Technology in the Classroom: Video Clips and Their Potential Impact on Student Thinking

This is a great example of professors using technology in their classrooms. Dr. Michael Mackert, Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising at The University of Texas at Austin, required his students to submit video links pertaining to health. He made the assignment very broad because he wanted to gauge the students' interpretation of "health on TV".

One of the students submitted the following video which is based on one person's negative experience with a flu shot.



But wait! She IS getting better! One of the professor's teaching assistants found an update video. Here's the interesting aspect, she stated that people have actually hacked into some of her social networking accounts. This prompted her to use another website to post updates on her illness.



The interesting aspect of this classroom assignment is that the students were able to see the "before" and the "current status" of the woman in the two clips. However, if the students were not exposed to the second video, many of them would make an assumption that the woman is not making any progress. Not only do we have to encourage students to dig deeper with news articles, but we need to encourage them to search for updates regarding youtube videos and other new media.

It would be INTERESTING to see if students would be less likely to obtain a get a flu shot after viewing the first video and then seeing if their thoughts change after seeing the second video. However, the changes of IRB board approval would be highly unlikely (at almost any institution). :)

What do you think?

J. Edwards (Millennial Professor)

"Social Networking Could Help Community College Students"

My colleague Lora and I are VERY interested in the impact of Twitter and social networking websites on the learning process. As a result, we are collecting ANY article pertaining to the subject. BTW - We have a practitioner-based article (regarding Twitter) that will be published very soon.

USA Today published an article titled, "Social Networking Could Help Community College Students", which focuses on the extended classroom. I wonder what impact will social networking websites have on the university and high school environments?

If you have any scholarly article suggestions pertaining to social networking websites and their impact on student learning, PLEASE let me (us) know!

Have a great day!

J. Edwards (Millennial Professor)

Award/Grant Opportunity: "Second Annual McGraw-Hill and Magna Publications Award for Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning"

Hello Readers!

If you are as excited about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) as I am, please submit one or more of your articles for the "Second Annual McGraw-Hill and Magna Publications Award for Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning".

Here is some more information:

"[The Teaching Professor website is] pleased to announce the Second Annual McGraw-Hill and Magna Publications Award for Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning. You’ll find all the details on The Teaching Professor website (www.teachingprofessor.com), including how to submit pieces (your work and that of others), the selection criteria, and the review process. In case you’ve forgotten, a $1,000 award goes to the author or is shared by authors of the winning article, which will be announced at the 2010 Teaching Professor Conference.

Good luck!

J. Edwards (Millennial Professor)

"Technology in Action" - Tweeting During a Conference Session

Today, I discovered that "technology was in action" at the National Communication Association Conference in Chicago, IL. There is a VIDEO, an ARTICLE, and a picture from our session on data gathering using new technologies.

Here's our interview after the session:



Here's our Twit Pic during the session:
Here is the article from the session - "How to Collect Data in the 21st Century?"

Quite interesting! People were sending tweets during a conference session and other people came to the session because of the tweets they received! 

J. Edwards (Millennial Professor)