A Design Educator's Perspective on Tech in Higher Ed with William Culpepper

Episode 9 November 08, 2024 00:31:55
A Design Educator's Perspective on Tech in Higher Ed with William Culpepper
EdTech Connect
A Design Educator's Perspective on Tech in Higher Ed with William Culpepper

Nov 08 2024 | 00:31:55

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Show Notes

In this episode of EdTech Connect, Jeff Dillon interviews William Culpepper, a seasoned design educator, about his experiences and insights in graphic design education. 
 
They discuss Culpepper's innovative Grafik Intervention project aimed at revitalizing urban spaces through visual communication, the challenges and opportunities in online learning, and the integration of AI in graphic design.
 
Culpepper emphasizes the importance of balancing online and in-person learning, the emergence of new educational technologies, and the need for equity and accessibility in education.
 
Takeaways
  • William Culpepper has a diverse background in design education and practice.
  • The Graphic Intervention project aims to revitalize urban spaces through community engagement.
  • Online learning has gained traction, especially post-pandemic, but challenges remain.
  • AI tools are being integrated into graphic design education to enhance creativity.
  • Balancing online and in-person learning is crucial for effective education.
  • Emerging technologies like VR and AR can transform learning experiences.
  • Accessibility and universal design principles are essential in education.
  • Cultural sensitivity in design education broadens students' perspectives.
  • Training for educators is vital for effective technology integration.
  • Student engagement is enhanced through a blend of online and face-to-face learning.
 
Sound Bites
  • "It's like open source community revitalization."
  • "AI can provide personalized learning tools."
  • "The ethics involved with AI will impact you."
Chapters
 
00:00 Introduction to William Culpepper
01:05 The Grafik Intervention Project
05:59 Technology in the Classroom
07:11 Challenges and Opportunities in Online Learning
10:06 The Role of AI in Graphic Design
15:51 Balancing Online and In-Person Learning
22:05 Emerging Tools and Technologies in Education
25:36 Equity and Accessibility in Educational Technology
 
Links
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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Speaker A: That access to technology has enabled the different types of learning kinesthetics that people have in terms of how they learn best. That allows a student to if they're. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Stronger in a written form or they. [00:00:14] Speaker A: Feel more comfortable sharing their opinions in. [00:00:17] Speaker B: A written way, they can do that as opposed to a face to face class where they have to maybe raise their hand or talk in a small group of their peers. [00:00:33] Speaker C: Welcome to the EdTech Connect podcast, your source for exploring the cutting edge world of educational technology. I'm your host, Jeff Dillon, and I'm excited to bring you insights and inspiration from the brightest minds and innovators shaping the future of education. We'll dive into conversations with leading experts, educators and solution providers who are transforming the learning landscape. [00:00:57] Speaker D: Be sure to subscribe and leave a. [00:00:59] Speaker C: Review on your favorite podcast platform so. [00:01:01] Speaker D: You don't miss an episode. So sit back, relax, and let's dive in. Welcome everybody. Today we have William Culpepper, a seasoned design educator who brings a wealth of experience from several institutions including Northern Arizona University, the Academy of Art University, Ferris State University, and is now an Assistant professor at of Graphic Design at Montana State University. He's passionate about fostering a positive learning environment that encourages innovation and excellence. And throughout his career he's worn many hats, including graphic designer, adjunct professor, lecturer, faculty mentor, graduate thesis chair, associate director, online academic community chair, and even online director. So he demonstrates his deep commitment to design education at all levels. And his expertise extends beyond academia. He's also held graphic design positions where he art directed major rebranding initiatives and managed marketing campaigns. And this blend of academic and industry experience makes him a truly unique voice in the field. So welcome to the show. William. [00:02:22] Speaker A: Thank you Jeff. And thank you for that introduction. It's been interesting to think back on my career so far and all the different milestones I've had. [00:02:31] Speaker D: Well, let me start by this something you didn't list on your bio in this intro. I'm doing a little digging on you and I want to ask you about something in your past. About a decade ago I saw you did a TEDx on your graphic intervention project turned phenomenon. And let me try to explain what I saw and you can tell me what this is and how it went and if this is still going. But it was this project where you found these maybe abandoned buildings in urban settings and tried to engage the public through visual dynamic communication to help revitalize the building in those areas. And that's what I got from it. It seems pretty, pretty cool. But tell me, is that what was that Project about. And how'd you get into that? [00:03:18] Speaker A: Right. No, that's. Good job digging into my past a little bit. And that video is on YouTube and lives on the Internet at some point somewhere. Yeah. So that I have an interest in architecture and design and art, and I. [00:03:30] Speaker B: Have a BFA in Studio Arts from Montana State University. [00:03:33] Speaker A: I have a lot of interests in different media. And that project was originally my MFA in Graphic design thesis project. And so I was living in Charlottesville, Virginia at the time. And there was a major corridor street that connected the University of Virginia to downtown Charlottesville. [00:03:55] Speaker B: And along this street there was multiple. [00:03:57] Speaker A: Abandoned buildings, and this is considered basically Main Street. Multiple abandoned buildings. [00:04:02] Speaker B: They were for sale, for rent, underutilized. And I kept seeing these buildings and. [00:04:08] Speaker A: I thought, as a designer, what can I do to bring more awareness to these buildings and these spaces that people could utilize? And I decided that as a graphic designer, what was the largest thing I could do? What was the biggest impact I could do? And I settled upon projecting on the side of these buildings, on the facades of these buildings. And I researched a bunch of different buildings. I found and dug up historical information. I went to the city office, I. [00:04:34] Speaker B: Talked to them about information in the. [00:04:36] Speaker A: Buildings, learned who the tenants were, who. [00:04:38] Speaker B: The owners were, what it was used. [00:04:39] Speaker A: For, and then also sort of thought about potential uses in the future. And so I went out one evening and after dark, inside a projector and had some visual displays of information in these buildings. And people noticed it, came by and started talking to me, didn't know the building was there. [00:04:57] Speaker B: They were more observant about the building. [00:04:59] Speaker A: And we talked about uses and potential sort of revitalization. And that was sort of the beginning of my thesis project. And I decided that in order for my project to grow and develop more, I couldn't do it one person at a time. And so after some more trial applications and projection nights, I decided to make the project Creative Commons project. And I launched it at a AIJ National Design Conference. [00:05:31] Speaker B: AIJ is the association for Professional Graphic Design. [00:05:35] Speaker A: And that was in Phoenix, Arizona. [00:05:37] Speaker B: And I launched it to the educational. [00:05:38] Speaker A: Community in the graphic design sector. [00:05:41] Speaker B: And I said, here's an open source. [00:05:43] Speaker A: Project you can do with your students. [00:05:45] Speaker B: And they can go out and do. [00:05:46] Speaker A: This intervention and this application of underutilized buildings across the country. And it was really successful. There was these, this project called Graphic Intervention, originally starting in Charlottesville, Virginia, went to locations in Texas and Michigan and Arizona and had a really good awareness campaign in terms of thinking about these spaces. [00:06:11] Speaker B: And that was over. [00:06:12] Speaker A: A decade ago. We still see these buildings today and maybe even more than we have previously. And so that project has been on. [00:06:20] Speaker B: A little bit of a hiatus and a hold. And now I'm at Montana State University. [00:06:26] Speaker A: As you mentioned, Jeff, and it's going. [00:06:28] Speaker B: To relaunch in the summer of 2025 with Montana State University students and they're going to follow that same Creative Commons. [00:06:35] Speaker A: Outline of basically an assignment that will be given to follow this graphic intervention process and go in Bozeman, Montana, identify underutilized or abandoned buildings and consider historical context applications for future uses and have a night where they go out and. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Project in these facades and develop a. [00:06:56] Speaker A: Community awareness, conversations and discussions and hopefully have a lively activity and application for it. So that's sort of the progression of it. [00:07:05] Speaker D: Yeah, that's really cool. It's like open source. I always think of software you've open sourced this community kind of support or community revitalization, I guess, which is everyone has to look up the TEDx graphic with a K, right? Graphic. [00:07:23] Speaker A: Graphic. Graphic with a K. And graphicintervention.com you can go on that website and there's a whole toolkit. You can download a PDF and it'll tell you exactly how to go about it. You have to get an inverter for your car battery to run the projector unless you can find some electricity somewhere. But it's a, it's all laid out how to do it and it's, it was an amazing project and it, I've done it with my students previously and I'm excited to see what the students at Montana State University do with the next summer. [00:07:51] Speaker D: Well, can't wait to see where it goes. William that's gonna be fun to watch. Let's get into the tech of your current job and what we're, what I kind of talk about more is technology in the classroom. And you know, I think you pointed out to me weeks ago when we talked about doing this is like, hey, you need some more academic content. I'm like, yeah, I do. Like, let's talk. William Right. So we have AI hitting us. We have all these, you know, in the last 10 years. Like it's hard to even pick technology these days. What are the, some of the biggest challenges and opportunities that you see in online learning, especially in the field of graphic design? [00:08:29] Speaker A: Sure, that's a great question. And you know, if we, if we back up for a minute, my MFA in graphic design from the Academy of. [00:08:36] Speaker B: Academy of art University was 100% online. [00:08:40] Speaker A: So I've been in the online space. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Involved with that since 2006. [00:08:45] Speaker A: And you know, during that time as a graduate student, the Academy of Art. [00:08:51] Speaker B: University was one of the original sort. [00:08:53] Speaker A: Of graphic design online, 100% online universities offering a graduate level degree in graphic design. And so I've been a champion since 2006, raising my hand whenever I go to conferences and I've presented about online education and post Pandemic, I've been so happy and excited that all my cheering and supporting and trying to get people on board with it has actually taken off a lot because of the pandemic and really changed how we think about online education for good too. I do think there still are some challenges related to online education and graphic design and some of those are things that we typically had come up during the pandemic too, which is access to software, hardware, sometimes even Internet. [00:09:48] Speaker B: I live in a rural community in. [00:09:50] Speaker A: Rural state and so Internet connectivity is also something to consider. Different online engagement have different experiences and level of engagement compared to a traditional brick and mortar in person class where you might have more access to raise your hand and ask a quick question for somebody online. You have to maybe a little bit of a lag time if you're not doing things in a live setting. And also some challenges generally, not just for graphic design students, but generally it's. [00:10:22] Speaker B: Keeping those students motivated in that online. [00:10:24] Speaker A: Classroom and engaged in that environment. You have to have, I always tell the students, you have to have a calendar and you have to follow that calendar just like you would in a traditional face to face classroom. Make yourself, you know, go to class. And that motivation can come from a faculty, it can come from a department. [00:10:42] Speaker B: Or program or, you know, fellow peers too. [00:10:44] Speaker A: So, you know, I think those are some of the challenges that I've run across and I have. We can talk about this later, but I do have a lot of techniques and things that I've tried over the years. And post Pandemic, everything has blended so nicely that I'm really excited to see the, the intersection of all this technology. [00:11:03] Speaker B: Coming together at major universities that have. [00:11:06] Speaker A: More of a footprint in a, in a face to face environment. [00:11:10] Speaker D: Well, let's dig into this one example because if I remember right, you have your photographer too. Like you have some photography skills in your tool set, I believe. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:20] Speaker D: Which probably helps you in your job too. But let's go right to the AI part of this in that, you know, there's so many powerful tools now in the, in the, in the realm of graphic design. With AI getting so advanced now, how do you see, like photography maybe as an example where, I mean, are photographers at risk of like, being irrelevant now that we can. We have these tools like, I don't know, Firefly and Mid Journey and Dolly and all these things. Tell me how you feel about that. [00:11:52] Speaker A: Sure, yeah. No, it's a good conversation. And we've been, you and I have been talking for maybe a little over five minutes and we were already talking about AI. I've been to conferences recently where within like a minute somebody started talking about AI, went to a conference in Southern California this April, and the keynote speaker, I think it took him like 30 seconds to mention AI, and then the rest of the talk was about that. So it's good we're getting that out of the way first and. Yeah. And so in my capacity at my previous institution as well as Montana State University, Generative AI and AI technologies are. [00:12:33] Speaker B: Fully integrated into my courses with my. [00:12:36] Speaker A: Graphic design students as a integrated design process. Not as an end result, not as. [00:12:42] Speaker B: A fictional output, but integrated approach to that technology and how you can harness. [00:12:47] Speaker A: And work with that technology together. And, you know, I'm teaching a branding course right now, and the students have fully integrated AI into that process. And we're beginning to prototype brand deliverables and going on to, you know, Firefly and setting up some prompts to gather up some imagery that can showcase some of the branding work and applications of brand identity that can be applied to different components. And using Firefly to prototype those ideas to make things more realistic has been very successful for the students. They use Firefly and also Gemini for that, and midjourney is also really helpful for that. So I think from that sort of photography side of things, you can, you can art direct almost more than you might be able to a physical, in person photographer. And that skill set that I learned with photography and how to art direct photo shoots is a really important skill for graphic designers. And being able to practice that through Firefly and even having input prompts into ChatGPT, getting those art direction prompts and then inputting those into Generative AI text to image has been really successful for the students. And so I don't necessarily. I also think too that those images, you know, the students and I can sort of see that they don't look 100% realistic, and we're all aware of that, but they look really close, you know, right now. And one of the examples that I thought it would be helpful to share here is I have a current student who works for the athletic department and they're working on their social media campaign. And you know, she was, she was asked to make things look more AI. [00:14:36] Speaker B: Driven imagery as opposed to realistic imagery. [00:14:38] Speaker A: So now our audience is becoming more. [00:14:43] Speaker B: Ingrained to how things look, which is. [00:14:44] Speaker A: Super interesting conversation for that too. And I had another student that did an internship interview recently and the very first question she had from the employer is what are your thoughts and feelings about AI? And I thought it was a great question and I prepared the students at that going to be the industry standard going forward. And the student had been in my class and we had talked about AI, she had used it and it was. [00:15:11] Speaker B: Ingrained in the course. [00:15:12] Speaker A: And I was really happy for her because she had an opinion on not just the usage of it, but the ethics behind it. [00:15:20] Speaker B: And she shared that opinion and it. [00:15:22] Speaker A: Was the same opinion that the employer. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Felt, which is integrated approach as opposed. [00:15:27] Speaker A: To sort of fully utilizing. So I was really happy that she. [00:15:30] Speaker B: Made that connection and she also had an opinion. [00:15:33] Speaker A: That's one thing I've been sharing with my students is the ethics involved with. [00:15:37] Speaker B: This is going to be something that will impact you in the future. [00:15:40] Speaker A: And if you can develop an opinion. [00:15:42] Speaker B: And a philosophy behind how you use. [00:15:44] Speaker A: It and share that with others, it's. [00:15:46] Speaker B: Going to be really impactful for when. [00:15:48] Speaker A: You get out in the industry. [00:15:50] Speaker D: It sounds like from your answer, it's like every other application. It's going to be there. We have to figure out a way to use it. It's not going to replace. That's going to enhance things which I, I do agree. So I guess we get to the point of how do we get that balance. And, and I kind of want to go into something a little different here. And you, you worked at NAU too and they were a big online learning school. You worked at Academy of Art. You've kind of been there from the start. In this new world. What are your thoughts on the balance between online and in person learning? Are there certain subjects or skills that are better suited for one format over the other? Can we leverage the strength both approaches? What's your feeling about this world we're in after the pandemic? Even more or even more remote. And I'm really interested in your thought on with design or in general too. [00:16:42] Speaker A: No, that's a great question. And I think one of the places I'll start with that answer is always looking to the industry and thinking about that from the lens of an educator, I guess first. And that integration of technology and global access to clients and work is, has been accelerated of course because of the pandemic and you know, now employers can live wherever they want to in the world. They can have interns or professional faculty anywhere in the world. We're seeing the industry have, you know, places that they have hybrid work environments. [00:17:19] Speaker B: You can work from home a couple. [00:17:20] Speaker A: Days a week and come in a couple days a week. [00:17:22] Speaker B: And so preparing the students for that. [00:17:24] Speaker A: Industry where it has a lot of flexibility is really important. And that's where the online education sort. [00:17:31] Speaker B: Of hybrid environment has really been successful for students because they can bridge that industry gap with that technology and with. [00:17:38] Speaker A: Working with people remotely really successfully. And go into easy online education requires more typing and composing of information, which is the same thing you would do if you had to send a message. [00:17:49] Speaker B: To a client or work with them. [00:17:51] Speaker A: Remotely, or you're doing a lot more text based conversations. And I had thought about this question before you and I talked, Jeff, and at Northern Arizona University, when I was working there in 2008, I went down to the Wakansi Faculty Poseum Educational Conference down in Payson, Arizona and I presented on online education. And at that conference I said that the, that the, my sort of sweet spot, if you will, that balance that you had mentioned is 25% online and 75% on site. And we're at what, 2024 right now. And I still believe that's still the same case for that sort of percentage. And I've been really happy and excited as I landed at Montana State University. [00:18:41] Speaker B: After 12 years working 100% remote. [00:18:44] Speaker A: And I was aware of my previous institution, what we were doing for online education and how it sort of mixed with hybrid. But when I got on campus at Montana State University, I was really impressed by everybody's using the provided LMS on campus. They're utilizing the gradebook, they're utilizing discussion tabs, they're utilizing everything to a way more higher potential than I thought would happen at a, at a based brick and mortar institution. And I think the pandemic has really accelerated that. And it's going to help students out. [00:19:16] Speaker B: A lot as they get into the industry. [00:19:18] Speaker A: And so that 25, 75% breakdown, basically, you know, in most of my classes. [00:19:23] Speaker B: Right now, this fall semester, I have. [00:19:25] Speaker A: A history of design class and I. [00:19:28] Speaker B: Would say 25% of that is based online. [00:19:31] Speaker A: Every week they have a reading assignment. [00:19:33] Speaker B: And they have a weekly submission deadline where they respond to a question prompt. [00:19:38] Speaker A: That I've given them for a reading assignment and that is posted onto the lms and the students can see each other's content and writing and also reply. [00:19:46] Speaker B: To them, to their fellow peers too as well. All the work is uploaded. We utilize it on a daily basis to move files around and also communicate. [00:19:56] Speaker A: To and have discussion activities. And so I've been really impressed by that percentage in that breakdown. [00:20:01] Speaker B: And the students have come sort of full circle with that and understand it and actually utilize it a lot too. [00:20:07] Speaker A: As well with that, you know, and that access to technology has enabled the different types of learning kinesthetics that people have in terms of how they learn best. That allows a student to, if they're. [00:20:22] Speaker B: Stronger in a written form or they. [00:20:25] Speaker A: Feel more comfortable sharing their opinions in. [00:20:28] Speaker B: A written way, they can do that as opposed to a face to face class where they have to maybe raise their hand or talk in a small group of their peers. [00:20:36] Speaker A: And I try to utilize that as much as possible to accent and allow everybody to have an even keel inclusive. [00:20:47] Speaker B: Voice in the classroom. [00:20:48] Speaker A: And it's been really successful this fall. [00:20:50] Speaker B: In terms of applying the different ways. [00:20:53] Speaker A: That technology can enhance each individual student's learning objectives. And so this semester the students have had to submit some research information about a designer in a sort of a written kind of paper form. And right now we're doing face to. [00:21:12] Speaker B: Face presentations on designers as well too. [00:21:14] Speaker A: So we're able to hit both of those touch points at the same time. And the students really appreciate that. And it's also good practice to stand in front of somebody and speak to as well. So I think they're getting a lot out of that part of it too. [00:21:28] Speaker D: Well, you've been doing it for so long, you've just seen, you've probably been reinforced by students, comments and things like how they want to receive their information. It's funny because I have two college age, I have three kids, but two of them are college age, one of them still in college, one of them just graduated. And your 25, 75% aligns with what they tell me. And I, I asked my daughter, she's the one that just graduated, but like, I'm like, she was a pandemic, graduated from high school, you know, 2020, and she received one of those kids that had to take her first year of college. Basically remote. And I felt so sad for her. And I said after she got through that first year, I said, do you like taking asynchronous online classes? Like, how much of that do you build into your schedule now that you did your first year? Kind of all remote. She's like, I always want to have at least one, but I don't like to have more Than that I just need the break. But I really prefer to sit in the classroom. My daughter said that I'm on the older generation where I would have been like I'll do it all online. But then I think about, oh, all the community stuff I would have missed. She didn't have that great first year. My son's the same way. He'd rather sit and go into class and be there. The loves to have the option to have an asynchronous class, but yeah, it kind of aligns with what I've heard too from actually from the students that I talked to very closely. I want to kind of. You have a lot of probably insight into some tools that me that I think I don't. One that I just discovered that I'm really excited about is Notebook lm. This is the craze all over right now, but it's not, it's not imagery. Can you give us a list of maybe some things some people should be looking at from your perspective. What are some new, what are some tools or techniques we should be kind of playing with or considering if you're, if you're in the classroom. [00:23:08] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:23:09] Speaker A: And at the minimum, you know, I mentioned the lms, which is a learning module system. [00:23:14] Speaker B: And if a university doesn't have that. [00:23:16] Speaker A: That'S a really good starting point for that technology. And I hope most universities at this point have some kind of LMS that's sophisticated enough to allow students and learners and faculty to interact with each other. So that's sort of the baseline if that. And that's been. [00:23:31] Speaker B: We've seen a lot of iterations over. [00:23:32] Speaker A: Time in different companies come together and. [00:23:35] Speaker B: I think things are getting better for. [00:23:36] Speaker A: LMS technology and what you can do with that. So that's sort of I guess the initial sort of starting point for that. But if we go sort of deeper into it, we've talked about AI already. [00:23:45] Speaker B: And AI can also provide some personalized. [00:23:48] Speaker A: Learning tools too that's out there that there's some experiences where as a faculty in a face to face environment I. [00:23:56] Speaker B: Can start to identify students needs and. [00:23:59] Speaker A: Help them individually learn to the best of their ability. [00:24:02] Speaker B: And AI can do some sort of. [00:24:04] Speaker A: Initial personalization learning through some surveys and understanding the way that individuals learn the best too. So that's something to think about. But also, you know, one of my. [00:24:15] Speaker B: Future casting ideas that I want to. [00:24:18] Speaker A: Get involved with more is virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality too. And so how we can start to intersect technology in those immersive environments. Right. [00:24:28] Speaker B: And how we can engage learning experiences through new technologies in this sort of mixed reality environment. [00:24:36] Speaker A: And the Metaverse too is still sort of forthcoming, but that's going to open up a whole nother dimension to that immersive environment. [00:24:46] Speaker B: And that could help people learn better and learn differently too if they have. [00:24:49] Speaker A: That new reality of engagement. So I'm excited about that. And the adaptive sort of learning platforms that can be tailored inside of those. [00:24:59] Speaker B: Environments I'm super excited about. [00:25:00] Speaker A: So that's sort of the future list of things I'm interested in. Technology is accessing some of those kind. [00:25:06] Speaker B: Of content areas that have a lot. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Of technology driven information in them. And also that immersive learning environment is going to be super exciting. [00:25:16] Speaker D: Yeah, you bring up the immersive learning environment and I hadn't really thought about that. I've been, I think I was, gosh, it might have been right around the time you're doing graphic intervention. It was probably before that, playing around with like Second Life and like that. That was kind of funny. But you think about the Apple Vision Pro that came out, that's not quite mainstream yet with being so expensive now. Google, I mean meta came out with their glasses and I can't remember the name of that off the top of my head now. But even when the watch came out, which isn't really a device for learning, it wasn't really accepted. And then all of a sudden Apple really owned the watch space. And I think, I think you like. I'm really interested to see where that goes because that's probably there's going to be something there with these immersive experiences. So looking ahead, what do you think are the most important considerations for designing, implementing educational technology in a way that's equitable, accessible to everyone? I kind of always have thought AI is the equalizer. Like people that maybe don't lower the English language as their first language and need help. I feel like with AI, maybe everyone should at least be able to do C level work. It is kind of an equalizer. But I get challenged by that, by some people that they don't have access. But how do we ensure technology is used to bridge rather than widen achievement? [00:26:35] Speaker A: Right. No, that's great. And a lot of different areas and I think that that first is that training that important training for not only the students, but also the educators in the classroom. And you know, as my, in my. [00:26:48] Speaker B: Previous role as online director, I did. [00:26:50] Speaker A: A lot of faculty development and faculty support too and leading faculty development sessions on not only how to utilize an lms, but the philosophy behind Online environments and how to teach towards the student in a effective technology use as well as being aware of the students sort of learning abilities and access technology as well as skills. And so I think that that's really important phase. And I have, I'm a part of different organizations at Montana State University in terms of faculty development and support. And I highly recommend that to all educators if you work at a university to get involved with a faculty development support office. There's a lot of really positive things and I always learn an amazing amount of things as an educator when I go to faculty development exercises and workshops and events and you know, I think, and along those kind of lines, when we think about technology and accessibility is. [00:27:54] Speaker B: You know, looking back at universal design. [00:27:57] Speaker A: Principles and being aware of accessibility for everybody, whether it is providing video captions for any kind of video tutorials, imagery that has, you know, some kind of caption or quotes about the image itself, you know, sort of some tags. And sometimes I've found when I do critiques of student work, I do, you. [00:28:26] Speaker B: Know, video critiques where I capture my. [00:28:29] Speaker A: Screen and I've had students that are from different countries and I'll turn on the captioning service and so they can. [00:28:37] Speaker B: Watch a recording of a video critique with the captioning on. And that's been really helpful and successful for them. [00:28:44] Speaker A: And as well as they can replay that too over and over if they want to, as opposed in a, you. [00:28:49] Speaker B: Know, in a face to face environment. [00:28:50] Speaker A: Where you can't necessarily repeat what the faculty said or have them repeat it again, but in an online space and. [00:28:58] Speaker B: You can repeat those videos as much as you want. [00:29:00] Speaker A: And so I think that's important to. [00:29:02] Speaker B: Consider those universal design principles of how. [00:29:04] Speaker A: Those apply to our technology space. And then also, you know, being aware of different cultural backgrounds and perspectives of. [00:29:13] Speaker B: Students when you're designing and implementing this. [00:29:16] Speaker A: Content and being sensitive to different cultural experiences. The history graphic design class that I'm teaching right now, we're looking at histographic design from a broader global perspective of a lens. And I shared with the students too. [00:29:29] Speaker B: They said we're going to look at. [00:29:30] Speaker A: A lot of different things, a lot. [00:29:32] Speaker B: Of different time periods and a lot of different activities that has happened during. [00:29:35] Speaker A: Society and movements that have driven design. [00:29:39] Speaker B: To empower people to do certain things. [00:29:41] Speaker A: And so being aware of the sensitivity. [00:29:44] Speaker B: Of cultural backgrounds as well as movements. [00:29:46] Speaker A: That happen socially engages the students and. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Broadens their horizons too in a global. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Perspective from a design standpoint. [00:29:54] Speaker D: Wow, that's. I think that's a great one to end on. That's a good perspective. I love what you're doing in your classroom. And back on the captioning, I remember just a few years ago, I think it was like Otter AI was one of the first. It was so novel, so incredible that they could just caption everything and now it's just built into everything. You know, that's just one of many companies. But that was so great having you on the show, William. Looking forward to seeing what happens with Graphic Intervention. We'll put that in the show. Notes and great. Thanks for being on the show. [00:30:21] Speaker A: Thanks so much for the thoughtful questions, Jeff, and the dialogue. It's always great to talk to other people that have an interest in technology and education and the online space too, right? [00:30:32] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. We have a lot of overlap there, so. All right, bye. Bye. [00:30:41] Speaker C: We wrap up this episode. Remember, EdTech Connect is your trusted companion on your journey to enhance education through technology. Whether you're looking to spark student engagement, refine edtech implementation strategies, or stay ahead of the curve emerging technologies, EdTech Connect brings you the insights you need. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an. [00:31:05] Speaker D: Inspiring and informative episode. [00:31:07] Speaker C: And while you're there, please leave us a review. Your feedback fuels us to keep bringing you valuable content. For even more resources and connections, head over to edtechconnect.com your hub for edtech reviews, trends and solutions. Until next time. [00:31:22] Speaker D: Time. [00:31:22] Speaker C: Thanks for tuning in.

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