iPad Rollout, Domains and WordPress, Oh My!

It’s an exciting day in my JMC 1013 class, Introduction to Mass Communication, at Gaylord College. Today, thanks in part to a digital initiative from the office of Nick Hathaway, OU’s Executive Vice President and Vice President of Administration and Finance, and with support from OU’s Center for Teaching Excellence, our first-semester media students will be wielding iPad…
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Lessons from Thanksgiving 2015

Two years ago I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. My husband and I finally had a nice, big house, and I was excited. But I ended up kinda hating hostess status, so when my mom told me she missed having it at her house, I pretended to be noble about “giving” it back to…
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Concern v. Outrage: Campus Crosswalks

→ I’m a very cautious driver. As my sister lovingly puts it, I drive like someone’s grandma’s grandma. (But the joke is on her, because guess which one of us has never had a speeding ticket? That’s right, it’s Grandma.) I’m probably an equally cautious pedestrian, which makes sense to me seeing as how normally…
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Six days sans cell phone: A tale of survival

Panic. I had made it through the awkward tap dance that is airport security. Laptop out, shoes off, jacket off, body scan, what’s that metal showing up on your head? Security guard pat down, oh it’s just a bunch of bobby pins holding up my messy travel topknot. Grab shoes, laptop and carry on, grip…
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Walking around with marriage equality

It seems like more people are smiling on campus today than usual. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I don’t think so. I’d like to believe they are smiling about the SCOTUS decision yesterday that lifts the gay marriage ban in Oklahoma and four other states.

Evolution of cell phones in the classroom policy

The first year I taught a college class as a full time university employee in 2005, I made a rigid, stern, bordering on mean syllabus full of classroom do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts). I thought I needed a harsh syllabus to assert my authority as a 20s-something professor. But, I didn’t want to come off…
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Exciting class today

Today in the honors section of JMC 1013, Introduction to Mass Communication, we set up domains for ourselves, installed the WordPress app, and we are ready to embark on using these websites as part of our curriculum.