Tag: digital media

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LaGuardia New Media Technology Update

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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.

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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.

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New Office Again??

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Finally got access to my new office at LaGuardia. I am not going to unpack because I have been told that both the New Media program and I will be moving to the Business and Technology department in the Fall. If the move goes through it will be my third department and fifth office in 8 years at the institution. Luckily I am master at musical chairs.

Still, I am hoping that I can convince the administration that moving the program yet again, and to another single department, would be a bad idea. All of the research that I did last year on the design and successful building of digital media programs points to the need for a truly cross disciplinary approach in this time of technological convergence. Placing programs in departmental silos runs counter to the natural intersection of traditional forms of communication, finance, and entertainment occurring as a result of the new high tech methods of delivery that have emerged in recent years. I guess only time will tell.

On the positive side, it is a really nice office.

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You will be missed

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I was saddened to hear that Red Burns, founder of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, passed away earlier this week. Red was my academic adviser and one of the first people that I met when I arrived to study at ITP in the late 90s. Oddly enough, despite her small stature, she was also one of the most intimidating people I have ever met. And I say that as a person that is not easily intimidated. My first impression of Red was that she was not someone to trifle with, piss off, or just generally wind up on her bad side. Over time I was fortunate to see that there was a kinder and gentler side to her. Red cared deeply for her students, but she demanded the best from them. She was a formidable personality and utterly fearless in her approach to life.

Over the past few days my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been inundated by posts from friends and fellow ITP students who were influenced heavily by Red. She was truly a pioneer in the fields of tech education and digital expression. The overwhelming theme that comes through in all of the posts is that Red, and the program that she created, changed their lives for the better. Continue reading “You will be missed”

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Game Changers: The Community College Journal Interview

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I had been so busy toward the end of the semester that I had forgotten that a few months back I was interviewed on the curriculum changes that I had put in place for the LaGuardia New Media Technology program. Steve Zurier of the Community College Journal contacted me to see if I would be interested in talking to him about some of the emerging technologies impacting digital media programs.

It appears that he wanted to feature my comments under a section on media literacy in his article. I agreed to speak with him and discuss the challenges in developing a technology based curriculum to address the changing economic and educational shifts facing college students. Since I had given a fair amount of thought on the subject over the past year due to having to draft the Periodic Program Review (PPR) for the New Media major, I hoped the interview would be painless. Luckily it was straight forward like I assumed. I am quoted in the piece on my approach to digital media curriculum design.

A digital copy of the article can be found here.