I am an educator, author, and multimedia journalist. Currently, I'm an Associate Professor of Communication and Chair of the Communication Arts Department at National University. I teach courses in media story-telling, strategic communication, comm technologies, content production, and journalism.
Every class I teach has a new media or new technologies twist...I don't seem to be able to help myself. Fifteen years ago, my students complained: "I don't see why I have to have email; the Computer Center doesn't even know how to sign me up." Now they complain: "I don't see why I have to sign up for Second Life/Twitter/Ning/Jaiku; it's so frustrating."
My colleagues and I developed B.A. and M.A. programs in Strategic Communications, and now we're designing and creating online courses for these and other CommArts Department programs. I approach online courses as a media producer, since that is my background. Online course design and development is one of the most rewarding activities I've ever experienced. It is such a satisfying mix of writing, documents, audio, video, interactive activities -- a multimedia cornucopia for developers, instructors, and students alike!
For the past two years, I've been looking at Web 2.0 platforms as mass media for marketing and social influence purposes. I'm particularly interested in the use of these new platforms in political campaigns.
My other research focus is adult learners' expectations of interaction in online courses.
I am now working on my sixth book, Media Management: Making, Moving & Marketing Digital Content. I am also an avid videoblogger.
