Thursday, December 6, 2018

SC State Rich in "Miller Time" History

Embedded below in pdf form is research and writing I did this semester as part of two of my classes, Public Relations Writing and Feature Writing.

In my PR class, I asked the students to create a Constant Contact newsletter. Constant Contact is widely used in the communication world to produce and share what used to be printed magazines and newsletters.

My feature writing students and I, as a project, tried to find out as much as possible about the old Miller Hall dormitory next to our communications building.


Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Bulldog Blitz- Kickin' It With Kizoa!

I have issued a "Bulldog Scavenger Hunt" challenge to my students. Find and photograph as many bulldog statues and sidewalk carvings around campus as they can. Take the pictures and create a Kizoa slideshow. Here's an example of the finished product:


Bulldogs on Campus

Here are more details on "Kizoa Kreations." 

Back in Fall 2017 Jalen Ayers (now U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Ayers) did a great job with his Bulldog Kizoa!






Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Proper Prezi Presentation of Favorite Old Cemetery Figures

I am having my digital media students prepare a "Top 10" Prezi presentation. The topic can be anything of their choosing.  As a demonstration I put together this Prezi of ten of my favorite figures at Charleston's beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery. I have written two books about this venerable place!  See my BirdsEyeViews blog for details.




There is a "trick" to embedding a Prezi on a Blogger post. It's easy but you have to do it just like described here.  Enter the code in the new blog post HTML mode, not Compose. 

Prezi Project: 10 Favorite Figures at Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery

I am having my digital media students prepare a "Top 10" Prezi presentation. The topic can be anything of their choosing.  As a demonstration I put together this Prezi of ten of my favorite figures at Charleston's beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery. I have written two books about this venerable place!  See my BirdsEyeViews blog for details.


I acknowledge that this isn't a true Prezi in that you cannot move from image to image. I'm a bit rusty on Prezi Next, which came out a few years ago. I had done many Prezis in the previous version and frankly prefer that one.

But times change, so I'll work some more to do a proper Prezi and will post here when it's ready.

There are a few steps to embed a Prezi on Blogger.  Here's a link to show how.



Check also this old version Prezi showing my favorite bulldog statues on the campus of South Carolina State University!

Friday, November 9, 2018

BNN Behind the Scenes- Off Camera Action Fast Paced!

"Corvasier! Relax your eyes."

"Did you go over the pronunciations? There are some funky names!"

Communications professor Alicia Pryor is a cascade of commands and a metronome of motion as she and her young "Bulldog News Now" team prepared recently to record a new newscast in the program's television studio.

Professor Pryor and sports anchor Jalen Tart
In the span of a few minutes Pryor, BNN's faculty advisor and overall person in charge, rushes several times between the studio floor for some quick words with the anchor team and to the adjacent control room to receive updates on final pre-production procedures.

Then she dashes down the hall to a computer lab to retrieve a needed video that should be finished processing.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Prezi Presentation Example: Best SC State Bulldogs!

I am having students in my digital media class create a Prezi. Not just any Prezi! This Prezi will be a "Top Ten" or "My Favorite" presentation. They will be asked compile a list of ten and make it into a Prezi, then show it to the class on the appointed date.

As an example, I created this fun Prezi of my favorite bulldog statues on the SC State campus. I put some music to it. Prezi is a great way to present information. It has many advantages over PowerPoint, I feel, in that it can be faster paced and non-linear.



The students will be asked to embed their Prezis on their class blogs like this.  I look forward to seeing what the students come up with. Should be a fun project for them! 

Social Media Mavericks: Marvelous Message!

What an informative, well attended and overall outstanding forum we had on Nov. 2 in our Crawford Communications auditorium.

Photo courtesy Alicia Pryor
Fellow instructor Alicia Pryor posted this photo montage on our program's Facebook site. This image captures what went on that Friday morning.

We had a particularly good turnout for the event. Lots of our communications students were there, fellow faculty too, plus a sprinkling of other SC State faculty and public relations professionals. We invited communication students from our neighbors at Claflin University and some of them came as well.

Through SC State's University Relations office we were able to get some nice publicity for our forum on and off campus.


Thursday, September 27, 2018

Biggest Twitter Success Story!

Today in one of my classes I will be talking about Twitter. I have been active on Twitter for several years, joining not long after it debuted in 2006 (my handle is cccougar).

In March of this year, I had the most reactions and responses ever to one of my tweets. And I have the famous actor/comedian Bill Murray, who lives in Charleston, to thank for this moment in time.

The tweet involves the photo I took off my TV while watching the final game of the Colonial Athletic Association basketball game between the College of Charleston and Northeastern. CofC would mount an incredible comeback and earn its first visit to the NCAA Tournament since 1999.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Miller Hall Feature Stories Photos

In my Magazine/Feature Writing course (Journalism 360), I have tasked my students with developing stories about Miller Hall, a former dormitory located next to our Communications facilities in the old Crawford Engineering Building.

I am posting many photos here to make them available to the students for possible use in their feature stories, which they will post on their own blogs.

Miller Hall Today 

 

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Welcome Students!

Today we are having the first class for my new EMP II class at SC State University.  This course is officially called Electronic Media Production II but I see and teach the course more as Digital Content Creations and Distribution.

Here we are in Crawford Communications Room 203

Hello students!  The students will soon be setting up their own blogs and I am excited to see what they come up with!  Stay tuned!  











Monday, August 27, 2018

Lots of Reasons to Choose SC State!

Last semester in my Advanced Television Production and Editing class I assigned my students to produce a video about why SC State would be a good college choice for high school seniors.

The project was undertaken in coordination with the school's admissions office. The idea was that such a video consisting of comments from current Bulldogs could be used for marketing and recruitment purposes.

The students did a nice job conducting more than 20 interviews around campus, shooting themselves doing on-camera opens and closes, and finally editing it all together.

During the summer, I fine-tuned the project a bit and put together this version, which I have shared with the admissions and external affairs and communications offices.


Thanks to all of my students last semester for a job well done. Go Bulldogs!  

Friday, March 23, 2018

SCSU Communications Graduate Shares Success Story

Ralan Wardlaw Speaking on March 22
What a terrific talk South Carolina State University 2015 graduate Ralan Wardlaw gave yesterday at his alma mater! Wardlaw works in athletics media relations at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

He was in Orangeburg for the softball game between UMES and SC State. Wardlaw also handles media and publicity for the Hawk's men's and women's golf and women's tennis teams.

Wardlaw told current SC State communications students and members of the school's softball team who were present about his life after college.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Comm Students Video Garners Honors!

Congratulations go out to Communications majors Ferrante Dunham and TiAnna Dawson whose Orangeburg Massacre 50th Anniversary tribute video won an award.

Ferrante Dunham and TiAnna Dawson
SC State's Department of English and Modern Languages sponsored the video contest.  It was one of the many ways the school remembered that terrible night 50 years ago- Feb. 8, 1968- when three young men, two of whom were SC State students, were killed when state police opened fire on them and other African-Americans gathered on campus near what is today the school's main administration building.

The shooting followed two days of unrest as black students and others attempted to integrate an Orangeburg bowling alley.

Ferrante and TiAnna's short video, titled "The Orangeburg Massacre: Never Forgotten", was selected for the contest's $50 top prize by a panel of Communications faculty.  Here is their video:


Congratulations Ferrante and TiAnna! And thanks to the others students who submitted videos.

  




Monday, February 19, 2018

SCSU Graduate Inspires Students During Communications Club Talk

SC State's Communications Club had a special Valentine's Day treat for students when Kris Bennett,  Class of 2016, shared her busy "Life After College" story with them.

Kris Bennett on Feb. 14 
Last fall, Bennett, a Charleston native, returned to her alma mater to start her position with the school's admissions office where she is a counselor and recruiter.

She told the students of many initiatives underway to boost enrollment at SC State, which is a top priority here.

Stints at Verizon and North Carolina A&T preceded Bennett's return to Orangeburg.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Orangeburg Massacre Anniversary Remembered

February 8, 1968 is a day of infamy in the history of South Carolina, Orangeburg, South Carolina State University and America's civil rights movement.

That night, officers with the S.C. Highway Patrol opened fire on a large group of students (including from neighboring Claflin College) on the SC State campus. Tempers were running hot two days after students from both Orangeburg colleges protested at a nearby bowling alley after being denied entry due to their skin color. 

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre I assigned students in my Advanced Television Production class to produce a two minute (or so) video on the historic tragedy and what students today have to say about it. 

Here is one of the final videos: 

The students involved in shooting this video are as follows: Tean Becoate, Alvin Brooks, Kyre Cox, Tianna Dawson, Ferrante Dunham, Trendon Howard, Corvosier Mayrant and Skyler Suber. I edited this piece from their footage. The music comes from the free music website incompetech.com.