Dr Nufer's Profile

All about Dr Sean Nufer

Associate Adjunct Professor
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology - Online Campus

Senior Director of Teaching and Learning
TCS Education System

snufer1@thechicagoschool.edu
snufer@tcsedsystem.edu

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nufer/ Links to an external site.
https://howtocanvas.com/ Links to an external site.
https://youtube.com/howtocanvas Links to an external site.

I am Dr. Sean Nufer and am both an adjunct professor in as well as a graduate of the M.A. Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Ph.D. Business Psychology programs.  Over the years I have also taught as well as developed courses at TCSPP in the Educational Psychology and Technology, B.A Psychology, Behavioral Economics, and Organizational Leadership programs. 

I began my adventures at TCSPP in 2007 as a student and have worked various roles at TCSPP and TCSES as an instructional designer, a marketing interactive web developer, an eLearning specialist, the director of educational technology, and currently senior director of teaching and learning.  In every role and project that I work, I strive to improve the experience of the students at our institution as well as the faculty.  My philosophy in working with faculty is that: teachers can continue to learn.  We can always look for ways to better build communities of learners within our classrooms, engage and empower our students, and enhance our teaching strategies and techniques.  This may be done through pedagogy and course design, educational technology, presentation skills, effective feedback, etc.  Whichever approach we take, we must never stop facilitating transformation and creating environments that elevate student performance.

In addition to my work at TCSPP and TCSES, I also contribute my expertise to the broader educational community by working and presenting at conferences, serving as a Canvas ambassador, and I created a website and YouTube channel to help teachers of K-12 and professors in higher education better master their skills and abilities in the Canvas LMS and to inspire them to be more innovative and engaging in their classrooms.  My website, howtocanvas.com Links to an external site., receives over a thousand visits each month and my YouTube videos Links to an external site. have received more than half a million views. 

Within the classroom, my teaching philosophy is that in order to truly be impactful, ed tech innovation and techniques for student engagement are not enough.  These benchmarks are lower thresholds and in order to truly change the lives of our students, we need to empower them.  I recognize that we have certain expectations regarding accreditation and institutional outcomes, but I believe that students should be provided outlets for creativity and exploration, and they should be key players in dictation how they should learn the course concepts and how they should apply them in meaningful ways to their individual framework. 

There is a time and place in higher education for class discussions and rubric-driven written assignments, but these elements do not and should not be rinsed and repeated every week for every module in every course that a student takes.  In my portfolio, you will be able to explore my avant-garde approaches toward online discussions and assignments.  Some of these approaches have garnered me recognition within our industry.  I hope to always innovate and I hope to be a catalyst within higher education for raising the bar.

My wife and I met in Hawaii as students.  We met my freshman year in college and married 3 days after graduation.  Our time in between was filled with music and beaches.  We played in a steel band and toured various Hawaiian islands, playing in venues large and small.  Not only did we have a steel band at our wedding reception, but we played in it!

Our journey has taken us from Hawaii to California, Utah, Chicago, and finally Orlando where I have been working remotely since 2014.  Our family has three small children who love Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, Floridian beaches, kayaking, and all things Lego.  

My wife and I are active in our children's education, volunteering hundreds of hours at their schools: sitting on the school advisory council, sponsoring a school pollinator garden, participating with classroom teach-ins, and helping with numerous school events.  As an online professor and administrator, I had no reservation enrolling my kids in a virtual school throughout the pandemic - though we are also eager to see them in a physical or blended classroom again.