Rice gets $3,000 to add video, audio to JOUR 303

Texas A&M journalism lecturer Dale Rice is one of six recipients of the 2009 College of Liberal Arts Summer Technology Institute grants, which provide $3,000 to add technology to a course.

"I'm using the proceeds to buy the equipment (video cameras and digital voice recorders) and software to add video and audio components to JOUR 303, Media Writing II," Rice e-mailed.

The institute provides technical support as the equipment is put into use. Faculty members' applications for the grants are evaluated competitively based on their innovation and impact on students.

Rice said his students will learn to produce videos and audio podcasts to go along with the print
versions of their stories. "I plan to have the students publish an online magazine at the end of the semester with the best story of each student in 303, along with the accompanying videos and podcasts," he said.

Rice also hopes to introduce videos and podcasts into the Student Reporter Project, which he coordinates. Watch later this week for an update on that program.

"We're starting with six video cameras, four digital voice recorders and editing software for two Apple computers that will be placed in the computer lab where the class is held in Reed McDonald," Rice said.

"Fourteen students have signed up for 303 in the fall (compared with nine this spring) and there will be nine reporters in the SRP for the fall, so I think the demand will be pretty high. We'll probably handle that by allowing the students to check out a camera or recorder for one 24-hour period each week, so they will have to stagger use of the equipment. And we'll have to set up a schedule for editing time on the Apple computers.

"If it is successful, I am going to seek additional sources of funding to buy more equipment for the journalism and SRP students and to expand the video and audio components to the blogging class that I teach."