Summary

Stuart has been serving as Faculty Fellow for ITS’s Course Design Institute since Fall 2018. He previously participated in CDI twice as an instructor designing his TFM 430 “History of Primetime Television” and TFM 160 “Cinema as Art” courses as fully online summer courses. As Faculty Fellow, Stuart specializes in effective instructional design for faculty considering the use of media in the classroom.

Since Summer 2018, Stuart has been instrumental in piloting the use of PlayPosit (in-video quizzing) in his high-enrollment media courses, and coaching instructors with the use and evaluation of Playposit to enrich students’ comprehension of, and engagement with any media content used in the classroom (including instructor-created lectures, YouTube videos, and other media texts).

With the assistance of Maureen A. Guarcello, Research, Analytics, and Communications Specialist for ITS, Stuart’s research jettisoned the 2018-19 SQuAIR project “Measuring Student Engagement with PlayPosit (In-Video Quizzing) in a High Enrollment Cinema Course” for ITS. Their investigations into the student impact of PlayPosit in-video quizzing are informing a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning effort, as well as a white paper, that ITS will co-author with PlayPosit, to ensure these findings and recommendations are disseminated to the greater education community.

Stuart has over twenty years of university teaching experience, and currently teaches screenwriting and critical studies for the School of Theatre, Television, and Film. He is a four-time recipient of TTF’s “Most Influential Faculty” award. Stuart is a script writer and story/script consultant. As co-founder, writer and producer for Redfield Arts, his film credits include The Death of Poe and the award-winning screen adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His non-fiction scriptwriting credits include multi-media promotional campaigns for The Baltimore Sun newspaper, the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, Monarch Beach Resort and others.

Education

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing: Screenwriting, National University
Bachelor of Arts, Theatre and Economics, University of the Pacific

Fun Fact

Stuart worked as an extra on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)… and again in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and it doesn’t look like he’s aged a day!

Stuart was a member of the development team behind the creation of Innoventive Software’s FrameForge Previz Studio, a storyboarding and previsualizing software for television and motion picture production, which earned an Emmy for Technical Achievement by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Publications

Voytilla, Stuart, Petri, Scott. (2003). Writing the Comedy Film: Make ‘em Laugh. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions.

Voytilla, Stuart. (1999). Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Mythic Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions.