Dr. Insook Ahn
Assistant Professor
Fashion Merchandising & Apparel Design
Background
 I am currently serving as an Assistant Professor and Coordinator in the Fashion Merchandising and Apparel Design Program at Georgia Southern University. My current teaching curriculum includes these classes: Computer Aided Design, Aesthetics for Apparel, Advanced Pattern Draft, and Fashion Design. Before I joined Georgia Southern University, I had served at Savannah College of Art & Design as a Professor of Fashion for two years.
In addition to my Ph.D. in Fashion Design and Patternmaking from Chung-Ang University, I also received an A.A.S. in Pattern-making and Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, the BFA in Fashion Design from Chung-Ang University in Korea, and the MA degree in Fashion Design from Savannah College of Arts & Design.
I have taught for over eight years at the college level in other courses such as: Pattern Drafting, Draping, Fashion Design I and II, Pre-Fashion Seminar and Fashion Seminar, Basic and Advanced Sewing, Computer Aided Design, Fashion Show for Undergraduates, Fashion Design Technology and Fashion Design Studio Practice I, II for Graduates.
In addition to teaching, my work experience includes five years of work as an owner/manager of fashion boutiques in Korea and in the United States. I have written two books and am currently writing a book for "CAD for Fashion Design." I also am currently serving as a member of the advisory board for "Build Don't Kill, Stop the Violence."
Teaching Philosophy
I embrace two focused areas of endeavor. The first, is an appreciation for and mastery over craft and materials as they manifest themselves in the highest level of professional practice in the teaching of fashion merchandising and apparel design. The second, is the delivery of information and expertise regarding industrial production methods and skills including economic feasibility of design ideas and integration of technological advancements - primarily in the area of computer aided design (CAD).
As a teacher I enjoy introducing students to the world of fashion, product development and the marketing of ideas. I help students to investigate the relationships between art and the business of design along with the two and three-dimensional expressions of their ideas.
I believe strongly that a student develops a particular vision; that he or she assumes a unique, individual attitude toward design that is enriched by personal influences. It is important that they develop a strong sense of themselves as designers and/or merchandisers that will serve them as they engage in the highly competitive workplace. Witnessing their growth and development as they evolve to a point where they can present a professional portfolio or business plan is an enhancement of my own talents. Ultimately, I learn from my students, as they learn from me.
Teaching Strategy
A critical element in the global success of fashion oriented industries is to employ personnel who understand how to penetrate and merchandise across international markets. Competent workers need to view themselves as global employees and have the skills and global perspective necessary for effective interactions in business and communications. Dickerson points out that the viability of textile and apparel companies requires forward-thinking employees who can implement strategies that ensure continued success in both domestic and global markets. These employees need to read sophisticated materials, write clearly, speak articulately, and solve complex problems.
During my experiences teaching FMAD 3220, I have become more aware that students have too few opportunities to be exposed to the diversity of textiles and apparel that are representative of the industry. Students do not have much exposure to a representative realistic context because of geographical location, few shopping centers, and limited apparel brands in our region. Students need opportunities to expand their knowledge base and become familiar with a greater variety of domestic and global markets, in order to develop the competencies addressed in this course and needed in the industry.
In order to overcome this problem and effectively deliver basic knowledge based on content applied to more realistic industry problem-solving situations, I must be able to develop and shape the modules of some of the course content on the Web. Web course design is an excellent delivery option to support this course because it offers the students rapid access to visual and content perspectives in aesthetics.
Online design for the course has offered solutions to several challenges such as content limitations of course textbooks including limited resources, out-dated examples, narrow gender and cultural representations; limited class time for discussions, and administrative course management challenges (e.g., e-mails from students). For solutions to those challenges, I built course materials in WebCT: Welcome, Course Modules, Student Community Forum (Student Lounge), Discussion Area for each module to focus on application of design content, Quizzes, and a Major Assignment.
The online teaching strategies are somewhat more complex than simply linking to other global fashion sites. To do this well, requires linkage to selected multiple sites for the purpose of teaching key concepts of fashion design. The module on inspiration for fashion illustrates the multiple strategies that interact with the World Wide Web resources in the module opening page, the discussion forum, and the quiz for the module.
As a result of adopting the web-based teaching technology, all students in the class have participated in each discussion, their discussions have included insights about conceptual problems, the students applied wider multinational examples, the online office saved me administrative time and gave all students answers to questions, the quizzes included visual design elements from diverse sources, students received automated and immediate feedback on their answers to quizzes, and in contrast with previous terms, students' grades improved and no student failed the course.
I was able to accomplish these changes and innovations in successful web-learning for my students because of my ongoing consultations with the CET and my recent participation in the CET's faculty retreat program together with other faculty who were open to the challenge of developing more effective teaching for their classes. The consultations and retreat have been an extremely successful collaboration, leading not only to innovations in teaching, but to scholarly publications and presentations on the scholarship of teaching with online technology. I believe this kind of collaboration supports the highest level of professional practice for faculty. |
