My new article on student motivation – HETS Online Journal

HETS Online JournalI wanted to share with you a recently published article on the topic of the student motivation that I authored. The title of the piece is “Motivating at Risk African Americans and Hispanics Through the Study of New Media Technology“. The peer-reviewed article was based on many of the interactions that I have had over the years with my amazing students. The primary focus of the research was on how to inspire African American and Hispanic students by using digital media. However, the principles and techniques described can be applied to students of all races and cultures. The article was published in the second edition of the Hispanic Educational Technology Services (HETS) Online Journal. The digital copy of the journal can be found here in pdf format.

LaGuardia New Student Orientation

New Students

This week I had the opportunity to be a Faculty Leader during LaGuardia’s Spring 2011 New Student Orientation seminar. The purpose of the seminar is to introduce incoming Freshmen to all of the programs, services and activities available at LaGuardia. The hope is that by giving students a comprehensive introduction to student life at LaGuardia, their transition to college will be a satisfying experience. It is also a great way for faculty and students to interact outside of the traditional classroom setting.

New Media Technology site launch

Media and Technolgy Website Logo

One of the reasons why I haven’t posted anything recently was because for the past month I have been working hard to finish all of the marketing and promotional materials for the new LaGuardia Media and Technology website. The New Media program had been without a web site since the college administration decided to relocate the New Media degree from the now dissolved Computer and Information Systems (CIS) department to the Humanities department. The relocation of the program offered me an opportunity to redesign the curriculum in a more effective way. However, all of the recent changes in the curriculum, as well as the physical relocation of the actual program had caused a bit of a confusion. The new website was merely one of the tools that we developed to minimize the pain of the transition.

More information on the LaGuardia Media and Technology programs can be found here:

http://www.laguardia.edu/mediatech

Mayor’s office: Futures in Film and New Media


Representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting came to speak to the students at LaGuardia. The event was sponsored by the LaGuardia Media Studies and New Media Technology programs. The visitors from Mayor Bloomberg’s office talked about training programs, diversity initiatives, and other opportunities for CUNY students Continue reading “Mayor’s office: Futures in Film and New Media”

Old students return

Earlier today a former LaGuardia New Media student, Miki Masuda, came in to speak to some of my capstone students about her experiences working in digital design, and transferring from LaGuardia to a senior college. Now just to give you some background, new media capstone students at LaGuardia are generally my most advanced designers. The have taken many of the required courses and are usually just a semester or so away from graduating. The capstone class, HUW 269 – New Media Project Lab, that I am teaching is designed to assist students in developing a final professional portfolio to facilitate transfer to a senior college or gain employment as a New Media designer.

Miki is an amazing designer. When I was looking for a guest speaker Continue reading “Old students return”

Mr. Richardson, we’re ready for your closeup.

James Interview

One of the benefits of being a professor is that you get to see how your students grow and develop over time. You are able to watch them start off as raw and untrained media enthusiasts and hopefully evolve into polished digital artists. Today was one of those days for me. I was honored to be interviewed by students in the Media and Technology programs for the upcoming Web TV channel being created at LaGuardia Community College.

The interview focused Continue reading “Mr. Richardson, we’re ready for your closeup.”