Comments from former students in mass communication teaching

Here are comments from former students in Mass Communication Teaching about the potential value of taking the course:

Robert Blade
Professor of Journalism, Florida Community College at Jacksonville
1994-1995 - Attended master's program at UF, lab instructor and lecture assistant for Writing for Mass Communication (MMC 2100)

"Teaching had always intrigued me, but I did not have a clue about how to approach it. How do you plan a course? How do you write a syllabus? How do you spend the time in a class meeting? How do you involve students in class discussions? How do you write a good test? Are there other ways to evaluate students? How do you find out what students think about what you are doing?"

"MMC 6930 was my introduction to teaching, and it was a course I looked forward to every week. It combined both the philosophy underlying teaching with the practical skills teachers need (it taught me, for instance, to feel comfortable saying "syllabi" instead of "syllabuses")."

"Teaching is something I still practice; I'm always changing course content and methodology. The goal is to help students learn, and I still use the ideas from Dr. Dodd's class to work at reaching it."

Glen Bleske
Professor, Department of Journalism
California State University, Chico
While a graduate student at UF, Bleske was a teaching assistant for MMC 2100 and JOU 3101. He received the Outstanding Journalism Teacher of 1997 from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

“MMC 6930 provided me with many tools and ideas that I still use today. But most important, it filled a major hole that existed in my graduate education, where the typical, but wrong, belief is that just because you have a higher education degree, you know how to teach.

“Every semester as part of our tenure process, I observe teaches who don't have a clue. They try hard, but they lack knowledge, the kind of knowledge that MMC 6930 provides. Every graduate program needs a course like this one, and anyone who plans a career in the classroom should plan on taking this class.”

Greg Borchard
Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Media Studies
University of Nevada/Las Vegas
As a doctoral student at UF, Borchard taught MMC 2100 as a lab instructor, lecture assistant, and lecturer from 1998 to 2003. In 2002 he received the College’s Outstanding Graduate Student Award and was recognized by the Anderson Scholars as an influential instructor.

“I have completed my first year as an assistant professor at UNLV in the School of Journalism and Media Studies. I have taught the Writing and News Gathering class, which is similar to MMC 2100, and Mass Media History. This fall, I will teach a graduate seminar in historiography.

“I took Dr. Dodd's teaching seminar spring 2000 and designed course materials around my interest in media history. I saved hard copies and word files of the materials from the course, which proved valuable in helping design the Mass Media History class at UNLV. I directly consulted materials I had designed in the teaching seminar as blueprints for the syllabus, term paper, lesson plans, and exam ideas.

“The term paper idea in particular proved useful and time-saving. As originally designed, I asked students to develop an analysis of a constitutional issue from the perspective of media historians. Although I used much of the original language from the seminar draft, I discovered the library staff at UNLV was interested in helping with the project. I incorporated a mandatory tour of the library archives into the assignment.

“Dr. Dodd's seminar helped anticipate many of the very practical issues associated with designing course materials. It’s hard to imagine simply improvising important course materials, and I’m glad I had the chance to work with her and other grad students.”

David Bulla
Assistant Professor, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication
Iowa State University
As a doctoral student, Bulla taught MMC 2100 labs, was lecture assistant for the course and the lecturer for the course during summer semester. He also taught Literary Journalism and Sports Journalism.

"MMC 6960 contributed to my education in the following ways:

1. It expanded my horizons and allowed me to see beyond Quals to the job interview, especially both the teaching and research presentations;
2. It allowed me the opportunity to create a semester-long syllabus for a class I would teach in the future
   -- to think through all aspects of the class; and
3. MMC 6960 raised critical issues in teaching, including how to get contemporary students interested in
   the subject when their attention is focused on beer and circus, to steal Murray Sperber's line. I think the third of these was the most important for me because our teaching is directly affected by the mindsets of our students. The changing demographic and cultural landscape has to be dealt with -- not just the students who love sports and beer, but also the many international students who love the library, as well as the transfers and older students who work multiple jobs and tend to be more goal-oriented and more mature but less grade-conscious. Aspiring college teachers need to keep these things in mind and strategize how to deal with today's diverse student body."

Daniela Dimitrova
Assistant Professor, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication
Iowa State University
“I would highly recommend Mass Communication Teaching to any graduate student who is considering a career as a professor. Two topics discussed in the course that I found most useful were plagiarism and classroom management. My very first semester as an assistant professor, I had a case of plagiarism, and thanks to MMC 6930 I felt well prepared to deal with the situation and to confront the student about it.”

Susan Grantham
Assistant Professor, School of Communications
University of Hartford
Grantham was the recipient of the Student Faculty Advisor of the year for the University of Hartford for the 2003-2004 academic year.

“Taking Mass Communication Teaching (MMC 6930) was totally self-serving. In short, the course was invaluable to me. I had experience teaching a the high school level and conducting workshops but I was not prepared to teach 200 students, who were not communications majors, how to write in a lecture setting.
“The discussions, brainstorming and exchange of views between the students in the 6930 provided insight and ideas that gave me the tools to reverse the trend I had established of delivering a 50-minute monologue and move to providing an integrated and experiential learning setting for the students. My teaching evaluations went from the proverbial 0 to 60 during the semester I was enrolled in this class and ever since.

“Students in my section of 6930 ranged from teaching assistants to those who had never taught. However, we had all been, and were, students. I still keep in touch with a few of the students I took the course with and believe strongly that the insight I gained in this course (I still have my notes) have contributed to my teaching and advising success. If nothing else, it has allowed me to feel very confident about trying new approaches in the classroom setting.

“At UF I taught Communications (AEE 3033) for 8 semesters. This was a course for 200+ students primarily in the College of Agriculture. I taught the following configurations:
200+ lecture plus lab instructor for 1/4 of the class
100+ lecture in back-to-back courses plus lab instructor for 1/4 of the class
I taught the class twice a week and also three times a week."

At the University of Hartford Grantham has taught:
Introduction to Public Relations (Fall & Spring) 50 students
Writing for the Media (Fall, Spring & Summer) 20 students
Public Relations Campaigns (Fall) 20 students
Public Relations Cases (Spring) 40 students
Desktop Publishing (Summer) 20 students

Michael Hoefges
Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“The graduate teaching seminar at UF was one of the most practical and helpful courses that I took during my doctoral program. I still reflect back on many of the things that I learned and have incorporated them into my teaching over the years. Excellent teaching – especially at the undergraduate level – is important and seems to be expected and demanded at most universities and colleges regardless of the size of the institution or the emphasis on research. Perhaps most importantly, teaching certainly can be one of the most rewarding aspects of an academic career and presents myriad opportunities to make a positive impact on the lives and professional careers of the students we teach. Julie Dodd’s seminar gave me insights into that important mission of university teaching and has been a tremendous influence in my own professional academic career. Also, while at UF, I taught the undergraduate courses in media law, and advertising media planning.”

Tom Kelleher
Associate Professor, School of Communications
University of Hawaii
"The Mass Communication Teaching course helped me articulate a general philosophy of teaching as well as develop specific teaching tactics. Being able to present clear, thoughtful approaches to teaching along with actual evidence of how I turn that thought into action have been keys to my success in job searches and teaching award competitions. Now that I’ve been on both sides of the interview process for new faculty, I realize how much weight teaching ability carries in the hiring process. That teaching is often weighted evenly with scholarship in job searches may not seem surprising, until you consider the amount of time we spend as graduate students in training for the research part of our jobs relative to the amount of time we spend preparing to teach.

"I’d like to think that I would have managed to become a successful teacher in time in any case, but the teaching course at Florida sure made the development process faster and easier. (See timeline below.)

1996 – Took Mass Communication Teaching course with Julie Dodd
1997-1999 – Taught PUR 3000 and PUR 4100
1998-1999 – University-wide Graduate Student Teaching Award, University of Florida
1998-1999 – Outstanding Teaching Assistant, UF College of Journalism and Communications
1999 – First of several refereed teaching papers accepted for conference presentation
1999 – Hired at University of Hawaii
2001 – Selected as one of top three "Promising Professors" in a national competition sponsored by the Mass Communication and Society Division of AEJMC
2001 – Top-three teaching paper for public relations division, AEJMC
2001-2002 – Two teaching articles published in refereed journals
2004 – Awarded tenure & promotion at University of Hawaii
2004 – Hired at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2004 – Selected as teaching chair for Public Relations Division, AEJMC
2006 - Rejoined faculty at University of Hawaii

"Most importantly, I learned to enjoy teaching in the Teaching Mass Communication course. Learning to be a better teacher is a lifelong process, but getting started right in graduate school has made my career as a professor much more rewarding intrinsically."

Brad Love
Doctoral student
Michigan State University
While a master’s student at UF, Love taught MMC 2100. He taught JRN200 Reporting at Michigan State.

"I'm not 100 percent sure how to describe the impact of MMC6930, but I can definitely say it's served as a compass in my teaching career. When I arrived at Michigan State last August, I came to a J-School with a brand new director and a new writing-class coordinator. Needless to say, explaining the introductory writing course to me was not a top priority. Fortunately, I didn't need it to be.

" MMC 6930 gave me a toolbox from which I could draw all the skills necessary to plan a course. Specifically, it allowed me to develop my own syllabus and lesson plans. In fact, I ended up using several lessons that I actually developed in Mass Comm Teaching.

"I may very well have been able to figure things out without ever having my MMC 6930 experience. However, I'm absolutely certain I would not have put together as strong and successful a course. Mass Comm Teaching helped me understand why I was doing what I was doing in the classroom. That is to say, it led me to comprehend the benefits and drawbacks of certain teaching methods, not to mention the importance of wisely selecting and repeating key points.

"From a selfish perspective, the course also served as a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at academia. It's not often that one gets a chance to ask questions about hiring or the tenure process. It's safe to say that those are notes I'll be re-reading when I enter the job market."

Charles A. Tuggle
Professor, Electronic Communication
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Recipient of two Edward Kidder Graham Awards for Excellence in Teaching

“I guest lectured in a number of courses while getting my master’s degree at UF.... but wasn't the instructor of record. However, the pedagogy class I took there (Mass Communication Teaching) helped get me on the right track as a teacher. It's one thing to know something, and something all together different to be able to share that information effectively. I learn new things all the time.

“Fortunately, I didn't have to learn ALL of it on the job, because I had a good grounding as a result of the class at UF.
“In our own graduate program, pedagogy is an elective... and Ph.D. students are required to take several research oriented classes. So perhaps the academy as a whole places too little emphasis on developing excellence in the classroom, choosing instead to develop good researchers. I for one don't think the two are mutually exclusive.”