Introduction to mass communication research

A live video guest lecture to KathoNewMedia students by Dr Mugur Geana.

Photo: Peter Budai

I have started teaching my New Media course at Katho last week. This is the third edition, or better-said, the third semester when I am teaching it. Like with previous semesters, I am trying to continuously update the course and bring projects and speakers that can inspire the students.

Today was the time for me to be the host of a guest lecture. Dr Mugur Geana, whose classes I joined several times before as a guest lecturer, was our guest. While students today had to experiment with online research tools, Dr Geana spoke about traditional research methods and gave students a crash course into qualitative and quantitative research methods of mass communication.

Judging from the students’ reactions, attention and engagement with the content and Dr Geana, the lecture was a succes. After the lecture some even indicated that the presentation managed to clarify questions that their courses at home  weren’t able to do. For this, many thanks to Dr Geana.

Unfortunately, we have encountered many technical difficulties all due to the weak internet connection available in the classroom. Soon after we started we had to abandon TokBox since both the video and audio connection were interrupted. After switching to Skype we encountered similar problems. We started with live synchronous video, then had only our class stream video and finished by relying solely on the audio connection provided by Skype running the powerpoint presentation from the computer’s hard-drive. Even when using a cabled rather than wi-fi the sound quality was fluctuating from poor to fair and only sometimes to good.

The experience from today confirms once more that introducing live video guest lectures into the daily teaching process is a simple and affordable way to enable students to have international contacts and examples. It also emphasizes once more the necessity of investments in internet infrastructure of schools, which could later lead to a change in the teaching process: more fluid, more open, less space confined.

Visualization tools – update 2

Animoto is to me a prettier and more dynamic slideshow. However, unlike a regular slideshow, Animoto offers plenty of integration choices when it comes to obtaining content, musical background or sharing it with other people. As such photos and videos can be uploaded from a computer or imported them other online platforms like Flickr, Picasa or Facebook. Similarly, music can be chosen from Animoto’s list or from your own tunes. The rest is more than easy since once uploaded the photos and chosen the track, Animoto does all the hard work and sends an email once the video is ready. The transitions are dynamic and have a modern vibe.

Here’s what I have created with just a few clicks. At present Animoto doesn’t offer wordpress customized embed links.

For a research/academic environment Animoto could be a good choice for art/media oriented schools as an alternative creative platform. It’s a good visualization tool and provides a pretty results without too much effort. However there are two limitations that I see with Animoto:

1. the basic free account limitation of videos to 30 seconds might make it a bit harder for students to use it for lengthier projects
2. the limitation put on content choice – Animoto’s pool or the user’s own. While this is a laudable move in the direction of supporting copyright, it limits on the other hand the possibility of creating mix or re-mix products.

If you are interested in the other visualization tools I have reviewed check these previous posts.

Job hunting 2.0

An online video guest lecture at Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen in Belgium.

I had the pleasure to give a lecture yesterday to students taking PR courses at HKM in Mechelen focusing on how students could use web 2.0 in their job hunt. The aim was to offer students tips that they could use when looking for a job and applying for one as well as invite them to have a more critical and niche approach of using web 2.0 applications.

When I first got in contact with the school we agreed to do the video guest lecture since Geert Van den Eijnden, the lecturer hosting the course, showed great interest in “playing” with new media and since at that time I was not aware of my schedule for this month.

However with my coming to Belgium and therefore travel to Mechelen it was tempting to abandon the online idea and opt for the traditional in class delivery. The solution we found offered a balance of both a big surprise for the attending students.

Geert joined his class as usual. We connected using TokBox, which we have tested before, and tried to solve some of the technical glitches on the go. They had to do with school IT protection for downloading new software or cables too short for the laptop to allow it to be turned towards the classroom so that I can see them as much as they saw me. Apart from that everything went well and the bandwidth was broad enough so that I could even embed and play a video from YouTube during the talk. I used Michael Cera’s video resume, a parody of Aleksey Vayner’s infamous “Impossible is Nothing” no longer available online, to show albeit in a funny way how a video resume should not be.

The interaction with the students was good. Some of them, having quickly figured out how to find me, started sending me messages on Twitter. Others sent me LinkedIn requests. They were engaged, well informed and answered my questions in a manner that showed a critical and strategic approach to job hunting. Their questions too were interesting and reflected concern for how their use of new media could impact their work. They were also interested in my personal story, which I was glad to share.

After an hour of online lecture, I joined them in the class. Judging from the amazement of more than half of the students present, they weren’t expecting me to be so close.

Bruno Neuville, the KHM’s Communication Management Director of Studies, also attended the class. He qualified the lecture as both interesting and innovating. I felt honored to have him had in the classroom.

But I was not the only one to have given a lecture at KHM. In fact Geert invites throughout the year a series of speakers, local and international specialists from public relations, media, social media or journalism in attempt to provide students with as much business insight and contacts.

As usual, my presentation is embedded below:

Conference Invitation & Call for Papers – Brasov (Romania), 21-23 May 2010

I received this from a former Fulbright Fellow. If you are interested feel free to apply.

 

   Please find below useful information on the website of
the conference Workplace across languages and cultures
to be held next May, in Brasov (Romania)
http://www.unitbv.ro/proiecte/limbajulprofesional/conference/index.html

I am also attaching the official Call for papers.

Looking forward to welcoming you in Brasov!

  Razvan Saftoiu

U of Ploiesti, Department of Philology
39 Bucuresti Blv.
Ploiesti 100680
Prahova, Romania

Telephone (work): +40244573171 (ext. 293)

www.freewebs.com/razvansaftoiu

    

Download now or preview on posterous

Call for papers.pdf (93 KB)

#smcedu – Social Media Education Chat 2

A week ago, on Monday, November 9, 2009 the Social Media Education Club organized their first twitter chat on social media education. Last week the questions asked were about measuring success of social media in education, developing the quality of social media curriculum, assessing schools using social media and identifying research or materials about social media courses or educational integration. My summary of last week’s chat is here. You can also read the one written by Andrea Genevieve here.

Today it was the time for a second one. Unlike last week when there were more attendants, it was only me and @yongclee with a brief intervention from @brett (Events Director for Mashable according to his Twitter bio). Unfortunately I would say especially because this week’s chat even had a sponsor: the Richmond Grid Magazine. The questions were really interesting and would definitely benefit from further consideration and attention. Below you can find the questions asked together with a selection of my answers

1. Flexibility, tailoring tools for course makes sense. What tools (eg wikis) would benefit all classes?

• SM tools in classroom – I think it depends on the course; I use and define general concepts and invite students to come w/ examples #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee i guess it depends if the school has an online platform like blackboard or moodle or not #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee from the free available ones i’d recommend blogs, wikis and @slideshare #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee voicethread http://bit.ly/VWC2Z has now options for both K12 and universities – here’s an examplehttp://bit.ly/1AHnQN #smcedu

2. Do students need to be pushed to use collaborative tools?

• ana_adi: @yongclee they certainly need to be encouraged to use them as not all of them are aware of them #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee platforms that students might usually use aren’t always good 4 academic demo as they might pose data security threats #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee voicethread, google docs and now google wave are good as they can restrict/control access to a group#smcedu
• ana_adi: @ana_adi on that same token, this is why edu institutions prefer blackboard & moodle apps – security, privacy and control #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee but purchased or not, uni owner or freely available both teachers and students need to be aware of + & – of these apps #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee threfore, all these apps require learning, practice and analysis – for some educators w/ busy agendas this is overload #smcedu

3. Do students/teachers NEED academic approval? Value of SM is proven in different jobs every day.

• ana_adi: @yongclee educators and academic approval –> i guess they do as it’s part of the contribution to and sharing of knowledge #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee educators and academic approval –> if professors don’t have the approval, students cannot benefit from their teaching #smcedu

4. Academia seems to be late adopters. Is it then a matter of time for SM to be approved by majority.

• ana_adi: @yongclee academia as SM late adopters –> i think so; it’s not only a matter of teaching but also of publishing research#smcedu

The question about publication returned this week did the question of why social media tools and applications, although available, aren’t used extensively in education. My thought would be, that social media is too new to be widely accepted and therefore it needs its explorers and experimenters as well as it trials and errors. What academic institutions could do is allow for this process to happen by encouraging educational experiments and then replicate the successful ones.

As for publications, for a new method, new publications are needed. Maybe the Social Media Education Club could launch its own electronic journal and select its reviewers from its growing community. This would maintain the peer review process necessary in academia but also create a niche publication dedicated to social media and education.

Finally, today we reached one conclusion (or at least we agreed on this statement):  that schools don’t need to sanction social media per se but rather make students aware of how and why social media is being used in specific jobs.