A few months ago a former student of mine, Caroline Mendez, reached out to me to see if I would be interested in participating in a LaGuardia virtual event to promote STEM professions to students of color. Caroline studied digital media with me back in the early 2000s shortly after I made the switch from corporate IT to academia. She is currently an Academic Advisor for the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and is tasked with helping students, particularly students of color, find their way by providing intensive academic advisement, career development, tuition scholarships, textbooks, and transportation assistance. Since I love reconnecting with former students, I eagerly agreed to join the panel discussion on STEM career opportunities.
Continue reading “CUNY ASAP STEM Career Event”New Media Alumni Profiles – Arin Soukoule
This is another in a series of former student profiles that I am putting together. Arin is an alumnus of the LaGuardia Community College New Media Technology Program and a former student of mine. During the pandemic, they were kind enough to speak with me via Zoom and talk about their experience as a former student of the program to assist current students in finding their way to a post-LaGuardia world.
New Media Alumni Profiles – Will Domingue
Will is an alumnus of the LaGuardia Community College New Media Technology Program and a former student of mine. During the pandemic, he was kind enough to speak with me via Zoom and talk about his experience as a former student of the program to assist current New Media students in finding their way to a post-LaGuardia world.
Thanks, I needed that today.
Visiting Scholar at NYU
During my sabbatical year I was fortunate enough to secure an opportunity to serve as a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Interactive Telecomunications Program. It was somewhat of a homecoming for me since this was the program that I graduated from nearly two decades earlier.
Continue reading “Visiting Scholar at NYU”Online education might be the future, whether we like it or not
Let me just start by saying that for the past few years I have been hearing educators rage against the for-profit institutions and online instruction. And rightly so in many cases. There are many of these online for-profit schools that offer sub standard education for a cost that is comparable to the traditional brick and mortar schools of higher education.
The rising cost of higher education, the technical disruption of traditional methods of communication, the economic downturn, and the disproportionate promotion of majors without definitive career paths have created a perfect storm. For the first time that I can remember, large portions of society are questioning the value of a college education. The kids growing up today will adapt and start learning in different ways.The methods of learning that you and I look at as inefficient will not seem that way to them. But instead of adopting some of the positive aspect of online education and looking for ways to improve upon it, traditional academics basically dismissed it.
And the rise of MOOCs within the last few years or so has many within the academy worried. If just one of these organizations/schools/partnerships gets it right and is able to offer quality and accredited education at a reduced price, it will be over for the existing structure. It is already happening. Higher Ed, much like the music and the newspaper/magazine industries, was too slow in making needed changes. They thought that they would be immune to the technological and economic shifts. They were wrong. I suspect that in 10 years from now colleges will be very different.
I don’t think it will happen that quick only because the small private colleges that are moderately profitable will be the first to feel the pinch. The larger institutions that are city and state sponsored will do better, but only because they are backed by the government.
For starters, academic institutions could have tried to control the rising cost of education and promoted majors that point to definitive career paths. Especially when technical disruption of traditional methods of communication and the economic downturn have creative a perfect storm in which, for the first time that I can remember, large portions of society are questioning the value of a college education. People are looking towards majors that lead to long term sustainable professions. Those are just a few of the answers off the top of my head. I could go on for hours on this topic. I can have at least another good 15-20 to work within the current a academic system barring a substantial financial windfall. However, I doubt the current system will last that long. Thus I feel the need to hedge my bets and broaden my skill set toward possible future shifts.
link — http://zowchow.com/gadgets/online-education-is-replacing-physical-colleges-at-a-crazy-fast-pace/
link — http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2012/11/does_online_education_actually.html
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/293079/10-excellent-free-online-education-resources
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons
New Media Tech – Fall 2015 Project Lab
CUNY IT Conference 2015: Online Learning
We had a great session yesterday at the 14th annual CUNY IT conference held at John Jay College. The subject of the session I participated in was “Online Learning: What’s in it for CUNY”. The panel featured some of the most knowledgeable people within the City University system on the topic of how online education can best be implemented to the benefit of our students, faculty, and individual institutions.
The session was well attended and the discussion section of the panel spark a number of interesting debates on how CUNY needs to proceed with online education. In November of 2014 CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken, speaking at a meeting of the Association for a Better New York, proclaimed Continue reading “CUNY IT Conference 2015: Online Learning”
CUNY Career Opportunities for NYU-ITP Students
I was approached a few months back by the folks at NYU to be a part of an academic career opportunities event for students of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). I was asked to to introduce ITP students to the teaching opportunities available within the City University of New York (CUNY) system. My presentation highlighted the two schools I represent, the CUNY School of Professional Studies and LaGuardia, and how current students and alumni can work as adjuncts, teaching assistants, tutors, workshop organizers, application writers, interns, etc..
This felt very much like a homecoming for me. It was the first time I had formally presented at my old Alma Mater. I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed my time at ITP.
LaGuardia New Media Technology Update
Last week I was part of a faculty panel that presented on the upcoming curricular changes to the LaGuardia New Media Technology major. In addition to the core web development classes we are now adding new tracks in digital journalism, ecommerce/entrepreneurship, game design/mobile app development, and digital media/VFX.
These are changes that I had fought for over a number of years and were outlined in the Periodic Program Review (PPR) which I produced over two years ago. The event was well attended and many of my new colleagues in seem extremely excited to begin this work. After so many years of being the sole full time teaching member of the New Media program, it is great to have additional voices involved in shaping the future direction of the major.