From Classroom Compliance to Workplace Capability
Helping career-changing adult learners build practical confidence with AI, data analytics, Power BI, business reporting, and digital workplace tools.
Why I am interested in Herzing College
Herzing College’s career-focused model aligns strongly with my work as an applied technology educator, AI learning designer, and adult-learning facilitator. I am particularly interested in instructor opportunities connected to Data Analytics with AI, Power BI, applied AI tools, business technology, software fundamentals, and career-ready digital skills.
My teaching work focuses on helping students move from technical uncertainty into practical capability. I design learning experiences where students produce useful work: dashboards, reports, AI workflows, documentation, project artifacts, and career-ready explanations.
Teaching philosophy: guided autonomy
Many learners are intelligent and motivated, but they have often been trained to wait for step-by-step instructions and avoid mistakes. That pattern may work in school, but it does not prepare students for the workplace.
Employers need graduates who can understand a task, make reasonable decisions, use available tools, troubleshoot routine problems, and report back with either a completed result or a clear explanation of what blocked progress.
What students learn to do
- Understand the goal behind a task
- Select the right tool or method
- Use AI and data tools responsibly
- Troubleshoot routine problems
- Explain results in workplace language
- Report progress, blockers, and next steps clearly
How I teach this
- Step-by-step labs that gradually reduce dependency
- Business scenarios that require judgment
- Guided practice with real workplace-style artifacts
- Reflection, feedback, and iteration
- Capstone-style assignments and portfolio outputs
- Career-ready project storytelling
What I can teach
I am best positioned for applied, career-focused learning experiences that combine AI adoption, data analytics, business reporting, digital workplace tools, and adult learner support.
Data Analytics with AI
Helping students understand how data, reporting tools, AI support, and business interpretation fit together in real workplace situations.
Power BI and reporting workflows
Teaching learners how to import data, inspect fields, create visuals, use slicers, build dashboards, and communicate business meaning.
AI tools for productivity and analysis
Helping students use AI tools for research, drafting, explanation, analysis support, troubleshooting, and workplace communication.
Career-ready project support
Supporting learners as they create portfolio artifacts, explain their work, prepare resumes, strengthen LinkedIn profiles, and rehearse interview stories.
How I help career-changing learners
Career-changing adult learners often arrive with motivation but uneven confidence. Some have been trained to seek the “right answer” the instructor wants, rather than to diagnose a problem and act with judgment.
My instructional approach helps learners move beyond passive tool familiarity. Through practical labs, business simulations, guided troubleshooting, and capstone-style work, students learn to connect the tool to the task, the task to the business problem, and the result to a clear workplace explanation.
Selected learning artifacts
These samples demonstrate my approach to practical, structured, adult-learning design. They show how I help learners move from tool exposure into applied work.
Power BI Lesson Sample
A practical data/reporting lab that introduces learners to CSV import, inspection, exploratory visuals, and business interpretation.
View sampleAURA AI Learning Program
An AI venture-development and business simulation methodology designed to help adult learners use AI as a cognition and execution partner.
View AURATeaching Portfolio
Additional examples of applied AI instruction, adult learning, technology teaching, and professional capability development.
View portfolioPossible Herzing teaching demonstrations
These are examples of short teaching demonstrations I would be prepared to deliver in an instructor interview or workshop context.
Building a First Power BI Dashboard
A beginner-friendly lesson showing how a CSV file becomes a visual report, a dashboard element, and a business interpretation.
Using AI to Interpret a Data Report
A practical lesson on how students can use AI as a thinking partner while still validating outputs and applying human judgment.
SQL as a Business Question Tool
A plain-language introduction to SQL as a way to ask structured questions of data, rather than a syntax exercise alone.
From Prompt to Workflow
A lesson showing how students can turn AI prompting into repeatable work processes for research, drafting, troubleshooting, and reporting.
Instructor value proposition
My background combines Ontario college teaching, IBM enterprise IT experience, applied AI instruction, curriculum development, business technology, data/reporting tools, software concepts, and adult learner facilitation.
I am comfortable teaching learners who are motivated but not yet confident with technical tools. My strongest contribution is helping students build guided autonomy: understanding what is being asked, choosing a method, completing the work, and explaining the outcome.
Contact
Peter Sigurdson
AI Educator | Applied Technology Instructor | Data & Business Technology Trainer
Email: peter@petersigurdson.net
Phone: 416-857-2264
Portfolio: petersigurdson.com
AI Learning Program: AIwithPeter.ca
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/petersigurdson