I was so inspired by this week’s reading from “How People Learn” that just 20 minutes ago I tossed my planned lesson for my 5:00 class today. I didn’t really like it anyway. . . it was a boring powerpoint. As I was driving to the college this morning, I was listening to NPR on the radio. This morning’s topic, along with the Phillies win was the Obama infomercial. Additionally the BBC was commenting on the 70th anniversary of “The War of the Worlds.” Right there, coming out of my radio was the impetus for a really great and inspired class. My 5:00 class is called Media Programming. It is about why broadcast and cable networks, put shows on at certain times. It includes learning about programming strategies for both television and radio and covers demographics and day-parts and all that media terminology. For the most part this stuff is not new to the students, they have heard it in some introductory class before they get to me. My real challenge is to determine whether or not they understand it and then to find out if they know why they should understand it. I do try my best to make it interesting but there are times when that can be really tough.
So, inspired by the reading I tossed my lecture and will be spending time today relating current events to concepts the class should already know. We will cover the “War of the Worlds” broadcast by having class members contribute what they know to the conversation. We will discuss the effects that this event had on those who listened and we will talk about why the radio station chose to air this program in the manner it did. They will listen to the short segment on the original broadcast from BBC News Hour. From there we will move to a more current media occurrence – The Obama Infomercial. I will have the class go online and get overnight ratings, info on the target audience and demographics, and any background on this political ad technique and then we will come back together for a discussion on the why’s, the how’s and success of this event from the standpoint of the networks and of Obama. By using this current event to illustrate all the terms and practices we have covered, I will be able to create an engaged learning community, see if the students are really aware of the applications and programming strategies we have covered, and use concrete examples to clear up confusion. To be sure they “get it” I will post a required discussion topic in the Blackboard space that will extend our in-class conversation.
I am really excited about this change in plans! The discussion could lead to so many great insights and learning opportunities for the class, and as I am always looking to understand and improve . . . it could lead to learning opportunities for me as well.
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