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Innovative Teaching: Creativity, Collaboration, Change
CREATIVITY
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In:Site: A Facebook magazine
Instructor Florangela Davila’s 20 undergraduate journalism students wanted to explore delivering information to the public in a new way, so they created In:Site, an arts-and-culture magazine, and launched the publication to Facebook this spring. Facebook’s 100-million-plus audience includes a large number of 16-to-25-year-olds, In:Site’s target audience. The students chose arts and culture as a topic because they want something that’s relevant to their readers.
In:Site is the first collaboration between the Department of Communication and Seattle-based NewsCloud, which provided the technology for the Facebook application. The students used social media tools such as Twitter and YouTube to drive traffic to their magazine and build an online community. A small group of students will continue work at In:Site over the summer, and the Department is considering making the site a permanent part of the program.
Visit the In:Site Facebook application. Read highlights from spring quarter:
Pocket Film Festival
UW students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered on June 5 to celebrate the grand finale of the MCDM's first annual Pocketmedia Film Festival. The event topped off a campus-wide film competition wherein participants created a 90-second or shorter film using a pocket-size recording, such as a mini camcorder, digital camera or mobile phone. The theme was “What do U do at UW?” and a purple W had to appear somewhere in the video. Read the results of the competition and see highlights of the event.
COLLABORATION
Communicating the Environment
A daylong conference brought people from across and outside the University to present research, talk about issues and make connections. One major goal was to give graduate students and others the opportunity to bridge the many disciplines in which people are dealing with important environmental issues. Students from a dozen different fields presented on a wide range of topics, from architecture to advertising, philosophy to philanthropy.
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| Communication professors Lisa Coutu and David Domke and science journalist Usha McFarling |
The day was not limited to scholarly perspectives. Keynote speaker Usha McFarling, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist, spoke about the challenges to environmental and science reporting in the present media climate, and local journalists participated in a roundtable with students and community members later in the day. More than 60 people attended the keynote and dozens more attended sessions throughout the day. Though the day itself was great fun and a great success, the real payoff will come in the future as attendees draw on ideas and connections in their future work.
Colin Lingle, a communication graduate student and conference organizer said this about the event:
"The idea started with a few Comm students and we quickly added colleagues from history and the School of Marine Affairs to the planning committee. It seemed to each of us that there were a lot of people doing amazing work, but we rarely had the chance to talk to one another. We're all typically so busy that it can be hard to connect and share ideas. That was the spark that got us started and we quickly realized there is tremendous energy and interest in collaboration on the environment. At every stage, we found people across the University community ready and willing to help. We really appreciated everyone who took the time to share their work; it wouldn't have happened without them. And we're also tremendously grateful to our sponsors; all of them helped make this event a big success. Clearly, this community will have a lot to say on this issue in coming years."
Local organizations work with MCDM students
Professor Hanson Hosein has invited community organizations to come to his classes and pitch their projects to students. The Pacific Science Center launched its new Geocaching and adopted one of Hanson’s Multimedia Storytelling student's class film for its Web site (with a mention on the Web site for Hanson’s students). In Hanson's upcoming Social Production class, MCDM students will partner with the Seattle International Film Festival, Habitat for Humanity and local startup Zoopa to research and create social media strategies.
CHANGE
Twitter in the Classroom
Professors Hanson Hosein and Kathy Gill created a buzz with local news media when word got out that they encourage their students to Twitter in their classrooms. Channel 13/FOX reporter Angela Hill visited Hosein and Gill’s classes after seeing an article in the student-run The Daily. Hill's story focuses on students asking questions in real time through the use of Twitter. Watch her story now.
This summer, Gill will lead a small group of MCDM students in an innovative class "Beyond The Fail-Whale: How Twitter Is Changing Organizational Communication," with a self-published book as the final deliverable.
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