California State University, Fullerton
657/278-5302; Email | Homepage
courses | syllabi | collaboration | evaluations | comments | lessons
We live in a visually intensive society. Bombarded daily with a steady, unrelenting stream of visual stimulation from all manner of media, we seek understanding from pictures when we are only taught to understand words. It has been estimated that the average person sees approximately 5,000 visual messages every day. Computers are cited as the reason for the image explosion. As words and pictures become merged through innovative uses of the computer, the role of a writer, photographer, and graphic designer will become merged into a single title--the visual reporter. This merger of reporters, photographers, and graphic artists in the workplace requires a new approach.
Changing Existing Courses
The first crack in the traditional teaching method was the advent of computer software that allowed darkroom manipulations similar to adjustments possible with photographic enlargers.
The second crack was economics. In this era of belt-tightening and corporate alliances, it became obvious that computer technology is much more cost effective than darkrooms running water all day and night with chemicals that need constant replenishment. Put simply:
return to the top
New Media Syllabi
Communications Technologies is a graduate-level seminar in which students report and discuss on a wide-variety of technologies and their associated social impace, Interactive Multimedia Production is a Web design and production course, Photojournalism is a course that has evolved into one that concentrates on picture story production and presentation for print and online publications, and visual communications is a large-lecture visual literacy class in which students learn how to analyze various media messages from typography to computer graphic images.
Below are the student evaluation means for the collaborative experiment combining projects with the interactive multimedia class (13 students for Fall/10 for Spring) with the photojournalism class (15 students for Fall/7 for Spring):
Made Objectives Clear
Overall
3.0
3.1
3.8
3.5
3.2
3.4
2.7
2.5
Spring, 1998
return to the top
Student Comments About Collaborative Project
I recommend this class because of the technical knowledge it introduces to the students and I feel the Comm department is really lacking badly in this area in other classes.
This was a great class--probably one of the most important classes I've taken in my college studies so far. I'll probably go on to do Web design after graduation because this class was so fun. I do wish that we were allowed more creativity in the final project. It would be cool to have an advanced version of this class.
I rate this course highly but Dr. Lester's presentation was a little difficult to follow.
Some assignments were not even relevant to the course. Everything expected. Hardly anything explained in a clarified manner. Must think of those without as much computer knowledge.
I think the concept of the course is a great one and the materials and content will change as the course matures. Ideas to improve the course:
This is a new course and I think that there are some bugs that need to be worked out. The instructor should know more about the computer system.
I would have liked a book to follow since I spent so much time learning on my own. The handouts for assignments were confusing and not detailed enough. Also, in class, it would be helpful to have more lab time where the instructor could help us.
This class is one of the best classes I've taken in college. I learned things that will be very useful in the future. The class was challenging and rewarding. I would recommend this class to anyone.
To[sic] much emphasis was put on writing. This is not, nor should be, a writing class.
Professor Lester pushed us to go beyond what we thought we were capable of producing and I honestly think some of the Internet stuff that frightened me is finally seeping in.
A lot of work. Overall, I learned a lot more that I expected. It is a little overwhelming, but still worth it.
This class required too much effort for 3 units.
The next semester I combined the two classes, I found an excellent HTML design and programming book, Lynda Weinman's Designing Web Graphics, second edition plus useful how-to websites, I knew how the PC machines and the software worked in the lab we used, I added more assignments and more time to complete the assignments so students received more feedback, I set-up a FTP system for the transfer of their files to the Web server more easily, and I allowed the Interactive Multimedia class more creativity in their Web designs.
For the photojournalism class, I added more assignments for a total of 30 to allow additional feedback for their pictorial, writing, and layout assignments.You can't have a revolution and expect to be loved.
Gloria Steinem
I've taught photojournalism for almost 20 years--at a community college, as a graduate student, and as a faculty member of two universities. The way I taught the classes was the way I was taught with newspaper assignments--news, feature, sports, portrait, and picture stories--that teach students how to prepare themselves for a career in newspaper photojournalism. Enlargers can only be used by photography students while computers can be used by all students within a program.
But the third crack that broke the field wide open was the advent of World Wide Web browsers that allow users to create presentations on the Internet. With hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and television sites online, it is natural that journalism and mass communications instructors begin to offering changes within existing courses that introduce their students to this new medium of presentation. Furthermore, because this technology makes the convergence of various mediated messages--word, still, moving, and audio--instructors and students from previously separated sequences can collaborate.
Throughout my academic career, I've taught many courses within a mass communications context. But the following four courses are ones that most exploit my expertise and interest in new technological development.
return to the top
Student Collaborative Project, Fall/Spring 1997-1998
Interactive multimedia and photojournalism teamed up to produce picture stories for the Web. For the Fall class, photojournalism students worked in three-student teams all semester to produce the words and pictures for the six stories represented on the site linked below. Some of the students were even able to document their stories using video camcorders. The photojournalism students then worked with two-student teams in the interactive multimedia class to convert their stories for World Wide Web presentations. Fpr the Spring class, photojournalism students worked in two-person teams with the interactive multimedia students working in three-person teams.fullertonSTORIES
return to the top
Student Evaluations for Collaborative Project, Fall/Spring 1997-1998
My Department's personnel procedure classifies overall student evaluation means into four categories:
Fall, 1997
Evaluation Categories
Knowledge of Course Content
Organized Presentation
Reasonable Amount of Material
Clarified Through Examples
Stimulated/Maintained Interest
Texts/Readings Relevant
Appropriate Effort
Expected Student Initiative
Willing to Assist Students
Impartial Work Evaluation
Fair/Impartial Manner
Interest in Students
Interest in Teaching
Overall Rating for the Course
Overall Rating for the Instructor
Web F '97
3.2
2.5
3.4
2.5
3.2
3.0
3.2
3.4
3.2
2.7
3.0
3.2
3.2
3.3
3.1
Web S '97
3.8
3.4
3.5
3.2
3.6
3.5
3.8
3.7
3.3
3.4
3.0
3.4
3.6
3.8
3.4
Photo F '97
3.7
3.0
3.3
2.9
3.3
3.3
3.5
3.9
3.8
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.4
3.4
3.3
Photo S '97
3.3
2.7
2.6
2.0
2.1
2.7
2.1
2.9
2.3
2.6
2.6
2.4
2.9
1.8
2.0
From the student evaluation mean scores above it is clear that the photojournalism students enjoyed the class more than the interactive multimedia students. Such a result is explained because I had been teaching photojournalism far longer than interactive multimedia. This semester was only the second time I had offered the course and it was conducted within a new PC lab on campus with new software installed.
As expected with changes to the Interactive Multimedia Class, evaluations were much higher--with an overall rating making the "Superior" rating. Unfortunately, the photojournalism class that semester, as it sometimes happens, was composed largely of students who had little motivation for photojournalism or working hard toward a common goal. Therefore, the results for the photojournalism class are misleading.
With few written comment about the course from my photojournalism classes, conclusions about the class are difficult to ascertain. With a more motivated class concerning the profession of photojournalism, comments should be more numerous and revealing. However, because of the valuable comments form my interactive multimedia class, I was able to make changes in the course that provided much better results.
return to the top
Lessons Learned/Changes Made
Interactive Multimedia Comments
1. A good HTML reference book needs to be added so students can look up questions as they arise.
2. Some assignments were much more difficult and time consuming than others and should have different grade weights.
3. Group project--it's necessary to the course, but needs some re-thinking.
The knowledge of the Web that I gained from this class is very valuable.Photojournalism Comments
Waitering in a restaurant and teaching in a classroom are two professions in which you don't really need previous experience. They just throw you in and see if you'll bob. I'm a tinkerer and tweaker by nature. Whether it's working on my car or editing a page of ornery copy, I like to fiddle and twirl, cut and paste. That's why I like teaching--I'm allowed to experiment. If one method doesn't quite work, I'll try another the next go-round.