Erik Ford
2020 | HERMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ONLINE EDUCATION
“The single most inspiring thing that I've encountered was in office hours with my mentor, former professor of business Dave Dusseau. One day, as he was describing to me how to be a great instructor, he said: ‘Never forget what it’s like not to know something.’ And that has been my guiding principle throughout my entire career.”
Ford’s specialty is developing large, online courses for the Lundquist College of Business.
“When I’m teaching, it’s theater, really,” Ford says. “It’s being on stage. It’s me working on my lines, my comedic timing, my delivery of the content. If I’m doing my job correctly, everyone is buying into the story, and they’re believing it, and they’re feeling the value in what they’re learning in that hour that we spend together.”
“I never forget what it’s like for these students to see this stuff for the first time. You know, it is tough. It’s difficult material. There are so many constraints on everybody’s time and attention. And, we’re all in different places. I try to make myself available around the clock, 24-7 for my students, and I try and reply really quickly, because I know they appreciate that and they need that kind of support.”
Classes with Ford
BA 101
Introduction to Business
BA 240
Managing Business Information
“Thank you to my mentors at the Lundquist College of Business, and the college as a whole. It’s been such a supportive environment. The most direct thanks I will give to George Reese, the instructional designer at the Lundquist College of Business, and Karen Matson, instructional designer at CMET in the Knight Library. Both have invested hundreds of hours in helping me design and create online courses, and I could not have done this without them.”
You can find me out on the rivers coming down in my whitewater canoes, or you can find me out on the lake sailing. Eugene is a paradise. I will never leave this place.
BA 101, with my mentor Dave Dusseau teaching. It was such an incredible experience, within two weeks of starting that class, I said, this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.