Brianna is a faculty member in the Sport Management Program at Camosun College, which began in 2020, teaching one class online, then becoming full-time in 2021. Teaching was a long-term goal for Brianna who has extensive experience working in sport all over the world. From working internationally with projects such as FIFA World Cup Soccer, the Olympics, Grassroot Soccer in Africa and more, while also completing her master’s degree One day, after re-evaluating her life goals, she decided “to use my experience, while still working in sport, to mentor the next generation of people who want to be in this industry I love so much.”
I asked Brianna what she enjoyed about teaching, and she said, “I loved helping people younger than myself realize their potential within their own career. My ultimate goal is to be the best teacher I can be, and at an applied school like Camosun, that means not just teaching, but also participating and leading by example.” It also includes bringing her own projects back to the classroom as well. “I worked on a triathlon a couple of years ago and had students come and work with me. And last year, I went down to California and worked on an event called the Homeless World Cup, a Soccer World Cup for individuals who are unhoused, and we are having a school screening of the movie that was made about it.”
I asked Brianna about how she works with students. “My philosophy is ‘your success is my success. Part of that is connecting individually with the students. “I take time to get to know each of my students with a goal of creating community feel in the classroom. I try to create a safe space where all voices are heard and create as many applied experiences in assignments and lectures as I can. Ideally, students will walk out with something in hand that they could go and use in an interview, for example.”
I was curious about the applied experiences Brianna was referring to, so she took some time to tell me about one. “In the project management and sports marketing class I partner every year with a different sports team in the city. The team [this past term, Brianna was excited to welcome Invictus Games as the partner] comes to class and provides the class a fake RFP along with a budget and an outline of what they want the students to achieve. Students then work through the whole term creating an entire marketing pitch on the given concept and how they’d market it. Then at the end of the term, the team comes back and votes on the winner.” And throughout the term, Brianna models how to build a relationship with a stakeholder group. She was especially excited this last term as “one of the individuals coming from Invictus Games to vote on the winning project was a previous student of mine who won two years ago for this same project. Because he now works for Invictus Games in a senior role students get to see someone who once was in their shoes only two years ago” which goes a long way to convince students how important a project like this can be for their lives after college. Brianna sees this applied learning piece as an important component that separates Camosun College from other schools. “There is no textbook that could teach this – we are bringing in guest speakers, having them engage in real-life situations…that’s how they’re learning.”
Another element of the classroom that excites Brianna is the presence of international students. “Many of our diploma students are international. Right now, we have students from India, Japan, Austria, which is great because sport systems around the world are so different.” It’s important to include those voices, work with people from different cultures with all those diverse experiences.
I asked Brianna about her experiences teaching online when she started, and moving back to in person considering how important the classroom community is to her. While she did not enjoy teaching online, she said “I understand the importance of it and would love to explore a blended model. Many students have full-time jobs which makes building community challenging because it’s hard to get a full class showing up.” But in the end, Brianna wants the classroom “to be a place where students can have fun – I want them to feel like they want to be there.”
I wondered what moments Brianna holds in mind from her teaching. “I love graduation and seeing my students walk across the stage with smiles on their faces. And I also love writing reference letters for them and then hearing from them when they have gotten great jobs because my goal is to help them succeed.” And finally, I asked her, as a newer faculty member, what advice she might have for other new instructors coming to teach at Camosun. “Be open to learning, to continue growing, to making mistakes and getting feedback. And connect with your students – if you create a relationship with them, you’ll have a better experience.”