Teaching
My goal as an instructor has been to foster an environment for critical thinking, open dialogue, and generous minds. In my classrooms, I encourage students to re-examine their relationship to technology in all its forms, with special consideration for material histories and the insidiously frivolous. Student evaluations routinely note that I am a skilled and engaged lecturer, that my assignments are thoughtful and well designed, and that I advocate for underrepresented groups in my commitments as an educator.
Courses and teaching expertise
At UC Irvine I was the AY 21-22 and AY 22-23 instructor of record for the introductory-level course, “Internet and Society,” a 200-student lecture course. I designed the syllabus and materials during the COVID-19 pandemic to serve both a hybrid and in-person classroom, and adapted for in-person instruction in 22-23. See a sample syllabus here.
At UCI, I also served as the IOR AY 22-23 for the upper-division course, “Social Analysis of Computing,” a 120-student lecture course with discussion sections. This course explored the human and material history of computing, its legacies in contemporary applications, and how they can be seen in current social issues in technology. See a sample syllabus here.
I specialize in teaching courses on: science and technology (STS) studies, information and critical archive studies, histories of media and media technologies, digital media and game studies, queer and trans studies, LGBTQ+ history, medical humanities and critical HIV studies, American studies, visual studies.
Selected student evaluations
“Kat Brewster's teaching skills are exceptional. Every time I went to class, I paid attention with great interest to everything she explained. Her kindness, her sense of humor, her professionalism and her great passion for the content of the subject have been without any doubt the elements that have made me enjoy my learning in this class.”
“Lectures were engaging, entertaining, and interesting so I had no trouble paying attention and wanted to go to class and enjoyed it. [Instructor] Brewster was an amazing professor [sic — not yet!], the best one I've had, and I loved taking this class.”
“I loved the course material that we were assigned. We read articles and case studies and watched documentaries. I always found them super interesting and applicable to real world problems. I also liked how we had projects throughout the quarter that were graded as midterms instead of tests.”
“The lectures were amazing. They were incredibly compelling and really helped synthesize the information from the readings in a way that was easy and clear to understand.”
“[Instructor] Brewster's presentations made me laugh at least once every single time.”
“Her energy was infectious.”