Philosophy  Developing
effective digital media products often requires expertise, skills, and
innovation of staff across the Information & Technology Services organization,
including areas such as networking, systems, web development, digital
media production, web streaming, and information services. Just as seniors in many
academic departments complete capstone projects with a faculty mentor,
nearly all of the projects developed by the Digital Media Center are the result of
teamwork of staff and student workers.
I strive to encourage and enhance collaborative relationships both
internally and with external client partners. I'm convinced that though
collaboration takes time, products and deliverables are often much
improved when working with others. All of the projects I note below are
a result of collaborative relationships with others, so I can't take
much credit, only for encouraging and supporting conditions for
collaboration.
Developing Digital Portfolios
Collaborating with Dr. Thom Sepic in the School of Business, we
began a summer 1998 pilot project to test the feasibility and
scalability of students developing multimedia digital portfolios. The
goal was to develop a tangible product that demonstrated a student's
competencies in their chosen major and in the liberal arts. The first
pilot portfolio demonstrated that multimedia technology could be very
effectively applied to the product, but that significant student
investment of time was needed to complete the product.
The following year we offered a not-for-credit workshop resulting in
the production of ten student portfolios for students in the Schools of
Business, Education, and Physical Education. Participating students
reported that though they invested significant time in completing the
product, much of the time was spent in understanding, measuring, and
articulating their competencies rather than in learning the technology
- in other words, developing critical thinking skills.
The digital portfolio of one of our PLU graduates, Charlotte Gogstad,
was featured in the March 8, 2002 Chronicle of Higher Education article
"'E-Portfolios Could Give Students a New Sense of Their
Accomplishments" as well as other PLU publications. Thom Sepic and I
presented a poster session on Multimedia Digital Portfolios at the 2001
American Association of Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting.
Last summer Digital Media Center staff developed .CSS templates for
student and faculty portfolios to separate style and content in the
pages. This fall the open source uEdit application developed by Kevin
Freitas and student Webmaster Darren Struthers was adapted to create
over 60 portfolios for School of Business students.
Related Links
Collaborative Publications and Presentations
Throughout
my career, I have collaborated with other colleagues and students in
preparing publications and presentations. My curriculum vitae shows 10
of 23 publications and 18 of 38 presentations as involving one or more
collaborators. I highly value such activities and am convinced that
collaboration nearly always produces a better product than one could
produce on their own.
I worked for three years as Multimedia in Brief Column Editor for
CD-ROM Professional and during that time had many opportunities to work
with others on developing reviews and articles for publication. I also
served for two years on the CD-ROM Professional Product of the Year
Award Awards Committee.
Related Links
Leadership Learning Network
Over the
past three years we have collaborated with the Church Relations Office
to develop a Leadership Learning Network among PLU, several church
congregations, and other synod regions. Originally developed as ISDN
videoconferencing sites, the network includes programming from a
variety of sites distributed to participating congregations.
Programming originating from PLU includes high quality multi-camera
switched production that is broadcast to the videoconferencing sites.
As technology matured, we expanded the audience via lower cost video
streaming and archival streaming of programs. Theological Symposia have
included nationally-recognized speakers and distributed programming
live via ISDN and streaming video to a number of sites, including
congregations in Alaska, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Speakers
respond interactively to questions/discussions from other sites
either via interactive ISDN or email. We collaborated to write Cutting Edge Gospel: A Guide to Understanding & Using New Information Technology in the Church.
We now use the same streaming technology for LuteCast streaming/archiving of live events
including university events such as convocations and graduations,
various speakers, and sports events such as football and basketball.
For over two years we have provided live web help to support users
connecting to these events.
Related Links
|
Attributes
- Selecting strategic partners
- Communicating effectively in a variety of formats
- Participating in communities of practice
- Promoting team-building strategies
- Facilitating collaborative decision making, consensus, and compromise
- Facilitating collegial approach to collaboration
- Developing products and solutions to challenges
|
