I've been teaching in NYC for about five years now, mostly college students in Technology Management and Innovation. I have a PhD and Masters in that area, so I think a lot about how people actually learn and apply knowledge, not just memorize it.
My students range from 19 to 24 mostly, though I've worked with plenty of people in their 30s and 40s too. The setting is usually one-on-one or small groups, and I've found that's really where the magic happens. You actually get to know someone...
I've been teaching in NYC for about five years now, mostly college students in Technology Management and Innovation. I have a PhD and Masters in that area, so I think a lot about how people actually learn and apply knowledge, not just memorize it.
My students range from 19 to 24 mostly, though I've worked with plenty of people in their 30s and 40s too. The setting is usually one-on-one or small groups, and I've found that's really where the magic happens. You actually get to know someone and figure out how their brain works. I also have a 6 year old who I love learning with/from.
The way I teach is pretty different from what most students are used to. Instead of giving them steps to follow or facts to memorize, I try to help them create their own path to understanding. A lot of my students are engineering types who want to jump straight to solutions, and I spend a lot of time slowing them down and saying "ok but do you actually understand the problem?" I'll make them think like a sociologist for a day or approach something like a designer would. It throws them off at first but that's usually when the real learning clicks.
My favorite stuff to teach is knowledge management and critical thinking - basically helping people get better at how they process information and make decisions. But I also do a fair amount of test prep (GRE, GMAT, TOEFL) and college admissions coaching. The test prep stuff is funny because it seems like it would be the opposite of my usual approach, but honestly the same principles apply. You're still trying to understand how someone thinks and where they get stuck.
The projects my students work on are always real. Not fake case studies or textbook problems. One student might be launching an actual tech startup while we work together. Another might be doing consulting work for a real organization. I've had students end up at Google and Meta, and I've had others start their own fashion brands or tech companies. The outcomes look different but the process is the same.
