Chris Friend

Listening & Learning
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Teacher, speaker, and podcaster specializing in simplifying and humanizing technology.

From curriculum planning through digital delivery, I’ll connect your brand, content, and people through coordinated design of training programs, tailored to your audiences.

Curriculum Development

From program-level planning through course alignment and integration, I create cohesive educational experiences that are practical, targeted, and consistent. For example, I designed and branded a three-course writing sequence integrating two disparate sets of national standards (NCTE & CWPA), two sets of institutional standards, and fluid departmental expectations.

Professional Training

In business environments, I bring focus and consistency to the design and implementation of training programs, emphasizing practicality and understanding. For instance, I designed a three-course business-writing sequence tailored to government employees by adapting to organizational precedent, incorporating disciplinary best practices, and enhancing document cohesion.

Hybrid Learning Design

I apply best practices in digital education while maintaining a focus on human connection. My decades of physical and virtual classroom experience, plus my work facilitating conversation on Hybrid Pedagogy, make me a deliberative, conscientious educator concerned more with people than with content. I discuss this further in my book, Hybrid Teaching, available through booksellers or on Hybrid Pedagogy.

Digital Publishing

Beyond designing classroom training materials using productivity software, I used XeTeX to typeset Hybrid Teaching for print and ebook delivery, manage a WordPress multisite for class blogs and MOOCs, maintain the digital scholarly journal Hybrid Pedagogy on Ghost, and host Teacher of the Ear podcast on Anchor.fm.

My Occasional Blog Updates

Two long-haired brown dogs relaxing on the sand. They share strong connections, evident through playfulness and an absence of personal space.

Teaching People: Human Connections in the Humanities

Teaching people, not content or tools, builds lasting connections and aligns values. Can the human element save the humanities?
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A soft, fluffy, mottled-coat dog with adorable floppy ears rests its chin on a laptop, staring up at the screen, forlorn. The dog is right: Writing *is* hard. This good dog needs a good WAC program for support. And a treat.

Writing at Urban R2 Institutions: Expectations, Limitations, and Aspirations

As an aspiring R-2 institution, Kean needs a discipline-driven Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program. Here's how it could work.
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What else might we do here besides open that door?

#CritPrax Letter of Hopes & Intentions

Our #CritPrax DHSI course begins tomorrow! What are your expectations for the week? Here are my intentions for the time we share together.
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