Official Unorthodoxy

One of the largest parts of my job (and by largest I mean "Thing That Sucks Up Huge Amounts of Time") is teaching the new students how to use the equipment that we have in the program, and how to use the software that goes with it.

Last week's lesson was about the Olympus LS-10 audio recorders that we check out, and Garageband. The general plan was that I was going to provide some examples of radio interviews (a la "This American Life"), everyone would "interview" each other on any topic that they wanted, and then they would create something that was inspired by the examples in Garageband. Each finished project should be 3-5 minutes long, have audio, music, ambient noises and maybe some sound effects.

In preparation for the teaching session, I found a recorded copy of a talk that Ira Glass gave at Yale two years ago. He was specifically speaking about the role of radio in modern journalism, but a lot of what he talked about - and did during the talk - was highly relevant to the lesson that I wanted them to learn. I worked with the Yale Broadcasting department to get a copy of the talk, and then watched it a few times to pick out what I wanted to use.

I chose to just have them watch the first 20 minutes, with occasional pauses at specific points to talk about what Glass was doing in the presentation, as he used sound bites from previous programs to illustrate his points. I had them watch his body language, pay attention to his mannerisms - everything he did was deliberate and specific. We talked about the points that he was making, about journalism and storytelling. I finished that part of the program by asking them to talk about why storytelling is important in media projects, and to think about the art of it as they put together their own mini-interviews.

For the rest of the time, the students recorded short interviews with each other, loaded things up into Garageband, and answered questions about how Garageband works. Some of the answers I knew off of the top of my head, but I did a lot of Googling on the projector so that everyone could see what was going on. We then collected the interviews at the end, and the went on their merry way. They seemed to enjoy the idea of technology and creativity, and there were a lot of interesting questions that came up.

And then I listened to the interviews. Some were just OK. And some where AMAZING. But most importantly, they all GOT it. They GOT what I wanted, they appeared to be having fun when we were doing it, and they learned something in the projected amount of time that I set up.

So what was different about this lesson than others?

First, I went into it with a storytelling theme/attitude. I told them that part of good media projects includes the concept of storytelling. A good presentation includes a story. A good movie sucks you in. An article that includes a touch of human is no longer boring. Storytelling is essential. And storytelling is art. And they got excited about art and technology. Specifically, art and technology that related to their job.

Secondly, we tried something new in the examples part. We watched. We paused. I pointed out things. We discussed. We watched more. Rinse and repeat. There was a certain level of interaction that we hadn't done before, and I think that really, really helped get the ideas and points across. I took the time to speak to them as artists. We connected. It was sort of awesome.

And so, I began a dialogue with my supervisors. I asked if I could go to a conference/workshop at the end of April, on storytelling. I talked about what happened, and how I think that next year, we should have a storytelling theme. That it should be incorporated into how I teach, how they learn and think about media. That storytelling could better improve presentation skills, and liven up boring PowerPoint slides. Both my direct supervisor and her boss thought that it was a very interesting approach. And said yes.

HOLY COW. How often do we, as IT managers of students, get to try something so out of the box? It's not as often as most would like, I think. I am very, very fortunate that I work with a team of people who are usually ready to try new things and hear my ideas out, and especially lucky that my supervisors are very open-minded. I wish this was something that more higher ed institutions would do on the business end of things: try something new. You don't have to devote huge amounts of resources to a new idea to test it; the conference is only $150 or so. In the yearly budget, that's pocket change. Far too often, I think, do we fall into the category of attempting to be innovative but lacking the actual drive to try something so alien. "Let's try something new" is not the same as "Let me turn my entire teaching method on its head." It's related, like mangoes are related to poison ivy (they both carry urushiol). Some parts are sort of the same, but really there isn't that much to compare.

I'm really happy that I get to try something new and crazy at work. This is what I love: pushing boundaries, creating bridges and connections out of thin air. I just wish that I could get everyone on board the Do Crazy Things at Work Train.