012 – 2013
English Literature
Understanding and responding to short fiction writing, examining elements of story, poem, and narrative structure.
English Grammar
Thorough examination of basic English grammar, sentence mapping, phrase structure and paragraph writing.
•COURSES ASSISTED•
2024 – 2025
EME6677 Advanced Instructional Design & Development
This advanced course explores theory and research that serve as the foundation for current and emerging instructional design (ID) practice. The course is aimed at graduate students who have already mastered basic knowledge and skills related to instructional design and learning theory
EDG6362 Instructional Systems Research Seminar
This course heightens students’ awareness of the critical issues in instructional systems. It examines how research methodologies have been used to study these issues, explores how research programs and theories are progressively honed, and defines programmatic areas of disciplined inquiry.
2011
ESL142 Advanced Listening and Speaking
Advanced academic listening and speaking skills and strategies. Oral communication activities, oral presentations and listening competency with vocabulary and grammatical structures appropriate to the high-intermediate level.
2010
English 217 Second Year Composition for Multilingual Students
Expository argumentative composition and critical reading of nonfiction: supporting arguments with outside sources, developing revising strategies and research skills.
•TEACHING PHILOSOPHY•
The purpose of teaching is to facilitate and enhance the natural processes involved in learning that are inherent in everyone. Given this predicate, my classroom teaching and mentorship is shaped by two core principles. The first is that learning is best as a social experience. We can accomplish much more as a group than any of us can accomplish alone. The second is that the experience of learning should be shaped as a process towards a product. In illustration, every course I teach has a clear objective leading to a final product that is shaped iteratively, with opportunities for feedback and reprocessing. I find this philosophy engenders a welcoming classroom environment that engages and supports students.
These core principles manifest in my teaching practices and mentorship. First, my course designs emphasize peer and group work. My learners are tasked with co-creating an artifact (tangible or intangible) that is reflective of, or closely aligned with, what they make or do in their future or actual professional contexts. For instance, teaching graduate students theories of educational technology in K-12 education by focusing on the issues that interest them in their specific contexts and then reviewing the work of their peers at each stage of the project process; holding discussions about the nature of the feedback and criticism we receive, how it was facilitative or debilitative, and exploring ways to criticize the work of others in a way that helps them improve; revising throughout the course so that learners ultimately leave not just with a polished product but with the knowledge and skill of proficient critical thinkers and collaborators.
Second, I emphasize experiential learning opportunities in my courses and in mentoring. When I identify a knowledge or skill gap in a student, I refrain from simply giving an answer. Depending on their level, I might pair them with a more experienced peer to observe or participate in meaningful but non-critical tasks. If possible, I will situate them in projects that expose them to a needed skill and allow them the time to practice it and learn it through recommended resources. Essentially, I take an approach that is heavily influenced by sociocultural theory, affording learners with opportunities to participate legitimately in communities of practice, starting at the periphery and moving towards becoming skilled and knowledgeable experts.
I always design my courses with the human as my primary consideration. An important mentor of mine has a philosophy for teaching: people first, content second, technology third— I couldn’t agree more. Learners are complex individuals with ambitions, motivations, histories, struggles, and dreams. They bring these things into every classroom, which is why I design my courses with inherent flexibility. I have deadlines, but I also have exceptions. I might ask for an essay but will entertain a presentation. My goal in teaching is for my learners to exit my course with confidence and determination. And see themselves as I see them: people who hold diverse visions of excellence.
•STUDENT FEEDBACK•
In the English class, Alex utilized a lot of techniques such as interesting games that assisted students to learn English more easily. His positive and responsible attitude influenced the students much and the students in his class liked him a lot. No matter when I asked him several simple questions, he replied me as soon as possible. I was moved by his responsible teaching methods.
Alex is always patient and helpful to the participants during the whole surf project. I knew almost nothing about VR at the very beginning, Alex offered a lot of help to familiarize a total outsider like me with the complex equipment. Alex perfectly combined the popular new technology and language learning process, which could be boring within traditional classroom. He designed a series of interesting teaching methods for the foreign learners, for example, he associated the commonly used Chinese radicals with their images and let the participants to match the 3D models and the meanings. The creative idea brought many positive feedback from the learner. I believe that his teaching method of utilizing VR technology to teach Chinese characters is a great innovation in language learning area.
Alex has been patient and gentle in answering our all questions, and the class is very interesting.
Alex is very patient and careful. He also helps us to improve our pronunciation and gives us a lot of explanations.not only academic skills
I am really thankful for my teacher cause he always helps to solve the problems when I face difficulties. He is a really nice person.
Alex Barrett 