My experience producing information utilizing computers and digital technology is a long and storied one. Back in the early ‘80s, I was part of a computer users group, a bunch of hobbyists who were trying to see what we could accomplish with our Commodore 64s and TRS-80s (a few of us had slightly more advanced Apple IIs and PCs). As limited as we were technologically speaking, we did manage to produce a computer-based newsletter, a CUG bulletin board, and even a community access TV show on a junior college cable site. This was all pre-Internet. I had no access to computers at my teaching job, so technology there consisted of creating the occasional audiotape or videotape project with cassette and reel-to-reel machines.
In the late ‘80s, I got out of the teaching profession for a while and went to work for the publishing house of my denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as a copywriter/editor. I helped create advertising, Sunday School curricula, and print materials like catalogs and the monthly magazine, The Disciple. Combining my writing and editing experience with my hobbyist computer background, I was involved in converting the company from traditional print production to desktop publishing. Eventually, I became the news editor of the magazine, where in addition to copyediting and writing, I was responsible for page layout and design and providing “hard copy” photo-ready pages for the printer. At this stage, very few printing houses were set up to accept print projects via e-storage device, phone or email.
Eventually, as director of communications for Christian Theological Seminary, I became a jack-of-all-trades producer of print and video materials for the school. More and more, the technology advanced and I struggled to re-learn, adapt and take advantage of it to reach my communications goals. When I returned to teaching high school in the ‘90s, I saw the school being wired for internet and computer labs being set up, but the school still struggled to keep pace with changing technology, and actual classroom activity changed very little. My biggest uses for the new technology were teaching students to create documents like brochures and PowerPoint presentations. I also used Mac-based software to show students how to make multi-track recordings and to use non-linear videotape editing to create short videos, but without the capability of Web 2.0, distribution was largely limited to the classroom or, occasionally, setting up a rolling video cart in the cafeteria so students could see the videos while they ate lunch.
Eventually, as director of communications for Christian Theological Seminary, I became a jack-of-all-trades producer of print and video materials for the school. More and more, the technology advanced and I struggled to re-learn, adapt and take advantage of it to reach my communications goals. When I returned to teaching high school in the ‘90s, I saw the school being wired for internet and computer labs being set up, but the school still struggled to keep pace with changing technology, and actual classroom activity changed very little. My biggest uses for the new technology were teaching students to create documents like brochures and PowerPoint presentations. I also used Mac-based software to show students how to make multi-track recordings and to use non-linear videotape editing to create short videos, but without the capability of Web 2.0, distribution was largely limited to the classroom or, occasionally, setting up a rolling video cart in the cafeteria so students could see the videos while they ate lunch.
I haven’t been in a classroom lately that affords me the opportunity to develop podcasts, wikis or blogs or class websites. I’ve done most of those things now in the context of the MET program at Missouri Baptist University, but truthfully, most of what I do is hypothetical. I am anxious, once I have my degree, to find a position where I can utilize everything I’ve learned in the past year.
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