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”Pruitt-Igoe Documentary Film panel
A few months back a former colleague invited me to speak to a group of students from the School of Architecture Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University (UK) about the documentary on the Pruitt Igoe apartment complex in St. Louis. The documentary, and the subsequent panel discussion, centered on the deep social issues of housing in American cities, and how these developments reflect underlying racial prejudice and inequality in the US and beyond.
The documentary can be found at:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thepruittigoemyth/276600370
The Mid May Massacre panel video
VHS Massacre Too Panel Discussion
I was very honored to be featured in this award-winning documentary, and even more appreciative to be asked to participate in a panel discussion on the film. So if you are available, please watch VHS Massacre Too and the Q&A on May 15th at 4:00 p.m. EST during the Mid May Massacre (http://www.midmaymassacre.com). Did I mention that the event is free?
#vhsmassacre #vhsmassacretoo #midmaymassacre
Project Empathy: Overview of the Series
The current social climate of the US has created an environment where it has become difficult to empathize with others different from ourselves. During the past year a web based mini documentary series on the unique lives of a number of people impacted by this racial empathy gap was filmed. The following presentation was an overview of the project and what was discovered as a result. The recording of the session on Project Empathy video series that I completed during my sabbatical leave was given to the LaGuardia community as a part of the United Wounds of America conference held a few weeks back.
Continue reading “Project Empathy: Overview of the Series”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 teaching? We should have been better prepared.
The video above is from a 2014 panel group discussion I participated in on the subject of evaluating online instruction. I went back to look at the video after all of this time because college administrators recently featured in the news have mentioned the difficultly schools are having in shifting to a distance learning modality. We are three weeks into this semester and the one thing that I have realized about how High Education has responded to the COVID-19 impact on face to face instruction, is that we should have been better prepared.
Continue reading “Online teaching? We should have been better prepared.”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
Life after ITP
As part of an alumni panel discussing life and career possibilities after graduation, I was invited once again to speak to students in the NYU Interactive Telecommunication Program. It was a great event, but I must admit to having a good laugh at the fact that I was the oldest person on the panel by far.
The funniest thing was when I mentioned the year I graduated a student in the front row mouthed the word “wow”. Dat’s right son, I’m a straight up ODG (Original Digital Gangsta)! Protect ya neck!
Speaking at the Grad Center
A colleague of mine, Michael Mandiberg, invited me to be a guest lecturer for a class he was teaching at the CUNY Graduate Center. The students in his class were PhD candidates within the CUNY Interactive Technology and Pedagogy certificate program. Over the course of the semester his class examined how people and technologies have shaped academic classroom and research interactions in the past, and how they are reshaping the university in the present.
I spoke on the topic of “The Digital Humanities & the Future of Academic Inquiry and Publishing”. Michael thought that my previous papers, interviews, and conference presentations on the topic of digital scholarship would help spark a lively debate among his students.
