​Dr. Lori Peterson, who co-lead a study abroad program at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers, France in Spring 2011 was recently invited back to Angers to give a lecture on "Signs, Symbols, & Signification: Semiotics in the Global Marketplace" at the  Université d'Angers, a state university located in the same city. Dr. Peterson will give her guest lecture on March 14th in Danielle LeCointre-Erickson's International Consumer Behavior class--a graduate-level course. Dr. Peterson is on sabbatical this semester. The Communication Department wishes her un séjour agréable et un bon voyage!

Dr. Corinne Weisgerber and Dr. Shannan Butler gave a presentation entitled Re-envisioning Pedagogy: Educators as Curators at the South by Southwest education conference (SXSWedu) today. Their presentation explored how the advent of social media platforms along with revolutionary changes in technology have brought about a new ecology of information which has the potential of fundamentally altering the way we learn and teach. They argued that the role of a teacher should be re-envisioned as that of a curator of ideas. Just like a museum curator scours the art world, selects the finest works, gathers them together around a unified theme, provides a frame to understand the artists’ messages and then hosts a conversation around the collection, so the 21st century teacher must comb through an overabundance of information to discover the significant and relevant, bundle those ideas into course modules, contextualize them for the class and then create an environment for students to explore those ideas and enter into a conversation about them. 
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Re-envisioning Modern Pedagogy: Educators as Curators
 
http://www.slideshare.net/corinnew/reenvisioning-modern-pedagogy-educators-as-curators-11879841
 
SXSWedu brings together education professionals as well as business, industry and policy leaders "who all share a keen interest in modernizing teaching and learning."

Last week, the New Media Consortium (NMC), an international nonprofit which strives to drive technological innovation across college campuses, awarded St. Edward’s University one of two Center of Excellence Awards. The NMC is no stranger to the Communication students and faculty.
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Last fall, students from Dr. Corinne Weisgerber’s PR for Nonprofit class took on the NMC as a client as part of a semester-long service-learning project. The students met with NMC representatives and the university’s local liaison, Jason Rosenblum, to determine the NMC’s communication-related needs and develop a strategic communication plan designed to help the NMC better connect with its members at various educational institutions around the country. At the end of the semester, students presented their ideas to Nancy Reeves, Director of Member Services. The picture shows the student team proudly posing after a successful presentation.
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The New Media Consortium is probably best known for its Horizon report, an annual publication which seeks to identify new technologies capable of affecting the way we teach and learn. As an early adopter of data visualization technologies, Dr. Shannan Butler, associate professor of Communication, was invited to showcase his innovative work on the use of textual data visualization techniques at the unveiling of the 2010 Horizon Report. The honor of showcasing projects that utilize one of the six categories of technology identified in the report was bestowed on only five institutions from across the nation. Dr. Butler’s presentation was carried live via web video and in Second Life.  The presentation is available on the EduCause web site at 44:10 into the video.