I just returned from a visit to Texas Tech University, where I worked on several projects with staff at their Teaching, Learning, & Professional Development Center. I usually like to follow up these visits with a summary of photographs, workshops, etc. This is a “roundup” because, well, Texas.

This visit was unlike others I’ve done for the Teaching and Learning Project. As I mentioned in my last blog leading up to it, I mainly worked with faculty and students in TTU’s Spanish Language Heritage Program. They are using digital stories in this program for the first time, and my work was with students in making and finding photographs to illustrate their connection to language and culture.

I first made recordings of earlier presentations (I visited a class remotely in February) for later use in the program. You can access these if you enroll at TTU, become faculty there, or happen to be one of my very best friends—because I’ll not be showing them here. Here is a still from one of the videos:

I then facilitated a discussion/critique session in which students presented photographs they intended to use in their digital stories this semester. There were many “aha” moments during the discussion, but one that stands out for me post-visit is one student’s realization (via input from the larger group) that the story he had to tell though his photographs was that of major changes to his mother’s life as she raised him in two vastly different cultures.

Above photos by Ching Lee. 

In addition to working with students on their photographs and digital stories, I was also able to make new work for the Teaching and Learning Project. I photographed two classes on this visit: one in Global Musicology and one in Cell Biology. These photographs will later be given to faculty to use in reflection on their teaching practice.

To finish the trip, I conducted a workshop for faculty on using visual elements in presentations. The workshop was offered through TTU’s new Communication Training Center, as part of the institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan focus on Communication Literacy. You can view a video of this workshop, but again, only if you are or become faculty at TTU.

I’m really looking forward to seeing students’ digital stories as they finish them this semester, and may be sharing a few of them with y’all here with their permission. Until then, keep your saddle oiled and don’t mess with Texas.