This blog is an attempt to start a conversation about the impact of different media and information content on college instructor effectiveness, student learning, and the overall classroom experience in general. I am not an expert in instructional design or its most recent incarnation, Instruction 2.0, but have had some success illustrating course concepts and generating significant classroom discussion with more visual content, audio, and video.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have launched a business that integrates course and textbook concepts with topical business news. I will not shill for the business here other than to say that you can reach me at marty@inclassmedia.com should you want more information.
Over the past five years teaching college business courses, I have gone from an informal “news” discussion at the start of classes to creating content highlighting course concepts in a specific news context. Students will frequently remark on this part of the class in their course evaluations. Students will also reference “news” discussions in exam essays. While I have not scientifically gauged these responses, it appears that the visual and multimedia presentation of course concepts enhances retention. At the very least, it livens up the classroom discussion.
And now that I am about to adopt my fifth different marketing textbook in five years, I maintain that textbooks—at least those in the disciplines in which I have been teaching—have become commoditized to the extent that publishers will mix and match chapters in an attempt to customize and provide value to instructors. Hence, my interest in ancillary information sources and different media that complement basic course textbooks.
Though my intent with this blog is to identify and hold forth on different media content and formats that map to specific business course topics, I am sure I will meander into the topics of textbook and online content usage in classrooms, the value of ancillaries from publishers, video in the classroom, and others.
Finally, though my teaching experience is 100% in the business disciplines of management and marketing, instructors in other disciplines may find some common issues worth discussing.
