4 posts tagged “isidra person-lynn”

By Chris A. Heidelberg III, Ph.D., Publisher & Producer & Isidra Person-Lynn

This was the fourth in a series of interviews with Professor Isidra Person-Lynn. In this interview, I discuss the importance of ease of use when constructing blogs for learning.

Professor Isidra Person-Lynn:

How hard do they say they are to set up?

Me: Actually, blogs are fairly easy to set up; however, I would recommend Vox and Blogger because of their ease of

use despite my affection for Wordpress which creates great looking blogs.

The biggest problem that I had was teaching folks how to load PowerPoints onto the blog. It was fairly simple but I would say approximately one-third of the class did not know how to do this, so I put the instructions online and demonstrated it live in class. In fact, some students figured out how to put all of the PowerPoints up as posts and it looked great.

The other thing that I had to demonstrate was how to load video from YouTube directly in the post, but this was not as big of an issue. Ironically, loading photos did not seem to create a problem.

Overall, it was pretty painless! I just had to keep reminding folks to answer the questions, and post them on the blog so that they would be ready for their final which could be posted on their blog too.

This did two things. First, it provided students with an opportunity to think about what they were writing from a visual and audio perspective and they had to basically create storyboards through video and photo images to tell a story in a more concrete and three dimensional way than basic print can ever do; and it also enabled students to create a paper from my final exam questions just by cutting and pasting legally with citations.

Yes, I tricked them into learning while having fun, but I warned them in the beginning that they would be learning despite my methods. At the end of the day, my students, to a man and a woman, loved my approach and all of them expressed this in very complimentary terms.

                                                       Copyright 2009 Edutainment & Convergence

By Chris A. Heidelberg III, Ph.D., Publisher & Producer

This is the third interview with Professor Isidra Person-Lynn of West Los Angeles College on the subject of Edutainment & Convergence. Specifically, we focused on blogging; however, I was quick to point out how edutainment methods and convergence technology can be utilized effectively in the classroom from a learner-centered perspective. This is the reason that I put the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergei Brin in this post. They discovered what would become Google while working on their dissertation at Stanford and trying to find a better search vehicle. This is the power of critical thinking and discovery.In this interview, I explained what I discovered about my students in terms of what they think, how they, and why they had developed these thoughts. Overall, I found my students to be pretty good critical thinkers once they were taught how to think critically by asking them questions and more importantly getting them to ask critical questions. I even tackled the controversial area of allowing texting in my class. My answer may horrify some educators, but I have found with my classes that this was never a problem because I set up texting rules and my class was so interesting that my students hardly ever texted.

Professor Isidra Person-Lynn:

What have you discovered on your students' blogs?

Me: I have discovered that students were more gifted than even I thought, and I am an optimist. The critical thinking

 was quite evident once I got them emotionally involved in discussing issues like texting in class (which I allow because they are writing and because I want them to tell whoever they are  texting what we are doing in class including parents and guess what they hardly ever text in class which is ironic and this is a pattern), legal and illegal downloading, the corrupt behavior of some media executives,and the relationships between media consolidation and the banking scandal as a result of the Telecomm Act of 1996 and if you read the posts you will see that they are really into the discussion.

I may have to add actual debates next. I also discovered that I got continuous feedback about the direction of the class. They were quite honest online and were receptive to fair critiques because we developed trust when I began implementing what they wanted within my lesson plan.

In fact, the last four classes were executive produced by me, and largely produced by the students after I gave my 10 minute open on what we would be doing. They wrote and blocked out the skits, did the casting, and made presentations and we were still done early so I dismissed class so that folks could work on their blogs.

I also discovered that most students can tell a good story when you make it "real" or authentic for them based on their life histories. At the end of the day, I work for my students and they are my customers and my extended family, so I am going to nuture them through things like spelling issues, slang and structure issues in time. Since this was an introductory course, I was most interested in getting them to critically think and provide cogent analysis in writing. This is the foundation for the writing, and commucation in general, because once a students discovers her voice or his voice, she or he is free and the scholarship will follow!

                                                Copyright 2009 Edutainment & Convergence

By Dr. Chris A. Heidelberg III, Publisher & Producer & Isidra Person-Lynn

 

This is the second interview with Professor Isidra Person-Lynn of West Los Angeles College on the subject of Edutainment & Convergence. Specifically, we focused on blogging; however, I was quick to point out how convergence technology can be utilized effectively in the classroom from a learner-centered perspective. If the student likes it, and it promotes learning maybe researchers and curricula designers need to place more focus on the needs of students, and less attention their needs and other quantitative measurements. If we as educators and researchers continue to focus primarily on the numbers, and place less emphasis on the people who make up the numbers, we will continue the cycle of educational malfpractice that has resulted in achievement gaps nationally at nearly every level of education.  I focused on the needs of the students and constantly adjusted my approach to fit their needs and to meet the core objectives of the course curricula. If the student is the consumer why are we not looking at both the needs and the wants of this unique consumer who also requires nurturing during the process. I focused my answers on the edutainment and convergence methods that I utilized in the class that resulted in the specific content of the students' blogs.

Professor Isidra Person-Lynn

What is the student's initial response?

Me: I can tell you right now that most of them were shocked that I was going to allow them to blog in class. A few

were concerned because they did not feel like they were technologically gifted enough to do it. It is important to note that I had a variety of students ranging from the disciplines of finance, marketing, business, communications, speech pathology, and English.

However, I had experience in this area, so I gave a live demonstration on how to use Vox and I even used my own usability standards that I developed from my research. I divided my students into groups that specialized in the varioius media areas: film/tv, radio/music, print, the Internet and public relations.

The assignment became collaborative in nature since the groups were part of a larger production that I supervised. The students who were techologically gifted assisted students who were not as gifted, and the writers and producers made sure that everyone particiapated online. It empowered the students. Everyone had to work together as groups and as a larger group in order for me to utilize my famous over-the-top skits in the classroom and my version of the game show called Food or Funds.

The students who presented could be quizzed at any time by me or I could quiz the audience. Correct answers resulted in prizes! The challenge for the students was that they had to record what the skits were about, what lessons the skits taught based on the readings, what did they learn that they did not know about the media industry, and they were challenged to critique and commend the industry for perceived rights and wrongs. Yes, all of this was placed on the web via our Facebook group and then transferred to the blogs on Vox. I was notified by Twitter and Facebook when they were done.

                               Copyright 2009 Edutainment & Convergence

 

By Chris A. Heidelberg III, Ph.D, Publisher & Managing Editor & Isidra Person-Lynn

 

I have been contacted by many so many colleagues online over the past few years to explain edutainment & convergence that I finally relented to a series of mini-interviews with Professor Isidra Person-Lynn of West Los Angeles College. Neither one of us can recall who contacted who first online, but that is the point of edutainment & convergence or E & C as Isidra likes to call my techniques and approaches to learning, marketing, communications and technology: edutainment & convergence is collaborative, interactive, intuitive and yes, social.

This is my answer to the first question from Professor Isidra.

Professor Isidra Person-Lynn: Dr. Chris, why did you start blogging?

Me: I must say that when I first introduced the twin concepts of edutainment & convergence during my research in graduate school my professors loved it but some did not totally understand all of its ramifications. However, the department chair and my dissertation chair, Dr. Howard L. Simmons and Dr. Rosemary Gillet-Karam immediately got it and encouraged me from the first day I  entered the program in fall 2003. In truth, I now realize that I was ahead of the technology as far back as 2001 when I predicted what would become the iPhone as my Master's professor reminded me when I debated him on this issue and he told that technology was way off in the future, but I digress LOL!

For me blogging is the future business model for many professors, researchers, authors, businesses, and students

 because of its interactive and immediate nature. This is why Twitter, a micro-blogging tool is so popular! Think about it, you can now tell a story quickly on your blog and take a photo with your iPhone, Blackberry Storm or other smart phone. The significance of Ashton Kutcher beating CNN to one million followers and raising money for hungry people in Africa should not be discounted. This was a shot across the bow of mainstream media during tough economic times. The age of narrow casting is here to stay and that is why professors, researchers, students and businesses need to use these social media tools because they keep you in constant communication on how to refine what you do and create a better product.

I have been using blogs for the entire year at Loyola, and I used it from 2006-2008 with students who interned with me while creating their Master's or undergraduate portfolio. It has been quite successful even with some old school professors. Why? Because one can link in a PowerPoint, photos, videos, audio, music and text with my links in one place across multiple platforms.

                         Copyright 2009 Edutainment & Convergence