Adam Hockman

Learning design and behavior science for performing arts, education, and healthcare. This site is about my work in the performing arts.Performance & communication training faculty @ the Heifetz International Music Institute. Chief learning architect @ ABA Technologies. New York, NY.

© 2023 Adam Hockman. All rights reserved.

About

Adam Hockman’s diverse background in applying behavioral and implementation science spans education, healthcare, and the performing arts. He is Chief Learning Architect at ABA Technologies, where he assists organizations in building learning and performance systems that enhance employee achievement and positively impact strategic outcomes. He has designed programs in corporate learning, occupational safety, clinical autism services, healthcare, K–12 and higher education, and the performing arts. Prior to ABA Technologies, Adam was a research associate to Dr. Francis Mechner at the Mechner Foundation, which funded and researched learning technologies for K–12 education.Adam is the founder and principal of Adhoc Accelerators, a nonprofit that supports professionals in education, healthcare, behavioral science, and the performing arts in expanding their impact. The accelerator offers mentorship, implementation support, and communications expertise. One of Adhoc’s projects, Wider Reach, trains clinicians, researchers, students, and behavior analysis faculty to write for mainstream publications.Through Wider Reach, Adam also collaborates with universities and service organizations to disseminate accurate information about behavior analysis to the public. With state and international associations, he develops communication strategies and content libraries that boost the presence of behavior analysis in their respective regions. Wider Reach also aims to preserve the history and dissemination of behavior analysis and precision teaching, using digital archiving and standards-writing projects. Adam teaches technical writing in psychology at Western Michigan University.Since 2013 Adam has taught early-career musicians and educators to apply behavioral science to their practice, performance, and teaching. As part of the faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute, Adam teaches young artists practice, performance, and professional skills that promote healthy, vibrant careers. He has delivered lectures and workshops at Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Institute, The Juilliard School, Northwestern, University of North Texas, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sphinx Performance Academy, and other university and community arts programs. He serves on the editorial board of American String Teacher, the journal of ASTA.

To support artists who are applying to college and graduate school, Adam and Adhoc Accelerators founded Music AppHelpers, a no-cost application and audition prep program that provides planning, financial, and editorial guidance. In 2023 AppHelpers supported 60 students across four continents. The accelerator runs additional mentorship programs to support performing artists and educators throughout their careers.A frequent writer and speaker, Adam primarily targets novice and practitioner audiences. He has contributed to The Strad, HarpColumn, American Organist, Chamber Music America, TD Magazine, and Learning Solutions Magazine. He is the author of Improve Training with Active Participation, a guide for corporate trainers (ATD Press), and co-author, with Dr. Terry McSween, of The New Values-Based Safety: Using Behavioral Science to Improve Safety (KeyPress Publishing).Adam advises the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and co-chairs BAARTs, a special interest group for behavior analysis in the arts, with Dr. Abigail Calkin. He is a former editor and co-VP of marketing for the Standard Celeration Society and is a current board member.Adam’s work has been recognized with multiple grants and awards. Wider Reach is partially funded by a Public Awareness grant from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis. Adam received an Early Career Research Award from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare for his research on virtual reality and simulation for training autism service providers. He was named a Thirty Under 30 rising learning leader by the Learning Guild.Adam received undergraduate training in communication sciences and disorders at Utah State University, graduate training in behavior analysis and instructional design at Florida Institute of Technology, and health professions education at MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Work

Adam holds an MA in behavior analysis and is completing a PhD in learning/education. He has designed and led 100+ hours of classes, workshops, and presentations for musicians of different ages and at different stages. He has done the same for music teachers and program administrators.Adam provides individual coaching, keynotes, workshops, and masterclasses. To learn more about his services and speaking engagements, please reach out.

Services and presentation topics:

  • Building and Breaking Habits for a Productive Life

  • Developing a Strategic Practice System

  • Skills for Confident Performance

  • Building Your Studio and Teaching Skills

Read more about the above sessions.

Testimonials

  • Very clear organized courses—I learned a lot; the practice systems and the skills for confident performance were particularly helpful.

  • I felt so lucky to get to work with Adam. His knowledge was vast, and he’s an excellent person to go to if you’re struggling with direction. He’s always incredibly kind and helped so much to move my vision forward.

  • Super informative and interesting to learn about

  • Adam knew exactly what he was talking about, was super helpful and a great teacher! I learned so much and was really grateful to learn about skills that could actually enhance my playing and teaching!

  • Adam was such an amazing teacher! I loved his workshops, and I’m so grateful that we had them as a resource. Adam always made himself available for students, and I appreciated all of the help he provided in terms of time management and practicing skills. I felt sad that more students didn’t attend these workshops.

  • These were the most productive and helpful workshops I have ever attended. I learned a lot on being productive during practice as well as for performance. Great sessions.

  • Adam is amazing! And I only wish more students took advantage of what he has to offer--they have no idea what they're missing. I wished I had more attention and time available to attend more sessions than I did.

  • Adam's workshops this summer were amazing!! I cannot [speak] highly enough about my experience in Adam's workshops. I learned much more than I could have anticipated; Adam is a clear presenter who is clearly enthusiastic about sharing this valuable information with us. Even though I've been struggling with many aspects of organization for years--time management, making a practice schedule, responding to all my emails--Adam offered so many tools that were helpful both immediately and as long-term resources. I was really grateful for his dedication to providing a really thorough information base for each of the topics he taught; I felt like I was able to apply the tools he provided because I really understood the background of where they were coming from. Thank you so much!!

Contact

Feel free to reach out and connect about your practice, performance, teaching, or arts initiatives.

Thank you

I look forward to connecting with you very soon.

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