Tammy Lockett

Teaching Statement 

I believe the best learning experiences are interactive. Interactive engagement gives students opportunities to make decisions, test ideas, receive useful feedback, and try again. It rewards curiosity and encourages students to ask increasingly thoughtful questions. It also gives them enough autonomy to develop confidence in their own judgment. Most importantly, better learning is kind. It creates a safe and productive environment where students can take creative risks, make mistakes, and understand that revision is an essential part of learning and design.

As an educator, my responsibility is to establish that environment while maintaining clear expectations and a deliberate commitment to craft. Students do their strongest work when they understand what they are being asked to accomplish, feel that their ideas are taken seriously, and know that feedback is intended to help them move forward. I provide clear information, examples, and points of reference, then use individual assessment and group discussion to help students recognize their strengths and identify where further development is needed.

I teach design through experimentation. Students should learn visual communication by working directly with form, sequence, language, interaction, and audience. Strong foundations in drawing, composition, typography, color, hierarchy, and narrative remain essential, even as design expands into motion, user experience, immersive media, and artificial intelligence. I want students to understand both how to use contemporary tools and how to make thoughtful decisions when those tools change.

Critique is central to this process. In both online and studio environments, I ask students to discuss their own work and respond constructively to the work of others. Critique helps students develop a visual vocabulary, articulate the reasoning behind their choices, and consider perspectives beyond their own. It also teaches them how to receive feedback without losing ownership of their ideas. When students participate in thoughtful, respectful critique, they begin to understand that design is rarely an isolated activity. It develops through conversation, testing, and revision.

My professional practice has also taught me to pay close attention to barriers that prevent people from learning or creating effectively. When a team lacks the knowledge, tools, or shared understanding needed to move forward, I see an opportunity to teach. In my professional work, this has included researching accessibility requirements, developing training for digital graphic novels, creating production-ready visual examples for illustrators, and building design maps that help multidisciplinary teams understand how individual components contribute to a complete experience. I bring this same approach to the classroom by observing where students are struggling and creating resources, demonstrations, or alternative paths that help them progress.

I want students to understand design as both a creative profession and a way of examining human experience. Great design invites people in. It helps them understand where to begin, encourages them to explore, and makes complex information feel approachable without removing its nuance. It respects the user’s time and intelligence. It also considers who has been represented, who may have been excluded, and how different people might experience the same visual or interactive system.

Emerging technologies provide important opportunities to extend this work. I am particularly interested in how generative AI and character-based interaction can support dialogue, reflection, and applied practice. An AI character might serve as a client, mentor, collaborator, subject matter expert, or member of a simulated design team. Used intentionally, these interactions can allow students to practice asking questions, test their decisions, and receive feedback without fear of failure. At the same time, students must learn to examine the limitations of these systems, including bias, accuracy, authorship, and the continuing importance of human judgment.

My goal is not simply to prepare students to use today’s tools. It is to help them become thoughtful, adaptable designers who can respond to technologies and professional contexts that do not yet exist. I want students to leave my courses with stronger skills, but also with greater confidence in their ability to investigate a problem, listen carefully, test possibilities, and create work that serves a meaningful purpose.

Ultimately, I want the classroom to be a place where curiosity is taken seriously, critique is generous and rigorous, and students are encouraged to see beyond the first answer. My role is to provide structure, remove unnecessary barriers, and challenge students to make work that is visually compelling, intellectually grounded, and responsive to the people who will experience it.

Artist’s statement

Design thinking is a foundational skill in my work, less like a “creative method” and more like a form of literacy. It’s how I make intent explicit, clarify what matters, and design experiences and systems that serve real needs. I’m guided by the principle of form follows function: when the purpose is clear; the structure becomes rational, the experience becomes usable, and the outcomes become measurable.

This mindset extends beyond the design of objects or interfaces. It applies to the systems that shape how we learn, work, and interact; curricula, communication channels, civic structures, and the digital platforms that influence our behavior and identity. Design is never neutral. The choices embedded in a system; what it rewards, what it hides, who it includes, and who it excludes—shape participation, belonging, and opportunity.

In both education and industry, meaningful design is iterative. We learn by testing ideas early, gathering feedback, and revising with discipline. Whether I’m developing learning experiences, building media-rich environments, or integrating emerging tools such as generative AI, I return to the same questions: Who is this for? What problem are we solving? What evidence do we have? What constraints do we need to honor? How do we ensure accessibility, clarity, and equitable impact?

At the center of my philosophy is the belief that recognizing a need is a catalyst for action, and that creativity is a practical capability we can strengthen through practice. That belief informs everything I do: teaching, mentoring, design, and development. I aim to help people move from ideas to outcomes through human-centered research, intentional structure, and repeated cycles of prototyping and refinement.

Recorded  Critiques & Lectures

View recorded examples of lectures, critiques and training materials done in Voicethread, Snagit, Jing, and Screencast-o-matic. 

Institute Service

This area outlines institute service as a Full-time, Senior and Lead Faculty member for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's Online Division from 2007-2012.  Also included are segments from performance reviews for 2012-2016 for my position as an Assistant Online Program Director. 

FAculty Management

This area highlights my management of the 26 faculty assigned to me - 6 full-time faculty and 20 adjunct faculty - over the course of approximately 5 years starting as a Lead Faculty member and then, as an Assistant Online Program Director. This responsibility entailed guidance and support, training, performance reviews and intervention, timecard and expense report approvals.