eduWeb 2008 in 140 words – From Dull Edge to Cutting Edge by Amy Stevens, Web Communications Manager at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Note from Karine: This year, I’ve asked all the eduWeb speakers working in universities/colleges to share in 140 words or less the biggest take-away from their presentation or table talk. If you’ve attended this session, feel free to weigh in by posting a comment, a question or a suggestion.

Academic transparency is becoming more important in the shifting tides of higher education. But our most knowledgeable and exciting faculty tend to be among our most technically resistant.

How can you market your academics excellence online, if all the evidence is locked in paperbinders or in print journals?

There isn’t a one size fits all prescription, we’ve found a tiered approach works nicely.

For technophobic faculty, for instance, we use podcasts to capture stories that make them come to life, for example a biologist tells a story of drinking with Jack Kerouac. His podcast remains among our top listened to and students I’ve spoken with said they took his course after hearing the podcast because they could tell the course wasn’t going to be boring.