Continuing Education Instructor, Children’s Book: Portfolio and Professional Practice

Rhode Island School of Design•Providence, RI

11d•Remote

About The Position

RISD Continuing Education instructors plan, organize, teach, and provide feedback to promote and direct student learning in keeping with the institutional learning-centered values and in a manner that meets the essential competencies of an artist and designer. Our instructors respond to students in a timely manner and communicate with the discipline and division via college-provided tools and resources. We welcome instructors whose teaching experience addresses historically underrepresented communities. The successful candidate should be prepared to teach asynchronous online courses to a diverse group of students from a range of disciplines, through online content development, including recorded video demonstrations and/or lectures provided weekly for the course duration. Candidates should be prepared to develop culturally diverse syllabi for studio and seminar courses, and weekly feedback to student work that models constructive criticism that encourages students to grow creatively and intellectually. We are looking for instructors whose specialty is in children’s book illustration and professional-based topics in the field. The successful candidate will be able to teach topics including writing book proposals, submission guidelines, how to seek representation, what makes a well-rounded portfolio, and what it is like to work with an editor on a book project. A variety of publishing approaches, such as self-publishing and traditional publishing will need to be discussed as well. As the final course in the Children’s Book Illustration Microcredential, the instructor will teach students how to create and further develop the content in one’s illustration portfolio, how to edit the body of work, and how to present it to the picture book publishing industry. Additionally, the instructor will teach skills to scan traditional work and digitally optimize work for online portfolios, marketing and submissions. The ideal candidate is a published children’s book illustrator with experience teaching adult students professional development.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree required
A track record of professional experience at companies successfully doing related work, and/or a robust, creative, intellectually and critically engaged design or studio practice, as evidenced by recognition in publications, commissions, exhibitions, awards and/or collaborative projects
Teaching experience, including the ability to create syllabi and lesson plans, and how to tie those to learning outcomes
Ability to accept and act upon constructive feedback from course evaluations by students and staff
Strong interpersonal, communication and organizational skills
Ability to meet RISD’s technology requirements
Experience leading classes and critiques that model inclusivity in an environment of diverse learners
Ability to tailor instruction to meet the needs students with a wide range of pre-existing skills
In-depth knowledge of Children's Book Illustration and Publishing

Nice To Haves

Teaching experience in a collegiate or adult education setting that addresses underrepresented communities
Online teaching experience, or experience utilizing an LMS
MFA preferred or equivalent in established professional practice in area of study
Lifelong learning orientation with demonstrated interest in learning about new developments in their area of study
Ability to empathically relate to a wide range of student perspectives and maturely handle interpersonal issues that may arise
Experience in course content development, including video creation of demonstrations and lectures

Responsibilities

Plan, organize, teach, and provide feedback to promote and direct student learning.
Respond to students in a timely manner.
Communicate with the discipline and division via college-provided tools and resources.
Develop culturally diverse syllabi for studio and seminar courses.
Provide weekly feedback to student work that models constructive criticism.
Teach topics including writing book proposals, submission guidelines, how to seek representation, what makes a well-rounded portfolio, and what it is like to work with an editor on a book project.
Discuss a variety of publishing approaches, such as self-publishing and traditional publishing.
Teach students how to create and further develop the content in one’s illustration portfolio.
Teach students how to edit the body of work.
Teach students how to present their portfolio to the picture book publishing industry.
Teach skills to scan traditional work and digitally optimize work for online portfolios, marketing and submissions.