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I have learned in life that each moment is a moment in the bigger picture of our journey.
Mary Anne Funk
Mary Anne Funk
From the time I was in 5th grade, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. At that time, I wanted to be a physical education teacher. It was my pathway up until I was a senior in high school when I aged out of foster care and had to make different choices for myself.
I didn’t know then how many different paths my life would take me before coming full circle and ending up doing what I was most passionate about: teaching; albeit teaching something completely different.
PCC Multimedia Instructor, Mary Anne Funk
Teaching is my heart-work, and creating a student-centric learning environment is very important to me.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
Accessibility, equity, and student-centric learning are very important to me. Please let me know at any point in the class if there is anything more that I can do to make my course content and lessons more accessible for you.
My goals as an instructor
My goals as an instructor
Create content that puts accessibility at the forefront of the design.
I am working on a balance of information and lessons that are taught in a way that takes into consideration the different learning styles that everyone has. If there is something else I can do that is specific to your needs, please let me know.
Provide a student-centric learning environment to provide a space where your interests and goals are brought into our lesson plan.
Provide a space for you to discover what types of projects you are most passionate about.
Teach the importance of storytelling in our everyday lives.
Teach the importance of accessibility in media.
Continue to grow and improve my work as a teacher based on your feedback and to never become complacent in the material and lessons I create and share.
My PCC Path
My PCC Path
I started teaching at PCC in the Multimedia Department in the Fall of 2020. My first course was the Writing For Multimedia class. Since then I’ve taught: Intro to Multimedia, Interactive Storytelling, Podcasting, Digital Media Foundations, Accessibility in Digital Development, and this online class that you are in: Advance Multimedia Project Development.
In 2019, I traveled with my friend Abby to Ethiopia to document her story for my capstone project. During our time there, I demonstrated and taught her cousins how to record immersive audio.
Getting Started
Getting Started
I was first introduced to PCC in 2018 by one of our instructors, who has since retired, Seth Bloombaum. I met Seth at a 360 video workshop we attended at NW Documentary on SE 3rd Avenue in Portland, Oregon. At the time, I was working on getting my graduate degree in Multimedia Journalism at the University of Oregon in Old Town Portland. I was just getting started in immersive storytelling after being introduced to this methodology in a class at the University of Oregon.
In July 2019, I ran into Seth again at a Design Reality meet-up. We spoke about the work he was doing to introduce immersive media into the Multimedia Department at PCC and I spoke to him about the work I was doing with immersive audio. Our conversation progressed into us discussing my desire to teach a class at PCC which, as you know, is what I’m doing here now.
Areas of Expertise
Areas of Expertise
I have a background in Portrait Photography, Photojournalism, Visual Anthropology, and Multimedia Journalism.
In my work as a documentary storyteller, my passion is about getting to the heart of who someone is, understanding why we end up where we do, and documenting the human condition and perseverance with an understanding that we are more than just a single moment in time. This is in every piece of work that I do. Each story has been told from the individual’s lived experience and a collaboration between myself as a storyteller/ethnographer and the individuals and organizations sharing their story.
Personal Research
Personal Research
Inside Second Life, Mary Anne's Avatar stands in front of her research poster, describing her research during a virtual conference.
My core research focus is on universal design and accessibility in multimedia and social virtual worlds, storytelling, and content development.
I am seeking to supplement and expand on research focused on developing web accessibility tools and being a part of pioneering social VR content accessibility guidelines.
I’m continuing to research the use of VR haptic technological experiences and spatial audio awareness while exploring VR and social VR and what we can do to bring it to the next level to make it possible for someone who is blind to know where they are in relation to someone else or an object in Second Life and VR.
When we put accessibility at the forefront of our content development, we can develop and continually improve our ability to meet the needs and expectations of users who are blind and who are using social virtual worlds and XR technology.
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