When Literacy Goes Digital

24 Mar

The anticipation is killing me, as David Cooper Moore and myself are moving into last-minute countdown mode for the release of our new book, Discovering Media Literacy: Teaching Digital Media and Popular Culture in Elementary School (Corwin/Sage, 2013) and the companion website, Powerful Voices for Kids. We are scheduled to release it at the National Association for Media Literacy Education conference, July 12 – 13, 2013.

I hope you’ll watch my recent speech which I offered to the Youth 2.0 conference at the University of Antwerp, I got a chance to preview some of the ideas in the book and show some of the videos that will be featured on the PVK website. So many talented media literacy educators were part of this process! At the conference, I really enjoyed the chance to share what we learned, respond to questions, and hear people’s responses to the ideas we’re developing in the book.

Our new book helps educators and scholars understand both the amazing opportunities and the complex challenges of implementing media literacy with children ages 5 – 11, and the online community we’re creating will enable elementary educators, scholars and practitioners to share resources, including lesson plans, video documentation of practice, student work samples and more. I created a screencast with embedded videos to capture my keynote address. I welcome your feedback, questions and responses to the ideas developed in this talk.

Project-Based Learning: Eight Essential Elements

4 Mar

Screen shot 2013-03-04 at 2.59.35 PM

It’s Day 1 at South by Southwest Education (SXSWEdu), and already I’m feeling the buzz. There’s a great conference room in the Austin Convention Center, complete with a super-size front projection data screen, stage set lighting, with a great music mix setting the mood. Producton values are so important for a conference. Don’t I just want to love this event? Yes!

First up is Alfred Solis, Director of New Media at the Buck Institute for Education. In the minutes before the program begins, I go online (free, no password needed – thank you!) to discover that this organization pioneered staff development in project-based learning since the 1990s. John Thomas wrote a review of the research evidence, which is also useful. What’s their secret?

It’s the Eight Essential Elements of Project-Based Learning:

SIGNIFICANT CONTENT. The project is focused on important knowledge, concepts and skills derived from standards.

21st CENTURY SKILLS. Students build critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication and other skills needed for success in today’s world.

IN-DEPTH INQUIRY. Students engage in a rigorous extended process of asking questions, gathering information, and developing original answers

DRIVING QUESTION. Project work is guided by an intriguing, open-ended question.

NEED TO KNOW. The project creates an authentic purpose for learning, beginning with an Entry Event.

VOICE & CHOICE. Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create.

REVISION & REFLECTION. Students give, get, and use feedback to improve their work, and reflect on their learning.

PUBLIC AUDIENCE. Students create products for or present work to people beyond their classroom.

After introducing these concepts, participants were invited to watch a video, “Media Saves the Beach,” from High Tech High School in San Diego. After viewing, we reviewed how the eight elements were embodied in the video, with a partner.

He then shows another video and asks participants to select from a multiple-choice list: What’s the driving question? I’m reminded of Ted Sizer and Grant Wiggins and the vibrant ongoing dialogue on the art of creating Essential Questions (EQ).

Alfred Solis concludes by noting that public audience and public exhibition are a game-changer for schools. Culminating events require persuasive communication and marketing skills. What a nice crisp introduction to project-based learning!

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Introducing the Media Literacy Smartphone

12 Feb

Media Literacy Remote ControlBy Jonathan Friesem

GUEST BLOGGER

Ever since the Media Education Lab moved from Temple University to the University of Rhode Island, I was looking for a chance to update the classic media literacy “remote control,” first developed by Renee Hobbs in 1993.

While the remote control presents a metaphor for the active and structured approach to the analysis of media and popular culture, the remote control is gradually being replaced by the smartphone. So when I was preparing to present our work at conferences and meetings in China and Israel, I re-designed the remote control design, changing it to a smartphone look while keeping the key questions and core concepts the same. Now the new media literacy smartphone is available for purchase in inexpensive classroom sets for educators


 Jonathan Friesem demonstrates the new MEL app for media literacyIn early January, I was invited to present the core concepts of media literacy in front of a leading group of communication researchers, media practitioners, and journalists in Israel. The Media Regulation Forum at the Israel Democracy Institute meets twice a month to talk about the role and limitations of the Israeli media regulator, the Israeli authority for television and radio. As the manager of the Media Education Lab, I was asked to present the argument that media literacy education can be more effective than regulation.

Introducing the MEL App

Introducing the Media Literacy AppI decided to introduce the new Media Education Lab App at the forum. Using the MEL App engages people in dialogue and information-sharing, showcasing to already-media literate people how media literacy can be learned through exploration of critical questions. My idea: to consider the relationship between media literacy education and media regulation, my audience needs to directly experience the pedagogical foundations of media literacy education in practice.

I chose a media text from a North Carolina television news station that featured a report about a controversial PSA against texting while driving. The two-minute news report featured a young reporter describing the graphic PSA and then interviewing three students outside their school talking about the positive effects of this PSA. Knowing that a media text with local issues could lead the conversation away from the actual activity of deconstructing a media message, I intentionally chose to use a media text which would be not so familiar to my audience.

We watched the video and then started to go through each one of the features of the MEL App. We started with the Reality Check: Does this news report represent reality? On one hand, it is a report about a real PSA. On the other hand, this report was so manipulative that it was clear to participants how much of the footage of the report was staged.

The next topic was Private Gain or Public Gain. We got into a discussion about whether the gain from the report against texting is beneficial for the viewers or for the TV network itself. This discussion led to the next feature of the App: What’s Left Out. Participants identified the calculated framing, the selection of white teens as interviewees and the reporter’s decision to talk about the problematic visuals of the PSA without showing these images to the news viewers. The latter point addressed participants’ concern that the report was not really about the effects of the PSA but rather a dramatic promotional opportunity for the network, as the anchor commented: “It is incredibly graphic so we choose not to run all the images, but you can see the entire video if you’d like to at WXII12.com.”

Then we continued to explore the topic of Values Check. Besides the obvious fact that texting is dangerous while driving, we identified two values: first, the the concept of materialism in relation to technologies like the smartphone, and the second, the decreasing value of parenting. The students who were interviewed were saying how this PSA was much more effective than their parents’ guidelines. Then we tackled the topic: Read Between the Lines. What was the actual message of this report? Is it a commercial hidden as their top local news story? Was it a message about the failure of the educational system to educate about safety? Or was it a message about white privileged teens who do not listen to their parents and get into accidents?

Structured Critical Analysis

As the discussion around the table got steamed up, we moved to the next app: Stereotype Alert. We asked ourselves why the reporter chose the three white teenagers who were filmed from high angle. Analyzing their clothing, gestures and accessories (such as the smartphones they used to watch the PSA) made it clear that there is a subtext about the culture of privileged teens. How could those three adolescents (who for some reason were not in class at that moment) be persuaded in four minutes to stop texting?

The answer for that question is the next app: Solutions too Easy. The two and a half minute report explains the problem of texting while driving and offers the quick solution: parent should go to the network’s website and show their teens the four-minute-long PSA. Using the last app – Record/Save for Later – I asked the participants if this report is important to them and if there is any value to store and show it later. There were mixed reviews and feelings about this report.

To conclude the activity we went to the bottom part of the MEL App to see the different media genres content that can be analyzed. It is important to understand that this activity can be done not only with TV messages but also with newspapers, movies, tablets, radio, comics, books, music, video games, and even social networks. On the other side of the MEL App we reviewed quickly the five critical questions that reframe critical analysis using the concepts of authorship, purpose, contructedness, point of view, interpretation and omission.

Of course, the distinguished group of scholars, the executives, and the journalists knew full well how to analyze this report without the instructional scaffolding that the remote control provides. However, this activity showcased to them that media literacy education can be done in a fun and engaging way using a structured learning process.

I was asked to come and talk about media literacy as part of the debate on whether the legislators should protect the viewers by regulating the media industry or investing in media literacy education to empower viewers’ critical thinking. It seemed that the activity and the presentation of the MEL App gave participants an experience that demonstrated the efficiency of media literacy education over media legislation, which in the digital age, cannot be entirely regulated.

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Waking Up to New Approaches to Community Media and Librarianship

28 Jan

Two amazing professionals have been literally keeping me awake at night: Maureen Sullivan and Tom Stites.

Waking Up to Innovation

Waking Up to Innovation

For days now, I find myself conscious, alert, in the middle of the night, pondering a bit of conversation, or an echo of a phrase, or an idea I seem to have heard recently from one or both of them. I pick up my dream notebook and scribble something furiously before hitting the pillow again.

Both of these remarkable individuals are aiming for nothing short of reinventing their chosen professional fields of librarianship and journalism. And I can’t think of anything more timely, more inspiring, and more important than the work they’re doing.

Tom Stites has had a distinguished career in journalism, working at the Kansas City Star, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Times. Now he is the founder and president of the Banyan Project, which aims to strengthen democracy by pioneering a sustainable and scalable business model for Web journalism that serves the broad public of everyday citizens and engages their civic energy. I got to meet Tom at the Convergence and Community invitational conference we hosted here at the University of Rhode Island’s Harrington School of Communication and Media on January 16 – 17, 2013, where a diverse group of librarians, information professionals, technology experts and journalists gathered to explore how to prepare future workers in journalism and librarianship for careers and community service.

Spending time with Maureen Sullivan, the President of the American Library Association and the brand-new Interim Dean of the GSLIS program at Simmons College, is profoundly mood-altering experience. She’s an inspiring leader! Maureen is an organizational development consultant whose practice focuses on the professional development of librarians. She understands the process people use to create strategic change in their institutions. She has managed the human resources departments for academic libraries at the University of Maryland and Yale University. I saw Maureen only days ago at the recent National Forum on Teens and Libraries in Seattle, Washington, in an event sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Maureen Sullivan has been at the forefront of a movement to enable librarians to “face outward” towards the communities they serve. She’s been encouraging librarians to reinvent their social role by building a sustainable, scalable national plan for library-led community engagement. And in the world of journalism, Tom Stites has been doing the same thing, in a way, encouraging journalists to engage directly with people in their local communities using a new funding model for community journalism based on the co-op model, a business structure developed by credit unions when credit dried up during the bank failures of the Great Depression.

What Universities Can Do

To meet the information needs of people in our local communities, we need creative and inspiring new ideas like this. And I can’t help but think that the University of Rhode Island can be a small part of the solution, right here, using the power of partnerships to help people across the region get the knowledge, skills, job training and services that will enable them to thrive.

This is the reason why I’m delighted that Harrington School journalism and library faculty will be exploring opportunities for interdisciplinary connections that use the power of convergence and community to help students develop the new competencies they need for 21st century careers as information professionals. This fits with our mission to use the power of information and communication to make a difference in the world.

What’s Possible?

How can universities support the needs of people in our local communities? Imagine the possibilities:

  • How about designing and implementing project-based learning experiences that put our students –future journalists, public relations and information professionals, filmmakers, librarians — into partnerships and collaborative projects that serve the community, like the Rhode Island Library Report?
  • Or perhaps it will be a new core multidisciplinary course organized around a deep-dive exploration of concepts like SEARCH, which is itself a core practice of inquiry with deep resonance for journalists, educators and librarians.

We’ll see what the faculty cooks up this spring, with help from Visiting Research Fellow Bill Densmore, a consultant and researcher on the future and sustainability of journalism who is an expert on Internet information technologies and business models. Bill is a consulting fellow to the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the Missouri School of Journalism and director/editor of the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He helped create the New England News Forum and is a founding member and director of Journalism That Matters. Thanks to Bill, we’ve made new friends with a number of innovative thinkers and leaders who care deeply about both journalism and libraries, including Mike Fancher, Amy Garmer, Leigh Montgomery, Colin Rhinesmith, Kara Andrade, Peter Phipps, Brian Jones, Josh Macht, and Graf Moen. Thanks to all of you for keeping me up at night imagining the future!

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A “Ripping” Fine New Year

1 Jan
I'll be ripping clips from Gnomeo and Juliet

I’ll be ripping clips from Gnomeo and Juliet to help K-12 teachers teach media literacy.

My New Year’s Resolution: In 2013, I’ll be “ripping” DVDs to make clip compilations for media literacy. And I’ll be encouraging K-12 teachers, school librarians, and technology educators to do the same.

Why? Because finally, as of October 26, 2012, the U.S. Copyright Office, as part of the DMCA 1201 rulemaking process, has declared that K-12 teachers can legally bypass copy-protected software on DVDs and online streaming media to make short clips.

How did this happen? As a copyright education activist, I participated in two rounds of rulemaking proceedings in 2009 and 2012 concerning the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is the law that exempts YouTube and other ISPs from liability from copyright claims and criminalizes the circumvention of digital rights management (DRM) software that protects DVDs from being copied. I was in good company among other copyright education activists including Peter DeCherney, Martine Rife, Spiro Bolos, and the ALA’s Jonathan Band. Professors Victoria Phillips and Peter Jaszi supported my work through the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic at Washington College of Law at American University.

Every three years, citizens can protest if they believe their fair use rights have been compromised by the current law; the Copyright Office pores over the petitions, weighs the pros and cons, and then offers recommendations to the Librarian of Congress, who ultimately grants or denies the exemptions.

In 2009, we were successful in expanding the law so that college professors and film/media students can legally “rip” DVDs for fair use purposes. In 2012, we were successful in expanding the law to include the right of teachers in kindergarten through twelfth grade!

Here’s the fine print: “The person engaging in the circumvention must believe and have reasonable grounds for believing that the circumvention is necessary to achieve the desired criticism or comment, and where the circumvention is undertaken solely in order to make use of short portions of the motion pictures for the purpose of criticism or comment in the following instances: (i) In noncommercial videos; (ii) in documentary films; (iii) in nonfiction multimedia ebooks offering film analysis; and (iv) for educational purposes by college and university faculty, college and university students, and kindergarten through twelfth grade educators.” You can read the text of the Copyright Office decision here.

Why it matters. By asserting that K-12 educators have the right to circumvent encryption to make fair use of copy-protected DVDs and online digital media for teaching and learning, the law begins to move beyond the needs of large-scale content owners to include the rights of educators and students.

But if K-12 educators don’t take advantage of their new legal rights, has the law really changed? This new provision of the law is definitely a “use it or lose it” situation – if we can’t demonstrate the need for the special exemption in 2015, we may lose it. So, my friends, get “ripping.” Unleash your creativity to create new kinds of educational materials with film DVDs. To help you learn how, here’s a “how to” lesson on using the free software Handbrake to rip on a MAC and here’s how to do it on a PC. And please, inspire your colleagues by posting your own plans for “ripping” in the comment space below.

First things first. You might wonder why I’ve set my sights on “ripping” clips from Gnomeo and Juliet (2011, dir: Kelly Asbury). Of course, there’s the wonderful opportunity to hear my favorite classic Elton John songs (like “Your Song,” for example). But the film has so many possibilities for exploring literary concepts like adaptation and intertextuality and for discussing the concept of nostalgia as it shapes the production of films for child audiences.

Among the gems in this film is the infomercial for the Terrafirminator, the “un-neccesarily powerful” lawnmower that’s “a weapon of grass destruction,” so intimidating that “your lawn will be afraid to grow!”

After viewing the commercial, the gnomes use a laptop to order this high-tech lawnmower.

After viewing the commercial, the gnomes use a laptop to order this high-tech lawnmower.

It’s a classic example of those Saturday-morning high-pressure sales pitches we see on TV.  And even very young children will recognize the now-familiar trope of slow-motion ninja fighting when it occurs in the timeless conflict between the red gnomes and the blue gnomes. I can imagine playing the “Spot the Reference Humor” game, where students clap their hands when they recognize an example, using this activity to discuss the complex interpretations viewers make as part of the film viewing experience. Of course, older students will enjoy the chance to discuss how and why the Shakespeare tragedy is bizarrely altered to create the happy ending required for a children’s film.

Now that the U.S. Copyright Office has permitted K-12 educators to “rip” videos for media literacy education, we can celebrate! Happy New Year 2013!

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Assessing Digital Literacy: Outcomes and Impact

29 Nov

If you want to measure something, first you have to define it. That’s why we’re just at the very beginning of developing assessments for digital literacy. 

One thing is certain, digital literacy is multi-dimensional. It requires an integration of cognitive abilities, communication skills, and social and ethical competencies. Digital literacy is not quantifiable with a single test. It overlaps with reading, problem solving, numeracy, logical, inferential, and metacognitive skills. Most importantly, digital literacy is sensitive to sociocultural context: it is going to look quite different in places like K-12 schools, libraries, the workplace and professional settings. That means there are a host of important assessment challenges that every librarian, educator and technology specialist with interests in digital literacy must face.

For these reasons, on December 11 at 7 p.m. EST, I will be hosting a conversation on Assessing Digital Literacy: Outcomes and Impact thanks to the American Library Association. The Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) and the Digital Literacy Task Force are sponsoring this special online learning program.

Measuring outcomes and impacts are vital to demonstrating the success of any program or service so that we may improve service and advocate for additional investments. But how do we measure or assess the development of digital literacy competencies in ourselves and in our patrons? How may assessment models help us best design and implement digital literacy instruction and services? Joining me for the conversation will be:

  • Karen Hanson, Federal Program Officer at the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA). With her colleagues in the Office of Policy Analysis and Development, Karen is responsible for assessing the impact of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), the $4.7 billion program to increase access to the Internet to all Americans.
  • Dr. Julie Coiro, Assistant Professor of Reading in the School of Education at the University of Rhode Island, and a member of the Media Education Lab at the Harrington School of Communication and Media. Her expertise includes reading comprehension strategy instruction, the new literacies of the Internet, and effective practices for technology integration and professional development. She is currently Co-PI on a four-year federal research project to develop valid and reliable assessments of online reading comprehension. In 2011,  she received the Early Career Research Award from the Literacy Research Association. Her work appears in venues such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Literacy Research, Educational Leadership, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and the 2nd Edition of the International Handbook of Literacy and Technology. She is co-editor of the Handbook of Research on New Literacies (2009).

We’ll discuss:

  • What assessment is already happening, and what are we learning from this work?
  • What tools have already been developed, and how can we better proliferate them among libraries of all types?
  • How can we best document the impact of library, school, university, and community-based training and interventions when it comes to digital literacy competencies?

We will be using Google Hangout as our platform for this virtual meeting and you can learn and participate by watching live-streaming of the conversation on YouTube and chatting with other viewers. You also can continue the conversation through Twitter using the hash tag #digilit12. Your questions and comments will be submitted to panelists throughout the program.

Please RSVP to alawash@alawash.org to learn how to participate. We also welcome comments or questions prior to each conversation. Please use “digital literacy” as the subject line.

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Creating a Culture of Learning

4 Nov

These days, who has time to learn new things? At this time of year, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the pace of work and life. As the days grow shorter, it seems there’s even less time to get everything done – at work, at home, and in our communities.

Yet educators, media and information professionals and librarians DO find time to learn new digital media tools and technologies. We learn when we go to conferences and get inspired by a demonstration. We learn when we exchange information with colleagues who have cool skills we lack. A couple of weeks ago, my colleague Rebecca Romanow, Interim Director of the Film/Video Program at URI’s Harrington School, taught me how to grade papers on an iPad.

For me, finding time to learn new digital tools happens during the times I set aside for “play-and-learning.” Right now, I’m teaching myself to learn PTCH, an easy-to-use video sharing app on my smartphone that lets me assemble short videos. I find myself playing with new digital tools in a variety of in-between situations. Especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed or when I am procrastinating, learning new digital tools gives me a kind of refreshing “break” that can inspire my creativity and productivity.

Want to learn more about how information professionals stay on the path of continuous learning when it comes to digital media?

On November 14 at 7 p.m. EST, I’m hosting an Google hangout called, “Creating a Culture of Learning: How Librarians Keep Up with Digital Media and Technology.” The event is free and open to the public and all are welcome to attend. We’re discussing how we stay on the learning curve with our students, colleagues and patrons as new devices, software and Internet-enabled services emerge. Confirmed speakers include:

  • Caroline Haebig, instructional technology coordinator, Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Haebig collaborates with teachers and administrators to improve student and teacher engagement using technology.  She is an active member of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Young Educator Network and was named as the ISTE Outstanding Young Educator 2012.
  • Jamie Hollier, a technology consultant and project manager with the Public Library Association and formerly the Colorado State Library. As part of its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant, the state library conducted training across the state and developed a range of training tools available at http://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/techtraining/. Hollier was the project coordinator for the Colorado BTOP project.
  • Gwyneth Jones, aka The Daring Librarian, a middle-school teacher librarian at Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel, Maryland. She is a member of the ISTE Board of Directors, and was named an Innovator and one of Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers 2011. The Daring Librarian blog delivers “Ed-Tech Talk with Sweet Snarky Freshness.”
  • Bobbi Newman, aka Librarian by Day, is currently enrolled at Iowa State University pursuing her second master’s degree.  While working at a Missouri public library, Newman was among the first to replicate Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library’s “23 Things” model, and she has written and spoken frequently on how the library adapted and made the program work. Newman also co-founded the award-winning Libraries and Transliteracy Project.
  • Anu Vendanthan, director of the Weigle Information Commons at the University of Pennsylvania. The Commons has supported new media and video projects in the context of college coursework for several years. Anu writes and speaks extensively about the integration of technology into teaching and learning. Her research has explored gender-related aspects of the creation of videos by today’s college students. She has held leadership positions in K-12 administration, the federal government and non-profit organizations.

How can library groups and library leaders best support library staff in the quest to stay current? What are the perceived obstacles that interfere with the continuing education process? What resources or continuous learning models already are available to the profession, and what are their pros/cons?

To learn how to participate, please RSVP at alawash@alawash.org.

A Loss to the Global Media Literacy Community

13 Oct

You Will be Missed!

I was deeply saddened by news this morning that one of the founders of the Italian media literacy community, Roberto Gianatelli, passed away on October 12.

I first met Roberto in 1990 at the legendary Guelph conference, where media literacy educators from around the world first gathered, and where only a handful of American scholars and teachers were present. His passion for teaching was evident from the moment I met him. After that, we met (nearly annually, it seems) during the 1990s as the international media literacy community began gathering steam. In 2000, we participated in Summit 2000: Children, Youth and the Media: Beyond the Millennium, an amazing onference held in Toronto Ontario, which brought together media educators, media producers and more from around the world. At this event, more than 1500 people from 53 countries participated — it was the largest gathering of media literacy educators in the world.

But it was only when Damiano Felini spent time with me in Boston when he was finishing his dissertation in the late 1990s that I had the chance to really understand the sources of momentum that were propelling the media literacy education community in Italy. I decided to spend my sabbatical leave in 2001 in Italy, where I got to meet with Damiano, Roberto and other media educators, including Alberto Pellai and Pier Cesare Rivoltella. Since then, I have had the great opportunity to meet many brilliant Italian media literacy educators including Maria Ranieri, Alberto Parola, Luciano di Mele, Isabella Bruni, Roberto Farne, and many more.

After sharing ideas with the Italian delegation at the World Summit on Children and Media in Karlstad, Sweden in 2010, I was especially delighted to collaborate with Damiano Felini and Professor Gianna Cappello (president of MED, the Italian media literacy association) to create a special issue of the Journal of Media Literacy Education where we worked under the auspieces of two journals devoted to media literacy education: the Journal of Media Literacy Education (sponsored by the National Association for Media Literacy Education) and the Italian Media Education: Studi, Ricerche, Buone pratiche (sponsored by MED, Associazione italiana per l’educazione ai media e alla comunicazione).

I offer my condolences to the many Italian educators who are mourning the loss of their mentor, guide and friend, Roberto Gianatelli. An ordained priest in the Salesian Roman Catholic order, he was a warm, kind and brilliant man. His sense of humor was infectious. Because of his leadership, the Italian media literacy community embraced the contributions of elementary and secondary teachers as well as university faculty and he inspired many to “think big” about this emerging field. It was such a treat to be with him in the summer of 2011 in Corvara, a beautful village in the Dolomite Mountains where the Italian media literacy community gathers for its annual summer course in media education.

This weekend, Italian media educators will gather at the University of Udine for a professional development gathering entitled, “Media Education: Crsecere e insegnare nella societa dei media.” In spirit, I will be there to lift a glass in memory to this Italian lion of a leader in the global media literacy comnunity. I am confident that the Italian media educators will carry on and extend the legacy that Roberto helped begin.

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Time Capsule Videotape, Circa 1987

26 Sep

What a delight to receive an email from one of my former students, Brad Drury, who was a member of the Babson College Class of 1987.  In preparation for the 25th Reunion, he’s just unearthed the “time capsule” that the class compiled and found the videotape I shared with the class, a compilation excerpt tape of 22 music videos produced by students enrolled in Communication Seminar in the Fall of 1986 and Spring of 1987.

I was in my second year of teaching at Babson College and although we were in a seminar course that focused on the impact of media and technology on society (reading Amusing Ourselves to Death as I recall), we were simultaneously exploring characteristics of image-sound relationships and examining how to use the new technology of video for purposes of expression and communication.

I have the fondest memories of these former students, including Andrea Miller, Jay Skelton, David Marshall, Tona Costa, Abby Fligor, Dena Bancroft, Roger Lerrick, Monica Chang, Russell Fine, Lucy Bakewell, LJ Troderman, Rebecca Frederick, Tim Burns and others. If any of you have (somehow) pack-ratted away your old course notebooks, writing or other assignments from the Fall 1986 or Spring 1987 semester, it’s time to digitize and share them so that the ol’ professor can take her walk down memory lane!

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Flash Mob at the Faculty Meeting

22 Sep

What a fun back-to-school September it’s been! One recent highlight: I was welcoming more than 100 Harrington School faculty back to campus at our first faculty meeting on September 7. I had just offered my warmest thanks to our amazing leadership team, including Nedra Reynolds (Writing and Rhetoric), Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies), John Pantalone (Journalism), Rebecca Romanow (Film/Media) and Regina Bell (Public Relations). These talented individuals worked throughout the summer with me to build the future of our new School. We were about to showcase our progress.

But our meeting was suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the school’s plushy mascot, the Rhody Ram, who was dancing like a crazy animal and carrying a boombox. This strange character caused a stir among the faculty and this inspired the Harrington Rangers, seated unobtrusively in the audience, to leap to the front of the room to introduce themselves (in sound-off Annette Funicello-style, for those of you who remember the Mouseketeers). They explained that the Rangers are our brand-new student leadership team, our most outstanding and impressive students who serve as brand ambassadors and peer advisors.

Just then, there was an additional surprise when then students (and the Ram) presented me with a birthday cake. It was indeed a charmingly disruptive flash mob. What a terrific back-to-school is beginning in this New Year!

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