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Communicating the Value of a College Education

January 13, 2012 By 4 Comments
Conversation

The following are the notes from my presentation as part of a panel on “Communicating in the New Normal” at the College Board 2012 Colloquium held in Newport Beach, CA January 7-9.  I was part of very august company: moderator Phillip Ballinger, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Director of Undergraduate Admissions at University of Washington at University of Washington, Marie Groark, Executive Director of the Get Schooled Foundation, and Millree Williams, Executive Director for Public Affairs Strategy at the University of Maryland. The New Normal: The Changing Communications Landscape The need to explore new models was the emerging theme of the Colloquium.   I’d like to take us up to 20,000 feet for a minute and talk about the new model of communications and the media landscape that is the new normal. How many of you use Facebook personally? Compare this 30% to this number: 96% of your target audience, people aged 18 to 35, is on social networks.  The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Emerging Technologies, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

10 Keys to Good Interactive Apps for Pre-schoolers

November 17, 2011 By 7 Comments
ostory animals

Social media has redefined "participatory" in all kinds of ways.  Social technologies and easy-to-use tools have changed fundamental assumptions about how we interact with everything, not just each other.  It's time we get used to the idea that kids these days think media is for interacting and not watching.  Parents can take comfort in knowing that interactive technology, when developed well, allows a child to actively engage in their own learning.  One such app, Wendy's Giant List of Things to Do for the iPad, has 10 qualities that would make Piaget proud. The current generation of toddlers is growing up with the expectation that media allows active play and, more excitingly, that information is something they can interact with, explore, manipulate, and share.  This attitude will be a big plus when they are old enough for science class.   Easy-to-use technologies like the iPad with its touch screen are encouraging development of interactive apps and books that are fun and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Interactive, Psychology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Media Psychology: The ‘Field Whose Time Has Come’ Makes it to Times Square

August 25, 2011 By 1 Comment
2011-08-Bernie-Award-Times-Square

Dr. Bernie Luskin founded the very first media psychology doctoral program in the United States (and possibly even the whole world) at Fielding Graduate University. In his time at Fielding, I'll bet I heard Bernie say “media psychology is a field whose time has come” at least a hundred times. And he was right, because an announcement of Bernie's APA Lifetime Achievement Award, including a photo of Bernie flanked by several former students and media psychology PhDs (including me!) made it onto PRNewswire display on Times Square. I mean, really, how cool is that? Even without Times Square, the field of media psychology is definitely a field whose time has come. Media psychology is responding to the awareness that technology and mediated communication are inseparable from almost every aspect of our lives. Media psychology is also exciting because it is continually changing, challenging scholars and practitioners to evaluate and understand what is happening in the “space … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

Transmedia Storytelling Raises Awareness for OCD

August 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
OCD-Teen-Web-150

Stories are powerful things.  The International OCD Foundation is putting transmedia storytelling to work in its new campaign to raise awareness and overcome stereotypes about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) called Dare to Believe...Together We Can Beat OCD.  Stories are a primal form of communication that allows us to capture and share authentic human experience.  If you or those you know have never experienced OCD or its symptoms, it's hard to image what it's like, how difficult life with OCD can be, or the stigma and emotional hurdles to getting treatment. But stories engage us at multiple levels and using all of our senses and, most importantly, they create a shared space of understanding.  This opens a pathway to our right brain, activating our creativity and imagination; we can experience stepping out of our own world and into another.  For a sufferer of OCD, stories can show proof of hope and help suffers image possibilities for the future and change their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology, Transmedia Tagged With: , ,
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