Teaching
My goal as an instructor is to foster an environment for critical thinking, open dialogue, and generous minds. I encourage students to re-examine their relationship to technology in all its forms, with special consideration for the material and the insidiously frivolous. I try to keep students engaged and considered — even in large lecture halls — by applying abstract concepts to real world examples.
At UC Irvine I have been the AY 21-22 and AY 22-23 instructor of record for the introductory-level course, “Internet and Society,” a 200-student lecture course. I designed the syllabus and materials during the COVID-19 pandemic to serve both a hybrid and in-person classroom, and adapted for in-person instruction in 22-23. See a sample syllabus here.
I was invited to act as instructor-of-record for the AY 22-23 upper-division course, “Social Analysis of Computing,” a 120-student lecture course with discussion sections. This course explores the human and material history of computing, its legacies in contemporary applications, and how they can be seen in current social issues in technology. See a sample syllabus here.
During my time at UCI, I served as a teaching assistant for: Video Games and Society (x2, for instructors Bo Ruberg and Constance Steinkuehler), Game Design and Systems (Instructor: Katie Salen), Mobile and Ubiquitous Games (Instructor: Aaron Trammell), and Critical Writing for the Information Sciences.
Selected student evaluations — Fall 2021, “Internet and Society”
“Lectures were engaging, entertaining, and interesting so I had no trouble paying attention and wanted to go to class and enjoyed it. [Instructor] Brewster was an amazing professor [sic — not yet!], the best one I've had, and I loved taking this class.”
“I loved the course material that we were assigned. We read articles and case studies and watched documentaries. I always found them super interesting and applicable to real world problems. I also liked how we had projects throughout the quarter that were graded as midterms instead of tests.”
“The lectures were amazing. They were incredibly compelling and really helped synthesize the information from the readings in a way that was easy and clear to understand.”
“[Instructor] Brewster's presentations made me laugh at least once every single time.”
“Her energy was infectious.”