Classroom Technology
Integrating technology into my classroom has become a hallmark of my teaching. From a pedagogical standpoint, I believe the use of technology can promote more active and engaged learning. There is also no doubt that technology is playing an increasingly larger role in what journalists do and how they do it. That said, technology is only one of many tools to enhance learning and storytelling. While I use technology in all my courses and incorporate it into many assignments, I use it selectively and emphasize to students that mastering the technology is not an end in itself.
Some examples of how I’ve used technology in my courses include:
News Literacy in a Digital Age: The service learning experience in this class involves teams of four students working together to present news literacy concepts to students from Coan Middle School and Druid Hills High School. After participating in Emory's Active Learning and Engagement Initiative in January 2012, I designed a digital story assignment to make the reflection process a collaborative one. The digital story medium helped my students convey how meaningful this experience was for them and the Coan and Druid Hills students through pictures and individual voiceovers that chronicled their project. Please go to my Emory News Literacy site on Vimeo to view some of these projects: http://vimeo.com/user11811622. One of the better (and shorter!) ones is called “medium”.
Advanced News Reporting and Writing: I incorporated the iPad into an existing assignment called The Listening Post in which students are required to go off campus, somewhere outside their comfort zone and then come up with three story ideas without interviewing a single person. This exercise is designed to teach the importance of using all five senses when covering a story. In addition to a written reflection, I asked students to film their Listening Post experience and then edit it into a two-minute story using only their iPads. The iPad transformed this assignment because it brought each student’s experience to life through the use of visuals. Students were much more engaged in their own learning and that of their peers during the class presentations. Their videos also reinforced the power of observation in reporting any story, the main pedagogical objective of the assignment. I wrote and article about this project called "The iPad and the Listening Post" in the Fall 2012 edition of The Academic Exchange.
Internship in Journalism: I developed a blogging assignment to keep our journalism students connected while they worked in summer internships. Students responded to prompts like “What was the biggest story your newsroom has covered so far and what was your role?” Another was a mini-profile, featuring someone in the newsroom who acted as a mentor. Students commented on each other’s entries and shared advice and insight on their work experiences. Several poignant threads emerged including one where students rallied to support a classmate who had made a significant mistake covering a story. These raw reflections would have been lost by the time classes started, and since I was part of the conversation, the blog provided a valuable teachable moment.
Integrating technology into my classroom has become a hallmark of my teaching. From a pedagogical standpoint, I believe the use of technology can promote more active and engaged learning. There is also no doubt that technology is playing an increasingly larger role in what journalists do and how they do it. That said, technology is only one of many tools to enhance learning and storytelling. While I use technology in all my courses and incorporate it into many assignments, I use it selectively and emphasize to students that mastering the technology is not an end in itself.
Some examples of how I’ve used technology in my courses include:
News Literacy in a Digital Age: The service learning experience in this class involves teams of four students working together to present news literacy concepts to students from Coan Middle School and Druid Hills High School. After participating in Emory's Active Learning and Engagement Initiative in January 2012, I designed a digital story assignment to make the reflection process a collaborative one. The digital story medium helped my students convey how meaningful this experience was for them and the Coan and Druid Hills students through pictures and individual voiceovers that chronicled their project. Please go to my Emory News Literacy site on Vimeo to view some of these projects: http://vimeo.com/user11811622. One of the better (and shorter!) ones is called “medium”.
Advanced News Reporting and Writing: I incorporated the iPad into an existing assignment called The Listening Post in which students are required to go off campus, somewhere outside their comfort zone and then come up with three story ideas without interviewing a single person. This exercise is designed to teach the importance of using all five senses when covering a story. In addition to a written reflection, I asked students to film their Listening Post experience and then edit it into a two-minute story using only their iPads. The iPad transformed this assignment because it brought each student’s experience to life through the use of visuals. Students were much more engaged in their own learning and that of their peers during the class presentations. Their videos also reinforced the power of observation in reporting any story, the main pedagogical objective of the assignment. I wrote and article about this project called "The iPad and the Listening Post" in the Fall 2012 edition of The Academic Exchange.
Internship in Journalism: I developed a blogging assignment to keep our journalism students connected while they worked in summer internships. Students responded to prompts like “What was the biggest story your newsroom has covered so far and what was your role?” Another was a mini-profile, featuring someone in the newsroom who acted as a mentor. Students commented on each other’s entries and shared advice and insight on their work experiences. Several poignant threads emerged including one where students rallied to support a classmate who had made a significant mistake covering a story. These raw reflections would have been lost by the time classes started, and since I was part of the conversation, the blog provided a valuable teachable moment.