The School of Communication has always been on the cutting edge of multimedia use and in this age of blogs and online video, faculty say it's essential to put the latest digital tools and resources into the hands of students as soon as possible.

As a result, they are seeing a transformation in the way students learn. “Traditional teaching was research, having students go to the library and write papers. Sources now go farther than the library. This is really a seismic change,” said Film & Media Arts division director John Douglass. “We need to make sure that [students] know how to present these materials after they graduate.”

Flip cameras have been introduced as a way to present work and opinions as well as a way to blog. Professor Brigid Maher wants to bring the multimedia element into the traditional seminar classes.

“I want them to use the blog as a journal,” she said. Sites like Blogger and Ning, a social networking site created around a subject, campaign or issue, are very useful. “By using links, video, and connections, you can aggregate these journals. The blog can start off easy but then you can turn it into something substantial and eventually turn it into a Web site.”

Across divisions, professors are taking note of this new way of teaching and say it’s something they all have to learn. “We’re digital immigrants and we have to work with digital natives,” said Maher.

In 2009, for the first time, the three-week Boot Camp for incoming MA journalism students incorporated a multimedia theme. Journalism division director Jill Olmsted, a former radio and TV broadcaster and Josh Hatch, a multimedia producer for USA Today and a News Media Studies program alum, taught the boot camp. From day one, students created their own personal blogs as a way to post content during the course. They learned audio and video newsgathering and editing, Web writing, using digital photos, and heard from industry professionals - many of who are AU alums.

Professor David Johnson’s Building Interactive Web Sites course covers new media trends and technologies including Flash, Drupal, and frameworks used to build platforms and engage audiences. Students build, launch, and run interactive community sites developed for a range of clients, skills that can be used in any sector of the communications industry.

Julie Gerdes, a Public Communication graduate student, said she appreciates the opportunities to use multimedia in her classes. “In my Principles of Writing class with professor Montgomery, I designed an e-newsletter and a communication plan that involved creating social media/networking pages,” she said. “And in my strategic planning class with professor Stack, one group of students worked with Project Contact Africa to create and revamp its social networking strategies.”

But it's not only the students who are learning, says Film & Media Arts professor Maggie Stonger. “We’re in a new world here and we’re not going to know it,” she said. “We’re going to learn from it and experience it with our students.”