Meet Mitchell Faherty

What I Do

I manage a team of student employees that work with instructors to produce recordings of live lectures in 9 of ASU’s lecturer spaces across 3 buildings. This work often entails supporting faculty with AV issues that may arise in the classroom, as well as on the Canvas LMS.

What I Did

Prior to ASU I worked for General Dynamics as a contractor for 2 years in the publication department working alongside engineers to produce their government proposals. I also worked for the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) producing video and photo resources for the communications and marketing department for 2 years. I then worked for A.T. Still University for 5 years producing all of the Mesa campuses video educational material for students within the IT department; in addition to all the internal photo and video content for the Marketing department. Each of these roles often extended into troubleshooting IT and AV systems as well.

What I Studied

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Digital Video as well as a partial Masters in Technology leadership from UAT. I’m currently enrolled in the Masters of Science in Graphic Information Technology program here at ASU; with an emphasis in 360 video production and project management.

What I Like

I’m an Eagle Scout to my core so I enjoy the outdoors, photography, gardening, and hunting. I’m always working on some sort of DIY project across many engineering disciplines, including 3D printing. When I’m not doing one of those things you’ll find me playing a PC game or working on something creative like playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of people, painting 3d printed models, or editing my images.

Favorite FSE Value

Favorite FSE Value

Build a foundation for all to be successful! It’s difficult to pick one of our values that stands out the most to me, but I fall on “building a foundation FOR ALL to succeed.” I was an (Individual Education Plan) IEP student growing up. The traditional structure of Western education did not work for me, and I was regularly considered a failed student because of those teaching styles. I felt targeted and isolated growing up due to the number of times I was taken out of class away from my peers because I was either not performing well enough or performing too well and accused of cheating. In 5th grade, I could do college-level math in my head and retain most of what I read and heard but my reading speed was 1/10th of other students. I was regularly reminded of this by teachers and peers, and I would fail time-based tests or reading assignments because I would lose attention as a result.

In my freshman year of Highschool, I was finally granted the ability to learn at my own pace through my IEP program. I was allowed to not take notes (and not be graded on them), have time factors removed from tests, and be allowed to use audiobooks. I quickly went from a “failing” student to a straight-A student because I was tested on my actual knowledge and not my reading speed. For me, multitasking by listening to the content and taking notes at the same time did the opposite of what traditional studies believed would help students focus and learn. Since then, I’m working on completing my second graduate program and am constantly pushing myself to learn about new topics.

I try to remember this experience when I help advise faculty on content for their courses because hyper-focus on building content that fits one learning style, or “because that’s the way it’s done” only harms all the students that don’t fit that mold. I try to explore innovative ways of expressing complex topics that serve more learning styles. Who says the same course can’t be taught with 3 different modalities to ensure the same equitable outcome?