By Dr. Chris A. Heidelberg, III, Publisher & Producer
I have been so busy this month lecturing publicly, teaching, grading final exams, and getting students ready for graduation that I have not been able to blog like I usually do. However, it is summer and I have plenty to say in the next few weeks. I love the fact that the Pre is coming out this summer and that Apple is upgrading the iPhone and the iPodTouch. The government has an excellent channel on YouTube that is getting plenty of attention and rave reviews on my Facebook page.
I will be giving Social Media 101 on this site over the next few weeks. Just a few things before I get started for my executive friends and managers in the private, public and non-profit sector. First, social media cannot be controlled. Social media is a bottom-up approach to utilizing technology. This means that you will have to trust the folks that you hired to do their jobs well. Second, social media is a conversation and its social, so stop avoiding it, stop complaining about it, and stop saying that you are not going to use it or allow your employees to use it.Third, social media is all about promoting transparency. Social media
enables a company to appear "human" and approachable. Finally, social media is an opportunity for organizations to shape the conversation about the company by providing something revolutionary: facts! Social media is just that social! People are always going to say things about your organization online. The key is how your organization responds to the comments! There are several well-documented episodes of how social media has transformed an organization by simply providing just the facts.
In the final analysis, social media is all about your state of mind as an organization. You are either going to embrace social media as the President has done to bring government agencies into the world of social media. Or you can let your company fall behind because of the fear of losing control to social media because your organization and you do not understand social media. Just think about what is going to happen if you do not take action using social media. There are so many companies and organizations that have left gift-wrapped opportunities pass get past them because they have been avoiding social media. Social media: embrace it, don't erase it!
Copyright 2009 Edutainment & Convergence
All Rights Reserved
By Chris A. Heidelberg III, Ph.D., Publisher & Producer & Isidra Person-Lynn
This is the final interview in a series of interviews with Professor Isidra Person-Lynn on my uses of blogging and social media in the classroom as part of my learner-centered approach called edutainment & convergence to learning, thinking, communicating and collaborating. I have to warn you that I call out some of my colleagues who are so old school that their thinking leaves out the school and it is just plain "old" thinking without a sense of the history behind why things are the way that they are in education historically speaking. The truth is that the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks and Hellenists believed in the use of edutainment for learning. How do we know this? Well, education was only provided to the royal and religious class, and storytelling through religious ceremonies, festivals, dances, griots and artwork were used to convey important religious teachings to the masses (Heidelberg, 2008; History Channel, 2009; Pollard & Reid, 2006). In fact, religious temples in Alexandria actually competed for visitors through edutainment and ancient technology demonstrations to raise funds and attendance (Heidelberg, 2007; History Channel, 2009; Pollard & Reid, 2006). However, edutainment was taken from the anals of credible learning due to idealogy and religion. I often find it difficult to say this as a person of faith, but then again people have always used the name of God to justify everything from slavery to wars to sexism to discrimination so I should know better!
Professor Isidra Person-Lynn:
What direct message would you have for educators, especially writing coaches when it comes to blogging and social media?
Me: I would advise them to get over themselves and get with the program use these new school tools with their old school tools. Every educator and writing coach has greatness within themselves and the talent to change and transform the old with the new. How do I know? Edutainment is truly and old school tool that goes back to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Alexandria, Rome and Paris.
However, Emperor Justinian was persuaded to close The Academy at Athens because of the "heathen" or questionable moral behavior of the Athenians, and then the Library and Museum at Alexandria was burned down by unknown events or persons. These actions literally took the interactivity and the fun out of education and made it the "sage on high show" where students got locked into everything from standards to the whims of some professors with axes to grind or on authority trips.The goal is to transform the student into a philospher-leaders to paraphrase Plato (since there are few kings left to be philospher-kings). This cannot happen when students cannot articulate in writing or verbally. Since human beings have been trying to communicate visually and verbally throughout the ages based on the Great Pyramids in Egypt and in South America and the cave paintings, it stands to reason that writing is the physically extension of the verbal story. Once we can teach a student to tell a story verbally in the correct manner; it is much easier to transform the written version of the student's story. We can even teach punctuation marks as signs along the road. For example, the period would be a red light and so would a question
mark. A comma could be a sign to pause and slow down for the speed bump and go slower after the speed bump because a light is coming up soon. A semi-colon could tell you to slow down because you have a speed bump, but then you can proceed at the posted speed again. A colon could be a green light for a long list of signs that are coming up like deer, falling rock, speed cameras, children crossing, hotels, gas stations, restaurants and super markets. My point is that for most people we have to start concrete and then we can move on to complicated abstract concepts like conflict, structure, and metaphors. Most people can learn this by doing it, and then we can explain to them what they have done in theory and in the deeper context of writing.
The interesting fact that I have noticed is that once many of my concrete learners understood an abstract concept they mastered it and never forgot it because they had been educated in a concrete manner that fit their indivdual learning styles. One of the first things that I did was to find out what types of convergence devices that my students owned (iPods, cell phones, gaming devices, computers, digital cameras) and what was there learning style. This is what happens in my class. You teach what you learn because you are the director, the producer, the writer, the casting agent, the location manager, the public relations person (who have to write a lot of persuasive copy) and the actor. The ultimate compliment to a professor is when his or her students can emulate them and add some of their individual style to what you have taught them when they teach their peers. All great philosphers and religious figures from Moses to Socrates to Christ to Mohammed to Confucius challenged their followers that they would do even greater things if they stuck to the teachings.
So when an old school professor presents me with issues on technology based learning, I present them with the history of edutainment and how it can work with convergence. My question is this: why did we stop teaching the art of storytelling? This is what social media and blogging allow one to do.
We can all see the same event on YouTube, iTunes or our iPods repeatedly and then write ouranalysis of the event based on our unique perspective. As a professor, I believe that blogging enables a student to get it right on multiple levels. We worry so much about how many times students get it wrong , when our real concern is this: do the students get it right in the end when it is time to give them their final grade.
This is the measure of what they learned on their road to writing, but sometimes we as educators get stuck on what we do not have with our students instead of focusing on a learner-centered approach which I learned through reading Dr.Barbara McCombs who has written and researched extensively on this subject and I actually got to meet her and become acquainted with her on a more personal level through my friend Dr. Reid Cornwell. Get her books on Amazon LOL! We work together as part of The Center For Internet Research where I am the executive director, and we are continuing the search for innovative approaches to educations such as learner-centered principles, natural learning and edutainment and convergence which encompasses both of these approaches.
Seriously, I am a unique hybrid of a professor, researcher, edutainer, speaker, techie, working writer/producer/director and social media specialist and now that I realize that these experiences and gifts have helped me I am working on having books on how to apply edutainmentand convergence and my research (theoretical and applied) ready for fall online so stay tuned. It is one thing to tell folks to do something but it is quite another to show them and that is what I plan on doing. I really appreciate this opportunity to speak with you Isidra.
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
By Dr. Chris A. Heidelberg III
As usual my fellow producer and professor extraordinaire Professor Jay Dunmore told me about one his star students: Luke O'Brien! Luke is really taking YouTube by storm as he closes in on 5000 views since last Saturday with this rap anthem titled I love knowledg
Loyola student producer/director Grey Shannahan joined creative forces with Luke to create this instant classic that promotes education through edutainment and convergence. If you think you have the talent to promote education through rap or hip hop find me on Facebook because we are looking to produce and direct you.
By Dr. Chris A. Heidelberg III, Publisher & Producer
In tonight's course, we will be discussing and demonstrating the impact of computers on the field of communications based on Rodman (2008), my lecture and your interpretations, insights, and collaborative discoveries. Specifically, we will be discussing the second part of edutainment and convergence: convergence. Convergence is the merging of many or multiple technologies into one technology that incorporates the features of several technologies. The computer is the epitome of convergence (Gee, 2004, 2005;Heidelberg, 2008; Howe, 2008; Prensky, 2006; Tapscott & Williams, 2006).
Think about it!
The computer enables one to do the following: send written messages in the form of email; speak directly with another
person through web cameras; store audio files, store music files, store video content, store photographs, edit music, video and photgraphs, download and transfer audio, video, and print content; create online or printed publications; view movies, listen to music and read periodicals like newspapers or maganzines; speak directly to one another by "phone" through voice over Internet protocol with Skype or Vonage or GTalk; and watch television or user-generated content on YouTube, Hulu or iTunes (Apple, 2009; Dell, 2009; Google, 2009; Hulu, 2009; Microsoft, 2009; Skype, 2009; Time Warner, 2009; YouTube, 2009). In fact, the future of the computer is the handheld device according to many experts, and this explains the popularity of the iPhone, the iPodTouch, the Kindle, the Blackberry line, the Sidekick, the SonyPSP, the Zune and other handheld convergence devices.
In tonight's class, the course will be produced and casted by me, but you will be the lead actors and the directors for the course tonight just like last week. I have already purchased our prizes for the game show portion of the program when Paige, Shelby, Emalee, and Chet are the line producers for tonight. Rebecca and Big Willie will coach Patrick tonight as he makes his debut as the lead director and Stefanie will be his assistant director for our skits tonight that bring the chapters 12 and 13 of Rodman (2008) alive.
Have you noticed how I have used citations in my post to give credit or examples of what I am talking about for the reader? This is an example of scholarly writing. the general rule is that you cite other people as evidence that you actually conducted research while you are providing your rich descriptive narrative of what actually took place in class or how you are justifying something that you write in your blog (Creswell, 2005). My point is this: you utilize experts to make the points that you wish to make just like a lawyer uses the law and specific cases to make his or her point in the courtroom. I will be using my Edutainment site to demonstrate this point, and I will be using my Edutainment & Convergence Research site to cite my findings.
Copyright 2009 Edutainment & Convergence
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