Eric Ivancich

Eric has been helping people learn for over twenty years. And in the process he has learned an enormous amount himself about how people learn best and what makes for a positive learning environment.
He started teaching when he was in high school, working as an instructor at a summer computer camp, teaching the BASIC programming language to kids ranging from elementary school- to high school-aged. The courses then expanded to a year-round schedule, offered during the evenings and on weekends and would sometimes include kids along with their parents or school teachers. Eric continued to provide this kind of teaching into his time as a college student.

As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Eric was a teaching assistant for a number of computer science courses, including Data Structures and Algorithms, Computer Architecture, Advanced Computer Architecture, and Assembly Language. But the classes he enjoyed teaching most were the many introductory programming courses taken by students outside the College of Engineering in which he could help students learn the fundamental skills of computer programming and watch the students go beyond their own expectations.

In parallel to his studies, Eric provided training to private industry. Among the courses he taught were introductory and/or advanced versions of Java, Enterprise Java, C++, C, UNIX, Bourne Shell Programming, Pascal, and Inter-Process Communication.

Eric earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. For his dissertation he researched neural models of learning and memory in which he simulated these fundamental processes. Along the way, he immersed himself in cognitive psychology, and co-taught, with his faculty adviser, courses such as Cognitive Functioning (and Human Information Processing), Cognition and Environment, and Neural Models.

Eric integrates his background in cognitive psychology in both designing courses and teaching them.