Teaching

I teach the following courses at Endicott College. Feel free to contact me with any questions or requests for teaching materials.

Social Media: Theory and Practice

This course provides an overview of the role of social media in society. The course defines and examines concepts related to social media, the Internet, and emerging digital media technologies from historical, cultural, economic, and theoretical perspectives. Students also evaluate their own uses of social media and develop critical information literacy skills.

Professional Communication Portfolio

This course guides students through the development of a professional-level digital portfolio of their work within the communication major. Students reflect on and revise work produced in classes, on internships, and through involvement in extracurricular activities or other professional pursuits, as well as audit their overall online presence. Readings and discussions prompt students to think critically about the connections between their college experience and possible career fields.

Podcast and Radio Journalism

The course is an introduction to the creative and expressive techniques of radio and podcast production. Class topics include planning, recording, editing, uploading, and promoting a journalistic radio program and podcast. The aesthetics of radio and podcast journalism production are demonstrated through the creation of themed audio segments.

Algorithms, Automation, and the Internet

This course explores the increasing prevalence of automation in our digital media lives, from mobile digital assistants and chatbots to algorithmic content curation and (even) content creation. The cultural, political, economic, and artistic implications of this automation will be examined, with a specific focus on the media industries (journalism, marketing, music, television). Though primarily approached from a social scientific perspective, students also will be exposed to technical content that underlies the functionality of automation technologies. Students will engage in hands-on projects as well as critical reflection related to the role of digital media at both the individual and societal levels.

Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding, and Collective Intelligence

This course explores the development and contemporary use of digital media for mass collaboration, cultural production, and decision making in various areas, including art, mass media, business, the natural sciences, and computer science. Students will examine the models and theories of collective intelligence that underlie many online media projects today, from Wikipedia to Kickstarter to Threadless to Reddit, as well as major critiques of these models. Students will engage with collaborative digital media tools throughout the term while investigating this content area.

Media & Culture

This course is an introduction to the function and impact of mediated and mass communication in society. This course explores the history and contemporary landscape of radio, television and film. Related mass communication theories, new technologies, media effects and ethical issues are addressed.

Communication Research Methods

Students will learn the research and analysis tools they need to be successful in the required senior courses: Thesis I and II. This course covers social scientific quantitative and qualitative research skills and forms used by communication scholars.

Senior Capstone Sequence

The first phase of a two-semester senior research sequence through which students lay the groundwork in an area of interest for the original work they are expected to undertake in Senior Thesis or Senior Capstone. Students refine their topics, review and synthesize literature related to their areas of focus, conduct research, and develop research proposals or plans for creative projects. The final course outcomes consist of both a literature review and a Senior Thesis or Senior Capstone proposal.

Following through on the concepts explored in Senior Research, students complete a project relevant to their major. The outcomes will consist of the implemented project with a written report and presentation.