The DTEI Faculty Fellowship for Digital Learning Excellence

Barry Goldenberg

Lecturer of Education, School of Education

Barry Goldenberg joined UCI during the pandemic in 2021, and his teaching excellence is well-recognized on campus within a short amount of time. He received the 2022 Lecturer of the Year and also was nominated for the 2022 Learning Experience Design and Online Teaching award at University of California, Irvine.

Besides Barry’s content-areas interests in the history of education, community schools, educational equity, and multicultural education, his work is deeply intertwined with the belief that scholars should work to bridge the gap between the academy and the communities we research. He was involved in the Youth Historians in Harlem (YHH) project exploring these boundaries through collaboration with young people and our shared pursuit of knowledge production.

Barry believes firmly in the brilliance of our youth — and always center his research around the idea that we underestimate their enormous, untapped potential. He strives to be a critical theorist and idealist with a stream of pragmatism; a deeply engaged citizen; a dedicated educator and listener; and a committed writer.
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Brandon Golob

Assistant Professor Of Teaching In Criminology, Law And Society, School Of Social Ecology

Brandon joined UCI’s faculty in 2018. His research and teaching focus on the ways legal concepts are communicated to non-lawyers. Both inside and outside the classroom, he examines how legal knowledge is translated to laypeople through mediated and face-to-face communication. 

Golob is a favorite professor among students, and his teaching is well-recognized with continuous track record of excellence, including earning several campus-wide teaching and mentorship awards: 

• The 2022 Learning Experience Design and Online Teaching Award
• The Tom Angell Fellowship
• The 2022 Excellence in Digital Learning Award
• The 2022 UCI Inclusive Excellence Teaching Award representing the School of Social Ecology
• The “Professor of the Year” by undergraduates in the School of Social Ecology for two consecutive academic years
• The 2020 – 2021 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship in the School of Social Ecology

Nancy Guerra, Dean of Social Ecology said, “Brandon brings his training in communication and law to the classroom in a manner that is engaging, challenging and inclusive.”

Patrick Hong

Lecturer of Engineering, Samueli School of Engineering

As an engineering-trained former journalist and media executive, Patrick now teaches at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine. He uses the flipped classroom, active learning, and specification grading pedagogies to engage his students to focus on mastery learning. Patrick also participated in the Teaching Experiment Academy (TEA), a CA Learning Lab project in the year 2021-2022, and implemented Specifications Grading in the engineering courses he teaches.

Outside of the class, his company (Prenostik) is creating a “Fitbit for Learning” tool motivating students to develop a growth mindset, grit, and agency for learning success, essential to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in education and to meet future workforce demands. He believes in the entrepreneurial and life-long learning spirit that stimulates critical thinking and innovation.