Hello! My name is Matt MacNaughton
I am a Portland-area resident since moving to Oregon from New Mexico in the early 90’s. Since then I’ve worked as a software developer in numerous area IT departments, software companies and also as a contract consultant for area clients as well as remote clients in the US.
What I really enjoy most about working as a software developer has been being able to work across different industries. I’ve written software for aviation companies, chip makers, K-12 education, software houses, talent agents, environmental compliance, marketing agencies as well as in the financial and legal industries. Every industry is unique and almost every project has been unique.
PCC is something of an “alma mater” for me. When I was preparing to apply to grad school at Oregon Graduate Institute, I took quite a few PCC courses. I’ve taken many of the PCC courses you will be taking if you are pursuing a computer science transfer.
I found PCC to be a great resource for my goals and I hope you discover the same thing.
My approach to teaching
- Mentally pivot to look at a problem from the student’s perspective. I try to do this before making a suggestion.
- Take every student at face value and work with them towards what they say they want out of a course I’m teaching. No one knows you like you.
- Take the materials and time we have available to us to explore and get the basics of our course topics in a structured way that everyone can participate in equally.
- Apply the idiom: “take from no person their song.” Everyone comes to PCC with their own special experiences, background and aspirations. I strive to value and listen to everyone’s “song” every time I work with them.
Influences / frameworks
Professional Organizations
Education
- M.S. Computer Science, Oregon Graduate Institute, Portland OR
- B.A. Psychology, University of New Mexico
- Graduate Study, Training and Learning Technologies University of New Mexico