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<![CDATA[iHeartTeaching - iHeart's Blog]]>Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:37:20 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Digital Narrative Learning And Navigating Through The Threat of Zombie Education]]>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 03:00:00 -0500http://www.iheartteaching.com/6/post/2010/12/digital-narrative-learning-and-navigating-through-the-threat-of-zombie-education.html Teaching and Learning in a Digital Age: Digital Narrative Learning and Navigating Through
The Threat of Zombie Education

By: Sarah MK Ko, November 24th, 2010

Introduction to Blog #3 and the Zombie Education

A vital part of teaching is to understand the information we search and use for various purposes. That blogged, education begins with online readings, at the very least, as not to keep local education at the state of stagnant innovation, or in what I refer to, more or less, as The Zombie Education.

In a nutshell, the Zombie Education Theory posits that if students don't take advantages of Qwiki or similar digital tools or platforms, as well as, working beyond it, then, it is doomed to be in a Zombie State. Zombie Education Theory entails the following components,classroom innovation by practice innovation, redesinging the value chain of education ,while mitigating the risks of Zombie bureacracy.

    We, as educators, ought to keep learning tools vibrant, to be less risk-averse, and also not just conform to what everyone else is doing, just for the sake of the unanimity. We must strive to be nimble and dynamically diffuse the best of commercial and R&D technology which are student-centered for learning. Within the realm of teacher education, we cannot overlook better teaching methods.

    Zombie educators are confined as either later adopters or those sitting ducks at the expense of wearing nameplates to appease to obsolete technology, or no innovation whatsoever, due to laziness, bureaucracy, the Zombie’s veil of ignorance,and the darkness ensuing theZombie’s dormant and languid sleep.

Introduction to Qwiki

    Without further adieu, one digital platform, which I consider pivotal as a breakthrough at the cusp of Web 2.0’s maturity and advent of applicable Semantic Web, is nothing short of Qwiki, or what I coin a “quick awakening.” Qwiki, I believe, is not the perfect classroom tool of instruction; however, it does surpass the current way of the Zombie Educators in Montréal, Québec and in other parts of the world.

What is Qwiki?

    What is Qwiki? Qwiki is the next generation of Wikipedia.1 Wikis are 2.0 web applications that are user-generated, but now, Qwiki mines those wikis and the sea of websites. Qwiki, then brings out the definition from Wikis by turning it into concise multimedia clips in the form of animated video, à lanarrative exploiting facts and a picture slide-shows with associated graphs, charts, images, history and timeline, to enhance one's “information experience”2 online through watching and listening.3So, this would be a natural benchmark for processing and strategically assembling the information to better fit the overall learning curves of each online visitor—thanks to its creators, Louis Monier4 and Doug Imbruce. The Qwiki platform, or sometimes informally known as the “talking search engine,”5 may forever transform our experience interacting with the internet, while we grapple and learn as educators ourselves to gauge this emerging quality of information.

Qwiki Success/Social Recognition

    The overwhelming public reaction to this successor can only incite more hoopla: in last September, Qwiki won the TechCrunch Disrupt Competition in San Francisco.6Currently, Qwiki works on any device through its APIs.

Benefits of Qwiki

    What are the benefits of Qwiki for Québec students? Qwiki presents definitions or explanations in English. Because Qwiki provides the flow of information within its context featuring short multimedia clips, students who lack English-speaking intructors will find this as an extremely resourseful tool. Teachers can potentially augment the lesson plan with other segments surrounding the topic with ease. Also, the Qwiki is a great primer for learning when there is information over-load, yet in a manner that retains the unabridged flow of information through the a host of clips.7 At any point, the students may interact in a discussion setting to reflect on such presentations. Librarians, too, face an information over-load—so, can they too, support students?Once again, the Qwikis I believe are great "stepping stones" at the libraries.

    In the future, Qwiki can compete with language learning softwares such as RosettaStone8, which in turn, through competition of such offerings, can afford greater room with private solutions to its intended recipients, whose lion’s shareare individual learners, if not through the schools and the government.

Limits of Qwiki

    Although Qwiki brings information together in a matter of seconds to help you absorb the information through the experience, it has many limitations, which are: Qwiki fails to explain the context or definition in easier steps for younger children; it packages the media and visuals, without learning about the users' preferences (or through the individual’s progress in accumulated knowledge and his or her speed of processing it); people cannot respond interactively to the Qwiki moderator, thus, users can only passively search; and Qwiki is just a great starting point for any work to be conducted. Qwiki should be accompanied as a search tool, after a student works with a dictionary, thesaurus or a real encyclopedia (ie., Britannica ) and can be reinforced with classroom discussions.

    However, too much emphasis on Qwiki and "quick learning" through dependence on such platforms can deter students from building actual research skills. It is beneficial for students to acquire information on their own through that “sea of information,” while becoming capable of working through that overload and filtering what is important.

    Equally important, learners cannot dismiss tools, such as Qwiki, but also use them to empower their owns ways of researching.9

Implications from the Use of Qwiki

    One may wonder then, if this new digitally, powered technology or a “moderator,” such as a robot can be substitute for real classroom teachers. Can computers, or robots, ever replace teachers? My response to this hypothetical question is that even though Qwiki does come with a coherent and human-like voice, it is essentially embodying the basic fundamentals of "artificial intelligence," which could lead expert programs to think as humans do. For now, applications of it simply can bolster teachers who often deal with information overload and have to sort and sift through it to prepare meaningful discussions—even during times of tight schedules.

    Qwiki as it stands today also poses risks, irrevocably on both sides. I stated that practice innovation, is required—to a point, but unabated—to move facilities for governing the state of education from the status quo.10 However, on the other side, Qwiki arguably can possess risks if everyone uses it without considering the other results that might prove to be worthwhile if a search on information was conducted by other means. Hence, if Qwiki is used mindlessly the way Zombies do, then the innovation itself presents a double-standard.

    Teachers, nevertheless, will need to be at the forefront of integrating technology to better cater the learning experiences, while seeing to it any improvements technology can bring to the live discussions altogether.

    From the outset, more students in universities are now making use of clickers (and pointers) to allow the electronic platforms to record their statistics, and pass it to the Professor who monitors class performance in aggregate, while promulgating the responses as the class presentations progress onward. We are not far away from having technology11 converge with that of the Qwiki platform. I foresee that Qwiki can, in the near future, very well may complement in-classroom clicking, to simultaneously monitor and lead video presentations which can be instantaneously produced in real-time cadence with group responses. The university setting as a whole can be developed in this way as a means to implement the classroom innovation, in order to prevent the university from entering the Zombie state.12

    Since Qwiki's power is "machine-driven," it has a potential to filter the information from online university lectures (November 5th article in the NYT13) and have it delivered into shorter clips. Once again, as a caveat, for online learning, its dilemma is that it is an alternative to expanding the size of the classroom by having administrators embrace the idea, however the quality of the medium can only go so far. Adminstrators and students, who are part of this new wave of electronic learning platforms, seem to embrace everything online or made comfortable for our lives via technology. Although we cannot overlook the possibilites of which technology can bring, we cannot also contribute to the Zombie Education by following what’s in the double standard14. We commit to a Zombie state if we use online education simply because we believe that efficiency and comfort (online teaching without class size limits) may outweigh the costs (of a regular, smaller class per teacher). We cannot compromise the value of learning simply when the method itself may reduce the quality that the experience can afford. Therefore, we must, as stated in my self-acclaimed Zombie Education Theory, redesign the value chain of education to preserve the utmost quality of education to the learners.

The Last Word: To Sofalize, or not to Sofalize as Zombies do?

    I wonder how often teachers and students “sofalize”15 in the classroom, without knowing it. Sofalizing is a word to explain this new trend: how one can communicate with friends from a laptop or smartphone, while lounging on a sofa; in a school setting, students can use hand-held devices and laptops to carry away their conversations, and often directly with their teachers, if need be. Now that students and teachers have the access toQwiki on their PCs, they can sofalize once more.

    Why not, with a penchant for being Zombie-like again, if carried away? The school needs to be creative, yet be mindful of not becoming another lounge, or a digital playground, no matter the proper restraints.Within safe confines, though, Qwiki does have the potential of reshaping our intended goals in education, as it is also changing the realm of when, how and where students and teachers can learn interactively—together. Students learn where it is most comfortable for them: the home for learning, aka, classroom, sits behind the monitor screen!

    We as educators often delight in having technology guide us in our ways to better teach our youth, yet we cannot over-indulge in it to the point that students are afraid of learning actively as participants in a live setting. Do students who—use technology as if it were a Zombie state—rather prefer to learn indoors, independently and alone? Which parent, tax payer, or student facing hefty tuition bills, wish to see the institutes that we cherish would resort to this cost-effective manner? Zombie education and its shortcomings are therefore present in every new technology.

References:
1How more fitting when the present day brain-child of Jimmy Wales, its non-profit founder, can no longer improve the wiki experience, exacerbated by shortcomings in funding it.

2According to Qwiki, it “is the world’s first information experience, powered by a technology that transforms static information into interactive stories.” Another direct quote, this time from Qwiki's headline is, "Qwiki will power many products via a platform that turns information into an experience."

Qwiki does keep a Blog that is packed with insights:
http://blog.Qwiki.com
http://blog.Qwiki.com/2010/10/21welcome-to-Qwiki/

3In a matter of seconds, Qwiki will without requiring people to contribute to the instantaneous production of facts and slideshows will gather them for the user.

4 Formerly, founder of AltaVista search engine, which gained popularity prior to Yahoo! and Google.

5 Users cannot “talk” to search engine by orally requesting a search. The search engine rather “talks” aloud the search findings and pertinent results.

6Qwiki, at this event demonstrated the information experience through an iPhone and later, on the iPad. The future of Qwiki is clearly heading in the direction of making its service available to similar interactive learning tools.

7The student who has no background information who wishes to learn about Oslo can obtain quality information in a concise manner compared to making reference to a dictionary, an atlas, or an encylopedia. For other fine details, if the students were to research on the religious culture of the people living in Oslo, then there would be a good chance that searching online may be as difficult without the aid of a Qwiki reference. I am not sure how much students will be lost in the sea of information when inefficient searches are conducted.

8The use of Rosetta Stone presented as case studies in education sector:
http://www.rosettastone.com/schools/what-people-say/case-studies

9So both are important tools. The teacher should sedulously ponder the implications on the sole dependence of Qwiki-esque platforms, and also use it efficiently only to the point that the tool doesn't become harmful to be detrimental to the student's growth in processing information.

10Otherwise, if classrooms are not significantly integrated with benefits of technology, then the self-imposed constraints befall to thrive in the Zombie Education. Hence, what Qwiki brings education is unfettered with innovation.

11Moving forward withclassroom innovation,as Professors gear their lecture halls with hand-held devices, which are used by students in universities, technology in that incidence will hopefully increase class participation in “real time.”

12The direction of education blossoming with these kinds of technological developments is correlated with a growing number of educators, such as professors, encouraging the use of hand-held devices (as it was exemplified in Chicago universities) and ways to explore their diligence in quality teaching. Hand-held devices are able to provide the entire class with real-time poll and survey of their own responses—which obviously enhances participation (while those reserved with other opinions can feel free to join the statistics without fear of rejection). Qwiki can add to this layer of real-time, aggregated feedback by producing videos to make the experience more meaningful (and probably later, to be catered to statistics in those moments).

13 Online courses are more prevalent and readily accepted by top universities. A Floridian University goes as far as to providing lectures in real-time video, without requiring students to ever set foot in class (convenient for students; for halls with limited seating) as podcasts: http://www.nfytimes.com/2010/11/05/us/05college.html?src=me&ref=general

14 The readers on New York Times have commented most of their disdain at online lectures, November, 5th 2010:
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/us/05college.html

15“26% of web users prefer online chats to time with friends” article on Sofalizing:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3247891

]]><![CDATA[Teaching Journalism, Digital Literacy, Ethics, And The Contemporary World To Students ]]>Sun, 05 Dec 2010 03:00:00 -0500http://www.iheartteaching.com/6/post/2010/12/teaching-journalism-digital-literacy-ethics-and-the-contemporary-world-to-students.htmlTeaching Journalism, Digital Literacy, Ethics, And The Contemporary World To Students

Part I
by: Sarah MK Ko, December 5th, 2010

Lesley Stahl from 60 Minutes interviews the 26-year-old, CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Here's the link to this recent interview on CBS.com: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7120522n

Some questions to ask students after watching the segmented interview clips are:

]]><![CDATA[The Intersection of Culture and Technology: How is SMS messaging changing our perception of communicating messages to others?]]>Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:00:00 -0500http://www.iheartteaching.com/6/post/2010/12/the-intersection-of-culture-and-technology-how-is-sms-messaging-changing-our-perception-of-communicating-messages-to-others.html The Intersection of Culture and Technology:

How is SMS messaging changing our perception of communicating messages to others?

by: Sarah MK Ko, November 3rd, 2010

Part I: Model of Interaction

Part II: Anecdote

        It is 8 am and we are at the train station waiting for our 8:30 am train to Quebec City from Montreal. Checking my belongings for this trip--which I cannot plan without--ensuring that I carry my digital camera, wallet, house keys and change of clothes, I see that my friend Steph is chuckling as she is quickly SMS messaging on her mobile device.

        I ask Steph, “What's up?” She replies her brother, Nick, who is on his way to meet us. She gestures at me to look at her iPhone screen and with her finger, she taps at the last place Nick checked in, which was at Second Cup. 2 seconds ago. She then shows me a T-Mobile viral video displayed on the Viral Video Chart1. The Viral Video Chart shows statistics, such as 134, 040 Facebook shares, 4, 861 tweets about it and 4, 935 blog posts, as well as 23, 963 comments. The pie chart indicates the percentage of languages people used to share this video. And there is a line graph showing the number of hits over a year. Not only am I bedazzled by the importance of human touch that is both symbolic of prehistoric societies and the advent of mobile technology, but mesmerized by how we now understand statistics, or mathematics and numbers in general. We move when the numbers tell us that something is a "buzz", so we ought to move with the flow of "human" web traffic. This is how far we've come--thanks to Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga an online course on her--and, am I missing anything else?

        Then comes the predictable part: Steph within a split second sends this viral video to everyone on her 'friends' list consisting of 764 friends in one click accompanying a SMS message, “Who's in? Let's beat T-Mobile's stats ;-),”

        Wait a second. It doesn't end there. Frivolity--sure. Procrastination--not quite, but worth it, I suppose.

        ...along with a Doodle link of possible dates and times. Steph also has the status update feed linked with a Meetup event to have us register for this spontaneous dancing not just going viral but imposed as events her closest socialites must attend. Within seconds, Steph receives short and choppy texts consisting of few words, acronyms, and/or emoticons. Ten minutes into texting, Steph looks up and asks if I have an unlimited texting plan. I don't know what to tell her. I go along and we exchange our cellphones.

        In one of the tabs, Steph has logged on into her Foursquare account. I find this all amusing about Steph, as I don't have an iPhone and am just beginning to learn about the Apps (applications)--let alone, Skype which I have only used in the past. I can see her tracking some of her friends who are also using this application. I can literally see Nick, who is leaving the Second Cup, and is heading towards the train station--we can stalk her brother now, thanks to GPS. I click on Nick's profile on Foursquare and he has a number of badges and coupons for going into places repeatedly. I see that if he enters into another Second Cup, he could earn a free dessert. A new entry in the RRS feed shows that Nick Tagged Steph and Me in his Facebook update and I clicked on the 'like' tab. Nick sends a Facebook Chat message, “left 2ndcup. Be there soon, yall”. This text is an example of “instant text” with “instant response time.”

        Foursquare will aid us on our way to Quebec City. The app will also take over as a guide once we are mingling as locals!

        I am on Mashable reading their current Trending story, which delves into Foursquare having to compete against Deals, Facebook's forthcoming application.2

        While I Google in the search bar, “text plans” for Steph because I want to make sure that I, too, can purchase the best plan for the buck. She is proud to tell me that over her summer internship Telus has a record of her making well-over 23, 000 texts since she activated her cellphone. A catchy title, “Infographic: If Celebrity Google Searches Were Text Messages, We'd Be All Be Broke” pops up and I read through it. It made me think if all the searches for generic items people were making were rather “billed” as text messages as part of data plans on smartphones, how much will they be? If I were to calculate all the “aggregated” community cost of all those text messages played alone in this trip to Quebec City, it would amount to an insane total. And besides the multitasking and sounds of 'beeps,' there is a greater cost. Someone has to pay for technology, right?

        The cost of text decreases, via "Chinese buffet prices," where text messages are unlimited but priced as a single data plan for many carriers, which could explain for more people sending shorter texts, while expecting the recipient (friend) to also respond back instantly. Hence, all the ridiculous multitasking to get texts into order: communications have only come this far to show how primitive we really are for having to feel assured about a single feeling--anything at the spur of the moment, ASAP, on pronto--now!

        You will see the number in text messages increasing, but my self-acclaimed “Ko Communications model” shows that it may not increase a sense of community, or spark true empathy with the other person. Texting is a passive exchange, you can add. The only benefit from text messages is feeling connected, accepted and never rejected.

        Maybe, only when actions are conducted to create a true experience, such as playing games on Foursquare, the sense of community enhances. On top of feeling connected, when sense of community is triggered, it generates a purpose. The recipient is also the presenter in the exchange, so that both share ideas on collaboration and may act upon them jointly. Empathy or sense of truly understanding the other person's individuality is achieved (just as how Jeremy Rifkin3 advocated on the RSA--a YouTube clip)4

        Many websites such as Facebook invest into research and development pertaining to user-friendly features and services to keep visitors and users on their site longer. Facebook is trying to find ways to reduce the wait time of their page loading up by the milliseconds on the computer screen!5

        We want effective services that are more rapid than before with increasing capacity to deliver our messages whether it be a slew of frivolous texts to providing a breaking news syndicated on Reuters to its subscribers. For example, Reuters began as the first financial news reporting station, and it all began with birds that carried messages, so that subscribers received the important world-changing news (and views) first as possible. This focus has not changed today, as there are reported Reuters' journalists and news crew risking their lives to bring the forefront of news internationally. The Reuters example also illustrates how technology facilitates social movements to communicate news and happenings around the world, while strengthening their solidarity and/or cause.

        Then there are social movements that are not so charged with breakthroughs in technology, rather viewed as profit-making, such as GoodNews. It is built on the a plan that participants receive local deals, which in so doing help promote local causes. It is changing the concept of food stamps or coupons. Goodnews and the likes are changing consumers' perception of food stamps and coupons. Goodnews is selling itself as being chic, cool and trendy, to save money and receive perks, while helping your local causes. I agree with Steph and Nick that both Google ads propping up and promoting Goodnews (and most of the time, its competitor, Groupon) are vicious and annoying.

        We finally arrived in Quebec City and we made a decision to turn off our cellphones for the whole remaining day. But we caved into turning on our mobile devises, as we were using GPS to navigate through the bustling city to the spots, or hidden gems, known to the local indigenous natives. Nick was on Foursquare to receive a free dessert from entering Second Cup again. He uploaded a picture of strawberry cheesecake he earned on Facebook. Steph checked online for discounts in Quebec City, namely that of, GoodNews, WagJag, and LivingSocial, while whining about her ludicrous cellphone bill charges for texting theAmerican Idol show, as a means to casting several votes towards her favorite contestant/singer on the show. I just sigh, and decide to update my Twitter account, which I haven't in a while.

1Viral Video Chart:
http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com/youtube/The_T-Mobile_Dance?id=VQ3d3KigPQM
2Mashable:
http://mashable.com/
3about Jeremy Rifkin
Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.
4Jeremy Rifkin on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g&feature=related
5Time Magaize, “How facebook is redefining privacy:
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1990582,00.html

]]><![CDATA[Cultural Centers Coalescing Through the Global Network University]]>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:30:25 -0500http://www.iheartteaching.com/6/post/2010/11/no-title.htmlCultural Centers Coalescing Through the Global Network University

Richard Johnson Model Meets the Global Network University: A 2 Point Analysis, Textual or Material Form and Mode of Reception

by: Sarah MK Ko, October 11th, 2010

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It is an integral part of life to understand the media that we consume on a daily basis. One way of understanding media is by making sense of its messages. The voice of the media, or the messages, rather, is pervasive throughout: from a zingy status update on Facebook to a prime time TV show such as Dancing with the Stars, to government official-sponsored advertisements. All are available in print and online, whereby in the latter case, most of it is conveniently composed of the 'do it yourself' uploads, as user-generated content are seamlessly floating on the likes of YouTube, Animoto, and MySpace to enhance both video-sharing and enlightening the audience with the partaking of a holistic experience. Online social media has culminated vastly with web-technology to further the empowerment through that message as one can shape, shake and move the outlooks starting with one individual and transforming all connected communities. We see it happening this very moment, while the tools are paramount for delivering that strong message to communicate a successful beginning of a global university network.

          Within that scope, I will use a couple of the points in Richard Johnson's framework to demonstrate the cultural dynamics between the text and the mode of reception for the stellar launch of New York University’s first foreign offshore campus. NYU spearheads the Global Network University. These key points from the Johnson model will be utilized to analyze the NYU student newspaper article titled, “NYU Abu Dhabi: the story from concept to classroom,” available both in print and online1, together, with an audiovisual slideshow accompanying its news.

     Washington Square News (WSN) has an obligation to endorse school functions and inform all prospective students, admitted students, and alumni, who may or may not have any interest in pursuing the experience at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), a new satellite campus, or towards another campus, in light of promoting study abroad programs. In so doing, their targeted audience is equally updated on much of the global network university's progress through this online newspaper. This newspaper article is marketed by WSN which is primarily affiliated with NYU, and it is also fitting to note that the staff writers are simply current students. New York Times does often complement most of what appears in the research overview, presented by WSN. Online viewers who have no affiliation with NYU may still regard WSN’s coverage on the new campus as being informative—and detailed journalism to enlighten the institution’s move on better equipping the global citizen.

     Indeed, the article’s coverage of the NYUAD is furnished to provide more than a glimpse; so, utilizing the web’s tools and video technology, it can spur a professional, tour-like feel through the day in the life of Abu Dhabi as it blends with the school’s mission venturing into a new home in a different region altogether. The female journalist, Jane C. Timm, narrates through select tantalizing visual images in this three minute and thirteen second-long audiovisual slideshow. The following analyzes from the beginning to the end of this slideshow.

     The first seven seconds into this slideshow presents a welcoming WSN convention, the WSN logo is incorporated, as always done prior to each of their online-streaming news, via their NYUnews, while syndicated on the YouTube channel. The implication for incorporating this WSN logo at the beginning of their news provides a visual cue that the following story is produced by this news organization; merely, a proud display of their name. Regular viewers may associate this name to the dedicated team of literate NYU students bringing true and honest information about the current news pertaining to the university that evolves around—and, caters especially to—them.

     The next visual slide captures an immaculate interior space in which the viewer can see the back views of two females wearing their traditional black dresses, shown walking toward the end of the white hall—the effect is to graphically present an element of difference, that culturally, these women in Abu Dhabi can proudly present themselves, such that there will not be room for surprises. This particular visual perspective draws the viewer's eyes to the center, where the female figures are dressed in black (since the surrounding color is mainly white) to the end of the hall. The title, “Washington Square News Inside Abu Dhabi by Jane C. Timm,”2 is placed in the foreground.

     Shortly after, thirteen seconds into this presentation, a map of United Arab Emirates (UAE) is blown up, and the viewer can read both in English and Arabic the names of the cities of UAE. As this map is further zoomed-in, Jane immediately states the statistical information about Abu Dhabi. For example, directly quoting Jane's first few sentences:

                                        “United Arab Emirates population [is] 4.5 million. Here's Abu Dhabi. It is
                                         the largest and wealthiest of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE.
                                         The New York Times reported that Abu Dbahi has 0.2% percent of the
                                         world's population, but 9% of the world's oil.”

     The effect of stating a slew of statistics is to reinforce NYU's safe and feasible decision to build a satellite campus in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is not the obvious popular metropolitan city any average person living in a western country would immediately think of, because for one, not many Westerners talk about a planned vacation to the Abu Dhabi or UAE for that matter, due to inherent risks, as well as, due to speculations during the recent debt crisis the country faced.

     In terms of metonymy, NYU is associated with its metropolitan prestige. Hence, with the cosmopolitan feel of NYC, that is universal to everyone, which also dynamically converges with the select sophisticated values of all cultures worldwide, Abu Dhabi shares that sentiment. NYU is in short, synonymous to NYC. So now, it is Abu Dhabi's turn to carry NYU's torch. How much more fitting is this when at the middle of the clip you see a citadel shinning bright in the night sky?

     Overall, Abu Dhabi’s wealth from its oil reserves, new dynamics and attitude it wishes to portray—in a grandiose makeover—without jettisoning, but better yet espousing, past traditional iconic symbols (both religious and cultural, as shown in the rugs, furniture and such overtones found in architecture), all combine to showcase the consummate cultural city. NYU can only cast bridges along emerging talents and marry the new, triumphant modern visage of the deserts. The antiquity and modern charisma of Abu Dhabi are ripe for the global-minded student.

     The following slideshows depict a close-up of the exterior of NYUAD's temporary building, where the semiotics of power and governance are prevalent in the NYU logo. In addition, NYUAD is written in both Arabic and English. These semiotics of power and governance verify authenticity of this NYUAD satellite campus building. This semiotics of power indirectly facilitates for a brave, new decision administrators had grappled with and executed-well, regarding the placement of a satellite campus outside of NYC, albeit there could had been a host of other well-known urban centers—but after all, we cannot dismiss that this part of UAE is apparently an inveterate force for economic prosperity, while further recognized as a social (attached to luxury) and political strong-house in the world.

     The next few visual slides convey the luxurious and modern dormitories the incoming NYUAD's students, faculty and staff will call home. Their residence will be comprised of the 16 floors out of the 46-story Suma Tower. One of the slides captures a view from one of the dorms which are akin to a perspective peering from the Rogers Centre and Air Canada Centre (in the direction of the Canadian National Exhibition, nested in the downtown core of Toronto).

     This place has already adopted a sophisticated and luxurious glamor—or city slickin' GLAM, rather—in its posh and urban landscape with the Emirates Palace Hotel, a three billion dollar project dovetailing the meaning of extravagance in a whole new palatial block, which requires at a minimum, ten staff members, for example, to maintain their Swarovski crystal chandeliers, as well as, their iconic, grand mosque made for the capacity of seven thousand worshipers.

     The pictures are taken on a sunny day and, by night, with its exterior lights illuminating a magical glow, which convincingly show the city to be peaceful and quiet due to a few visible pedestrians. Many of the pictures show the exterior and interior designs of the monolithic buildings and skyscrapers. There are no images portraying the busy rush hour in the metro, the congested highways, or the local farmers market to list a few obvious pictures that would have surfaced if it were in Shanghai, Seoul, NYC, Toronto, or Montreal (McGill’s shopping core, anyone?).

     The next segment of pictures focuses on the permanent establishment on Saadiyat Island. That island will be the future home to NYUAD's permanent satellite campus3. This island will be the world's new cultural nexus with plans to create Guggenheim and the Louvre satellite museums.

     The meaning of Saadiyat Island4 will serve a double meaning as the island of happiness in Arabic.

     Below this audiovisual slideshow, there is an NYU advertisement space. Online advertisements generated by NYU's clever marketing teams are played as flash animations where the catchy slogan begins as “NYU.” followed by a name of a region (ie, Paris) then ending in a succinct phrase, “Be there.” An example would be “NYU. London. Be there.” and the Flash graphics introduce other cities (see screenshot below).

screenshot of NYU online advertisement on Oct. 11th, 2010

     It is a bold statement: NYU is effective and simple with online media advertisements.

     These advertisements are effective because NYU has already a worldly reputation as a leading university in the country and in the world, and therefore, it does not appear to be pretentious for John Sexton, NYU’s president, to coin the “theory of the global network university,” in which this new theory encompasses NYU furnishing its bond with its other subordinate entities, ie., study abroad programs, other Washington Square campuses, and satellite campuses.

     With the changing face of NYU, current students in HQ, Washington Square Campus, and other campuses are recommended for internal exchanges to study abroad at least for a semester in any of the five continents, as there is bound to be an NYU study abroad program or campus available in that continent. It is also strategically done, to place NYU crown in each of the five continents to serve as a true example of global network university.

     This case of NYU Abu Dhabi's campus development is a successful concept that has been entrepreneurial in today's social media's tactics. The popularity to gain admissions in offshore campuses was largely due to the Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter and the making of new websites. (On a side note: there is a slight difference with Facebook Fan Page (739 fans) as it allows for the creator to control and gather outsiders.) On this this online newspaper article, there are 642 Facebook users, who like the WSN Facebook Fan Page (see below for example of a NYU AbuDhabi Facebook Fan Page screenshot).

screenshot of NYUAD Facebook Fan Page on Oct. 11th, 2010

     Hence, it is available to all Facebook users to indicate their liking of such Fan Page. The promotion didn't stop there. Blogs were filled with new mesmerizing stories to tantalize the youth to consider enrolling there. The public inquiries, mostly from prospect students before officially registering in Abu Dhabi, were well-received and answered in sequence, via direct e-mails and web-based forums.

     New York City's physical bulletins are pampered with NYU's advertisements regarding the Global Network University, or through the study abroad messages.

     The New York Times5 has reported well in favor of NYU's dealings in recent times and past few years regarding its journey to lead the global network university at the helm.

     Using the two key points, text and mode of reception, from Johnson's model reveals the impact of packaging an audiovisual slideshow, newspaper article, and WSN's Facebook Fan Page, NYU's Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and alike, these social network sites exemplify and transcend their semiotics of power and governance of NYU's torch and name beyond physical existence—virtually, while promoting and maintaining its crown establishments in each of the five continents across the globe.

References:
1 NYU WSN article: http://nyunews.com/newsfilter/?q=satellite#/news/2010/09/13/13abudhabi/?ref=ajax

2 Washington Square News, WSN, is one and same as NYU News:

http://www.nyu.edu/global/the-global-network-university.html

http://nyunews.com/newsfilter/?q=nyu+paris#/blogs/?ref=ajax

http://nyunews.com/opinion/2010/09/19/20house/

http://nyunews.com/newsfilter/?q=satellite#/news/2010/09/13/13abudhabi/?ref=ajax

3 NYU’s proposed and eventual completion of the Saadiyat Island location, at Abu Dhabi:

http://nyunews.com/news/2010/02/22/22housing/

4 Saadiyat Island:

http://www.saadiyat.ae/en/default.aspx

5 NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/nyregion/02nyu.html?ref=new_york_university

Another example:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/nyregion/31nyu.html?ref=new_york_university

]]><![CDATA[Op-Ed According to The Learning Network]]>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:35:55 -0500http://www.iheartteaching.com/6/post/2010/10/op-ed-according-to-ny-times-the-learning-network.htmlThe Learning Network shows how Op-Ed writing could be taught to students.

screenshot taken on Oct. 27th, 2010

Peter Lovenheim narrates his story behind his Op-Ed article he sent to NY Times.

References:
-This Learning Network Blog's Article website: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/op-ed/
-The Learning Network Blog'sWebsite: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/
-The New York Times Homepage: http://www.nytimes.com/

]]><![CDATA[40 Years of NY Times Op-Eds]]>Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:32:54 -0500http://www.iheartteaching.com/6/post/2010/10/first-post.html

An image of NYTimes.com "OP-ED at 40" web page (showing the top portion). screenshot taken on Oct. 27th, 2010

This image captures the text portion of the "OP-ED at 40" web page. screenshot taken on Oct. 27th, 2010

References:
-This NYT's article, "OP-ED at 40" website: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/25/opinion/opedat40.html
-NYT's hompage: http://www.nytimes.com/

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