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”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!
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.
This is why I teach.
I had just returned from one of the many meetings that I have during the week to find a Facebook instant message from a former student of mine. I hadn’t seen or heard from Juan directly since a few months after he graduated. It was great to hear that he was doing fantastic and that I was able to play a small role in his success. At the end of the day this is essentially why I continue to teach. None of my other responsibilities as a professor even comes close to the satisfaction of helping students find their way in life, both personally and professionally.
Webinar: Creating Engaging Content
Here is the video from my recent webinar on “Creating Engaging Content for the Web and Social Media”. This was the second in a multi-part series of online seminars to educate potential students at CUNY School of Professional Studies about the field of new media. I decided to conduct the webinar because attracting users to build a sustainable social media presence for themselves or their organizations requires the Continue reading “Webinar: Creating Engaging Content”
The NYC Tech Scene and Community Colleges
Almost a year ago Shuprotim Bhaumik and the team from HR&A Advisors produced a comprehensive report on the New York City Tech Ecosystem and how it is generating economic opportunities for many New Yorkers (http://www.hraadvisors.com/nyctechstudy/). Last week Gail Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College, had a number of the college faculty and staff attend another important meeting with the same team from HR&A.
Shuprotim and his team gave a presentation that went a step further than Continue reading “The NYC Tech Scene and Community Colleges”
Bridging the Gaps in Digital Media
The following video is of a panel discussion I organized for the 13th Annual CUNY IT Conference back in December. The talk that took place was on the topic of designing digital media programs within higher education. I gathered a number of my colleagues from some of the digital media programs throughout CUNY to find out how they approach program design and the maintenance of curricula in evolving technical disciplines.
This has been an area that has been on my mind since completing the Periodic Program Review for the LaGuardia New Media Technology degree, as well Continue reading “Bridging the Gaps in Digital Media”
New Media Tech Info Session
This a short video excerpt of a discussion on the field of digital development and the upcoming changes to the New Media Technology program at LaGuardia Community College. Last year I was tasked with the responsibility of conducting the Periodic Program Review (PPR) for the New Media Technology program at LaGuardia. In drafting the PPR I was forced to research the current status of the industry in which the program was preparing students to enter in the hopes of developing a plan to assess the effectiveness of the major and improve student outcomes.
Based on the information discovered during my research, I Continue reading “New Media Tech Info Session”
Tech Training – Summer 2014
The summer is the time when I brush up on old skills or take the plunge and develop new ones. The plan for this summer was to initially focus all of my time on Objective C and iOS app development. That was until Apple announced that they were migrating to a new programing language called Swift. Since the info on Swift is still in the preliminary stages I will now either brush up on my mobile responsive design and JavaScript animation or try and tackle Ruby on Rails. I am leaning towards the responsive design and JavaScript because it would better prepare me to finally get started with PhoneGap and cross-platform application development. Continue reading “Tech Training – Summer 2014”