1. The Primary Objective of Instruction
   • We are fortunate to have in our program the excellent Fine Arts/Computer Graphics syllabi developed for the Abu Dhabi accreditation, that we all follow.  I worked on it as a member of the Accreditation Team, and was asked to revise the Art History syllabi. I have ensured that the learning goals of the syllabi are implemented efficiently and successfuly to assure maximum student achievement.  The syllabi provide an excellent template for effective instruction and student learning.  Since our students are Computer Graphics students, whose goal is to master the skills at the software necessary to create their Senior Project animations for grduation, I have attempted to include opportunities for students to implement these skills as they learn them into their academic art history and aesthetic projects.  In alignment with the mission of NYIT "to provide career-oriented professional education" I provide opportunities for the students to translate verbal information into graphic design and video.  This prepares them for work in the media industry, where their primary tasks will be to create effective visualizations of verbal information.  This also provides an opportunity for multi-disciplinary learning, where faculty act as a team.  The barriers between the "academic" subjects and "techinical" subjects dissolve as students are engaged in academic research that must be translated with technical skills.  We move students beyond the cliche power point presentations, to create dynamic and information-rich Computer Graphics projects.  Several of these have been selected for SOURCE conferences on a yearly basis since 2008.  Samples of this work I mentored are below:
     1. Film "Art Talks Back" reverses the hermeneutic of visual perception from engagement and dialogue of the viewer towards the object, and creates a satirical commentary of artwork speaking back to the viewers. (Fawaz Saeed), 2013
     2. Film "Musical Art History," samples of art from pre-historic to contemporary, using appropriate music derived from the period or evocative of style. (Jeed Alam-el-Deen), 2012
     3. Photography & Design "Redesign for King Hussein Cancer Hospital Implementing Aesthetic Design Principles," 2011 (Hannah Babieh, Reem Smadi)
     4. Photography and Computer Graphics exhibit on "Sacred Historicical Sites of Jordan," 2010 (Zaid Arabi Katbi)
     5. Film on "The Symbol of the Cloud in Christianity, Judaism and Islam," 2009 (Ahmad Kayalli)
     6. These syllabi also permit the adjustment appropriate for local learning environments.
        • This has provided a great opportunity and challenge for the teaching of Art History and Aesthetics.   Using the standard art history text (Gardner's History of Art), it is necessry to adjust one's perspective and emphasis to create course content that resonates with the experience of students from a Middle Eastern culture.  This has provided an exciting research opporunity, and I have gradually increased my ability to provide a "mid-east connection" with the canonical course content.  From the observations of Baghdad and Damascus silks seen in medieval art on figures in paintings, to exploring the parallel developments between Islamic and Medieval architectural forms, to noting the enrichment of European culture through trade, war, crusades, pilgrimage and intellectual exchanges (i.e. Andalus), the teaching of art history has been an ongoing journey of exploration and connecting the dots together with students. We are fortunate here in Jordan to have many splendid archaeological/art history sites to bring students on trips, which greatly enhance student learning and understanding. 
        • The teaching of Aesthetics also has provided an unique opportunity to explore the rich Islamic tradition of concepts of beauty and sacred geometry.  In addition, teaching Enlightenment philosophers during the "Arab Spring" transports remote philosophical concepts into urgenct relevance in this region, and provides much opportunity for discussion, dispute and implementing abstract aesthetics into the practical daily realities of a region undergoing radical transformations in politics, society and cultures  Students maintain Journals, and create a graphic design for each philosopher studied, as personal visusl commentary on their ideas..
        • The above experiences encouraged me to create an Islamic Visual Culture course, and an Islamic Studies course for the NYIT Core Curriculum.  
        • Measerements of student seccess are carefully recorded using Blackboard and insuring that the "Safe Assignments" are not plaigerized from the internet, but the product of genuine student research.  All the Art History courses contain a variety of types of assignments to provide an opportunity for students with different learning abilities.  Students write Chapter Reviews analyzing works of art they select; I provide a Glossary quiz for each chapter that is especially useful for students for whom English is a second language; major works of art are memorized and identified for each chapter.  Students help create their own essay questions for each chapter's exams, derived from class discussion and issues of importance for them.  
        • Since the viewing of artwork is very subjective, I utilize a method of instruction that provides a variety of "windows" or approaches to analyzing a work of art.  This provides for individual learning styles of students.  This technique covers 5 major ways or "windows" to view a work of art.
          1. The Aesthetic Mode - here students learn to do an analysis of the formal elements of the work of art, which integrates their 2D and 3D Design curriculum, as well as CG Design and illustration, painting and drawing classes.
          2. The Cultural/Religious Mode - since most of the artwork of art history relates to the religious values of a culture, we place the artwork in context of the belief system we are styding that generates the artwork.
          3. The Political/Social/Economic Mode - here the power structures behind the artwork help explain the appearance and use of the art, and permit the students to probe the multivalent uses of art throughout history in politics, society and economics.
          4. The Psychological Mode - artwork evokes a psychological response that can be consciously purposeful, at the request of a patron, or derived from an individual artist's creative exploration.  Here we discuss the response of the viewers - the patron, the people of the time, and the student's own response.
          5. The Technological Mode - art is the skillful making of an object, that produces an emotional or aesthetic response. as the aesthetician Irene Winter methodically points out in her analysis of Mesopotamian artwork.  Students here explore the techniques and materials that were used to produce artworks.  This discussion enhances their learning in studio classes, where they are developing their own hands-on skills in diverse media and materials.
2. Documentation of Student Learning -
   • Sample syllabi and examples of student work will be uploaded on my website http://jtaylorcasale.com
   • Students learning outcomes are documented in several ways:
     1. Student work from studio classes I have taught (Printing, Storyboard Illustration, Painting)   along with Compuer Graphics and animations, are displayed annually at the End of the Year exhibit,  that I implemented for the Department in 2010, after becoming Dept. Chair.  The high quality of work has impressed the family and public who came to these exhibits.  The Directors of Foresight Gallery, where we exhibited in 2011, told us that the students' work was at a polished professional level, that demonstrated the high level of achievement in student learning.
     2. SOURCE has also provided a method of assessment of student work when it is of high quality to be selected for inclusion.
     3. Students who succeed in careers in the industry are also an example of effective teaching.  Several of our students hold important positions utilizing the skills they learned in our program.  The Art History and Aesthetics classes have helped polish these students' abilities to evaluate visual production, and to translate the visual into effectiive and correct English expression, both verbal and written. We have many letters of praise for our graduates who are active in their careers.
     4. Several students have gone on for gradute degrees, and have been accepted into international graduate programs.
3. Indirect Evaluation of Teaching Effectivenes
   • The enthusiasm of students can be measured readily in our Department by the amount of extra time students spend in the labs and studios.  Our Department has a reputation on campus for hard work.  The Security Guards know that some students will be present 24/7 on campus, working on their projects.  Faculty often are also present working with students or developoing their own research or projects.  I try to model for my faculty a willingness to spend extra time with students, often inviting them to my house to assist them with their work. As a result, we have developed a "family of learners" on campus, which is especially significant in Jordan, where most students leave after classes and there is little campus life for them.  
4. Other Activities Related to Achieving Excellence In Teaching
   • Team faculty projects have greatly enhanced teaching and learning.  We have combined Art History and Photography class trips to important archaeological sites in Jordan.  Painting, drawing and Illustration classes I have taught work closely with the development of storyboards for Senior Thesis.  Animation classes enlist the skills learned in the analysis of artwork in art history.  In my teaching of Art History I alert students to the design possibilities of art historical styles for their work.
   • I have initiated a team teaching approach for the Senior Thesis course.  Dr. Pierre works with the graphics of their thesis, and I edit the writing.  This provides an effective method to insure  that the final thesis product and portfolio is of high quality. 
   • With regular faculty meetings of the Department, we are able to have effective communication with each other and discuss students' progress and share projects.  This is helpful in co-ordinating our efforts and combining projects across disciplines.  For example, students who must submit photography for their trip reports, are able to work with Henk Bos, our photography instructor who frequently leads student tips to archaeological sites.  
   • I have taken private classes in Adobe Creative Suite to improve my Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D Max and film editing skills with fellow faculty members.

Community service projects for art history students have included volunteering at the World Archaeological Congress (WAC-7), and with Friends of Archaeology (FOA).  FOA has recently requested that our students assist with the reorganization of their library.  Students are also working on publicity media campaigns to bring attention to the problem of lost and endangered archaeological sites in Jordan.

• Since I am working on a paper on shared symbolism between Byzantine apse imagery and Islamic sacred geometry at Um Al Rasas, my students have travelled with me often to the site, and have assisted me in translating Arabic documents into English for me.  I have been studying Arabic since I have been here, but my reading skills are still inadequate for this research in scholarship published in Arabic.

​​​PEER EVALUATIONS