learning to look and listen

this semester's digital media production class, or #DMP09, has been among the most creative and collaborative i've ever taught. the combination of easy-to-use social media like twitter, flickr, and facebook with the creativity and curiosity of the students has made for a prolific semester. but between my making media mantra - "create, collaborate, share!" i bark to my students, "now do it again! and again! and again!" - i took extra steps this semester to encourage them to simply look and listen.

over the course of the semester, we've taken campus field trips to spots with spectacular views. first, with help from twitter, we met in kalmanavitz 499, overlooking main campus, where many of us began looking at our campus for the first time.



later in the semester, we hiked up lone mountain and met in the president's conference room, a room with a gorgeous view of the city and the bay.



and yesterday we climbed the steps of st. ignatius church, all the way to the bell tower, to get new perspectives of the campus and city we call home.




i'm immensely proud of DMP09 students' abilities to create, collaborate, and share. i'm equally proud of their growing abilities to look and listen.

USF's web site joins the 21st century

before:


after:


cool.