Pamay Bassey

Meet Pamay Bassey: She Knows What Makes a Good Teacher

You've had good teachers. And bad teachers. And, probably much more often, teachers who were neither good nor bad, but not great either. Well, like you, Pamay Bassey has had her share of all kinds of teachers. Unlike most, Bassey decided to make a career out of studying teaching and education and what makes it good and bad. Several years ago, she decided to apply some of what she had learned about teaching and education and begin teaching herself.

"Taking what I had learned about education and bringing it into a classroom myself as a teacher seemed like a natural progression."

Considering her background, you can bet Bassey has put more than a little thought into the Information Systems classes she teaches at AIU Online.

Bassey's classes aren't just engaging and interesting though. Like every other AIU Online instructor, she really knows what she is teaching. Bassey has degrees in Symbolic Systems (concentration in Artificial Intelligence) and Computer Science (concentrations in Learning Sciences/Educational Technologies) and has worked in numerous IT and managerial positions over the course of her professional career.

Even without her extensive experience studying good and bad classrooms and her own well-rounded knowledge of and experience in the IT field, Bassey has a giant leg up in the good teacher department. She's a stand-up comedienne. "There is so much comedy in the classroom."

A graduate of the Second City Conservatory Program, when not teaching or running her own consulting firm, Bassey performs with several Chicago-area improv/sketch performance groups. "I've always loved comedy and wouldn't be telling the whole truth if I didn't say one of the benefits of teaching online is that it leaves me with time to do shows and auditions."

When not on the stage, Bassey usually teaches Introduction to IT, Computers in Your Future, and Introduction to Computer Applications. "Teaching the intro courses I do, I most often get students at the beginning of their online experience. I enjoy introducing them not only to the course material, but also to online education in general and AIU Online in particular."

So how does the educational technology professional think online learning stacks up? "Online learning definitely requires a certain kind of commitment from a student. If you're going to be an online student, you're going to have to be organized and committed. Things move pretty fast and if you don't get on board, things can fly by. That said, for the students who can commit, online education is a great experience and opportunity."

There can be additional benefits to an online education for adults. At least a specific type of online learning. "When it comes to adult learners, the best way to learn effectively is to apply what is being learned to their lives, the lives they are living or the lives they want to live. Rather than memorize facts, go for the practical. AIU Online does a great job with this. We use case studies based on real world experiences and possibilities and chats are full of talk about practical ways of solving problems. Both myself and the students—because most of them have been out working already—can share experiences from our own work lives. The education is career- and life-relevant."

Since she has already been where so many of her students want to be—in challenging managerial positions both within and related to IT—Bassey has career advice to share as well.

"With an IT degree and concentration in Information Systems from AIU Online, students can do almost anything. There is a breadth of required coursework that opens up so many different doors—project management, software design, hardcore programming, business analysis, web design. And I've been out there doing a lot of this stuff myself. I enjoy being able to share my experiences with my students. Having such knowledge to share is part of what makes a good class and teacher."

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