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Robert French

What I want for students is the experiential real world in an academic setting.

Welcome to the family! Family.Auburn.edu, that is. One of several social media sites that students are involved with in Robert French’s public relations course, this site serves as a virtual home to Auburn students, perspective students, alumni, faculty, staff and others who carry the “War Eagle” cry in their hearts.

The P.R. Messages in Style and Design course provides students the opportunity to expand and apply their knowledge about various forms of multimedia. In this course, students’ work include public and printed material via social networking websites such as PROpen Mic.org, The Loveliest Village, and printed press such as The Corner News. Another site that the students manage is Family.Auburn.edu. Everything on this site is moderated and offers refreshing insight into Auburn University from student perspectives.

Adobe Suites software is used along with Windows Movie Maker, Snagit (Jing), and Audacity to prepare students’ projects for the main screen. Students use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie (Mac) in order to edit captivating video footage. The makers of Snagit offer a free version of their software -Jing- which may be used to capture screen shots for tutorial purposes. Making dreams a reality, students also use Dreamweaver to compile website components. According to Mr. French, although the students initially approach multimedia with hesitation, they eventually realize the value it adds to future employment possibilities.

Dr. Guofu Niu

This type of [multimedia], if we can use it effectively, I would say is certainly helpful.

It’s not magic. It’s Camtasia Studio! Used in conjunction with the Windows XP tablet, these two programs combine to create wonderful teaching capabilities. In Dr. Guofu Niu’s Semi Conductor Electronics and Digital Electronics courses, students have the opportunity to go online and view what they learned in class as if they were sitting back in the classroom all over again. This method of teaching is very useful for students who happen to miss a class, do not fully understand the material reviewed in class, or for students with learning accommodations.

Camtasia is a screen recording software that records graphic memory from the computer. Since it is basically recording from inside of the computer, the quality of the graphics are just as clear as if they were pulled up on the desktop. Camtasia is useful for classroom teaching as well as for tutorials. The tablet allows for the creation of continuous slides using a program called Windows Journal. After the slides have been prepared, with, say, a diagram, a special pen may be used to write additional information on the tablet which will display on the screen. And if you make a mistake, no worries; just flip the tablet pen over and it will act as an eraser on the screen. This tablet pen also serves as a mouse to move around and select various options on the computer.

Dr. Niu is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In addition to teaching classes, he has also set up an ad hoc network (an intranet for a set number of computers) for lecture purposes. This allows him to pull up students’ work from his own computer, and presenting their work on the projector using Classroom Presenter. Samples of his lectures are available to view. Click Number 5 for an example of the pen tool.

Dr. Jennifer Adams

The students really like [multimedia] because it’s a new skill set
that they can add to their résumés.

Students at Auburn University are staying on the cutting edge of journalism. In the Multimedia Journalism course taught by Dr. Jennifer Adams, students are fully equipped at the beginning of the semester with a video package including a camera, tripod, and various other items that are relevant to their field. Using software such as SoundSlides and Audacity, these students are well equipped for future careers in the transitioning field of journalism.

With SoundSlide, students are able to create flash movies with pictures literally sliding from one side of the screen to the other. SoundSlide also allows users to apply sound to the photos to fit the function of the message, from music for an entertainment aspect to speaking for tutorials and other explanation of the material being presented. SoundSlide is much like a video which students can edit using Final Cut Express; the only difference is that still shots are used in place of a continuously streaming film. This is a feature that is becoming a highly popularized method of delivering stories on newspaper websites. However; even on a more fundamental level, such as in the classroom, SoundSlide may be an option alongside PowerPoint in giving presentations. With Audacity, users of this sound editing software can manipulate the sounds on their projects, for example, by slowing or speeding the pace of the speaker’s voice. The goal for some of the Multimedia Journalism students is to have their projects posted on the website for The Plainsman.

Dr. Jennifer Adams is an Associate Professor of Communication & Journalism at Auburn University and Faculty Advisor of The Plainsman. Her research interests include convergence and how it affects newsroom employees.

Dr. Stewart Whittemore

What I like best is that you can teach students to convey
a meaning through a variety of images.

Refreshing it is when something new can be created from something old. A new perspective, idea or concept has the power to bring new life to the mundane and lifeless. This is the angle that Professor Whittemore is taking with his Document Design course. By starting out with something traditional and foundational, Professor Whittemore is challenging his students to take documents design to a higher level.

In his Document Design courses, Professor Whittemore encourages his students to upgrade traditional modes of technical writing into more innovative interfaces. For instance, he suggests that his students take an ordinary document such as a set of directions that have been typed up, and to add audio or video components using software such as iMovie and the Adobe Creative Suite so that the directions may be more accessible and easy to understand. A video component to a set of instructions would provide more clarity for the process being described since the instructional video would visually walk users through each step. The students’ finished products are then ready to be posted on YouTube or Blackboard.

Professor Whittemore also has students to design websites, and while admitting that the students are initially rather uncomfortable with the web design programs such as Dreamweaver and iMovie, it creates for an interactive and energetic learning environment that keeps him on his feet to assist students with their individual assignments. Projecting towards the future, Professor Whittemore sees multimedia becoming much more prevalent in education and gearing more towards user assistance software and material.

Dr. Stewart Whittemore is a Professor of Professional and Technical Communication in the English Department here at Auburn University. His research interests include studying how people communicate in the workplace using Wikis and Blogs for daily communication.

Dr. Randy McDaniel

I want this to be a mobile program so that students, wherever they are, can access us.

Ten years ago, Dr. Randy McDaniel envisioned having class on the phone. Now, ten years later, he and his department are rapidly approaching that possibility. Since students are becoming more engrossed in technology, Dr. McDaniel is interested in incorporating cell phone text messaging into courses by allowing students to respond to survey questions from their cell phones. This would allow students to use a skill that they are comfortable and familiar with (cell phone texting) and applying it to their course material. He also has plans to have his distance learners record and upload their presentations to YouTube so that the local students will be able to visualize the distance learners while in the classroom.

Dr. McDaniel also uses Poll Everywhere to conduct surveys with students who are physically present in the classroom as well as students who are enrolled in the course from a distance. Poll Everywhere allows for the instructor to pose a multiple choice question, and students are able to respond to those questions from their computers in the classroom or at home. One fascinating aspect of about Poll Everywhere is that the class is able to watch the results come it live. Other forms of technology used in this department include Blackboard chat room, Real Media, Wimba Live Classroom, and podcasts for students to download MP3 and MP4 audio files that students can listen to while on the road.

Dr. Randy McDaniel is currently the Wayne T. Smith distinguished professor in the College of Education. His specialization is in rehabilitation and special education. Dr. McDaniel praises the technology that he uses in his courses for the interaction it provides if it is used properly.

Dr. Kimberly Walls

Welcome to the new classroom … but this is not the typical room with four walls and one door. In the Department of Music Education, Wimba Live Classroom is used to teach research methods, music education curriculum, and multimedia production for music instruction. Most music education students lead double lives as students and teachers, and Wimba Live Classroom has become a maestro learning tool within this department. With Live Classroom, professors can be prepared to teach no matter how far away their students are located. So how far are we talking? According to Dr. Walls, Professor of Music Education, most of the music education students are distance learners, tuning in from locales such as Georgia, Texas, Missouri, and even Pennsylvania! Dr. Walls has even been able to teach guitar lessons via Wimba to students sitting right in their living rooms.

Wimba Live Classroom opens up many doors, allowing students and teachers the luxury of rewinding and replaying those memorable moments that will enhance learning and teaching. Using Wimba, Dr. Walls is able to interact with her distant students by seeing them live from their homes through her computer screen and manipulating what they see on their screens. For example, a PowerPoint that she is presenting in her physical classroom at Auburn University can also be seen on the screens of her students at home. This form of learning is ideal for professors who wish to make valuable use of their physical class-time while allowing students the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom.

Dr. Kimberly Walls is a Professor of Music Education and Program Coordinator at Auburn University. Her research interests include the learning styles of graduate students and how effective distance-learning is for them through the various uses of multimedia in music education courses. In the future, Dr. Walls envisions music education courses with more live interaction through mediums such as the Wimba Live Classroom, podcasting, and Adobe Connect, seeing each as a possibility for distance learning.

Dr. Paris Strom

Dr. Paris Strom, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology, has been teaching at Auburn University since 2001. Dr. Strom first began using technology in his teaching at a high school in Arizona, where he used PDAs (Professional Digital Assistants) in the classroom and developed the Motorola grant-funded Parent Alert Signal System, a system of behavioral conduct codes for teachers to send to the pagers of their students’ parents.

Currently, Dr. Strom teaches hybrid and distance Blackboard classes at the undergraduate and graduate level. These hybrid classes, such as Child Development and Adolescent Development, allow the students to meet a few times during the semester either in groups or individually but to do the majority of their course work online. Using Blackboard, Dr. Strom gives the students a detailed “Plan” of activities for each week, which includes reading assignments, quizzes, video lectures, short online films and videos, PowerPoint presentations with voiceover, class discussion board posts, and other learning modules. Dr. Strom finds that this combination of in-person and online communication and collaboration works well with his students’ schedules, since many of them must balance intense class schedules with labs and teaching observations.

Along with his teaching, Dr. Strom incorporates technology into his research and outreach. He is the co-author of Adolescents in the Internet Age, a text geared toward parents and teachers that examines the way technology has transformed the way adolescents learn and socialize, and he is one of the founders of learningpolls.org, a free service that allows schools to poll their students and receive instant feedback on a number of important issues students are facing today, including stress, cyberbullying, internet learning, and time management.