Teaching

Posts created for my students and readers related to our course topics: integrated strategic communication, information design, and social media. Categorized by course number.

  • Rethinking the Classroom

    Rethinking the Classroom

    The collaboration surrounding the James L. Knight School of Communication and the 2012 Democratic National Convention has been highlighted on the national level. Dr. John A. McArthur, an associate professor in the Knight School of Communication, had an article published in the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration in its recent issue. The article,…

  • A Letter to those embarking on a Master’s Capstone

    A Letter to those embarking on a Master’s Capstone

    Dear Master’s Candidates, You’re about to embark on a year-long inquiry that will test your mastery of communication. It will be challenging, arduous, frightening, and highly rewarding. You can expect to read volumes of research and to spend hours upon hours thinking and writing and discussing your work. You will probably have dreams about your…

  • Return to Radio

    Return to Radio

    The article below was featured on the Queens University of Charlotte website on June 20, 2013: Return to Radio The fantasy of many 20-somethings, and all marketers, is to create a video that goes viral on YouTube. Pick a subject – cats, exploding milk cartons, a bad hair day. If it gets thousands of views,…

  • 30 Questions for a More Localized Media Release

    30 Questions for a More Localized Media Release

    Making any story a local story is one of the great challenges of both journalism and public relations work. This semester in my Integrated Strategic Communication course, students were working on media releases and feature stories. Seitel’s The Practice of Public Relations notes that most media releases either struggle to be well-written, localized, or newsworthy (and…

  • Tiny Radio in Class: Podcasting Returns to Campus

    Tiny Radio in Class: Podcasting Returns to Campus

    The article below was featured in Campus Technology Magazine and online on May 15, 2013. Tiny Radio in Class: Podcasting Returns to Campus By Dian Schaffhauser When 99% Invisible blew through its fundraising goal on Kickstarter by four times, the “tiny radio show about design” brought renewed attention to the lost art of audio podcasting. It also piqued the…

  • Which Social Media Fits You?

    Which Social Media Fits You?

    “We wanted to create an interactive and fun way to connect people to their social media – and show how it can cause some introspective reflection,” remarked Taylor Nelson, one of the designers of the project. “It was a short, simple, and sweet way to interact with people on campus. And the quiz took less…

  • Royals Radio, Season One

    Royals Radio, Season One

    This semester, students at Queens University of Charlotte embarked on an exploratory learning experience in episodic, podcast-based radio. The resulting “Royals Radio” is a product of Queens University of Charlotte, and Dr. John A. McArthur and was produced by students and faculty in an interdisciplinary studies class at the university. Each episode has a different producer and topic,…

  • Royals Radio – Episode 01

    Royals Radio – Episode 01

    PUBLIC ART, COMMUNITY, & QUEENS DIANA “Public Art, Community, & Queens Diana” investigates the history and life of Young Diana, Goddess of the Hunt – a bronze statue in the center of the Queens University of Charlotte campus. The statue, cast by Anna Hyatt Huntington, arrived at the university in 1940 and has served as…

  • Codebreaking, Secrecy and Other Classroom Problems

    Codebreaking, Secrecy and Other Classroom Problems

    Puzzled? My students are. At least in name. This semester at Queens University of Charlotte, I have the pleasure of designing and facilitating an “exploration seminar” in the art of puzzling. The “Puzzled” course gives students the opportunity to learn and think about a variety of problem solving strategies, not the least of which is…

  • You are what you tweet

    You are what you tweet

    “We did this to make people realize that what they tweet is public information and can be seen by anyone.” First-year students Nick Simonetti and Jeremy Swick created a project called You Are What You Tweet for their freshman seminar course in digital literacy at Queens University of Charlotte. The premise was simple: ask students to wear one of…