This Story Speaks Volumes

Not too many years ago, encyclopedias sold in profitable and reliable numbers. Parents bought them. So did schools and libraries. Some supermarkets even sold them a volume at a time.

But times have changed. The venerable Encyclopedia Britannica has stopped publication of its print edition after 243 years. It will try to survive as an online, expert-written, encyclopedia. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is Britannica doomed to extinction? Why or why not.
•Would you pay for a multimedia Britannica for smartphones and iPads?
•Are there ways that Britannica is better than Wikipedia?
•Are there ways that Wikipedia is better than Britannica?

New Field Trip Opportunity!

Mike Petros, who teaches television and digital media classes, will hold a series of film screenings (called "Friday Flix") on campus on Friday afternoons this spring. You can attend any ONE of the following screenings to get Mass Comm 101 field trip credit.

All screenings begin at 12:30 in San Gabriel 334.

FRIDAY FLIX SCHEDULE FOR SPRING 2012

March 23 – Beauty and the Beast (1946)
March 30 – Brazil (1985)
April 6 – Amelie (2001)
April 13 – SPRING BREAK (NO FILM)
April 20 – Taxi Driver (1976)
April 27 – Wings of Desire (1987)
May 4 – Lolita (1961)
May 11 – The Three Musketeers (1973)
May 18 – The Wild Bunch (1969)
May 25 – Star Wars (1977)
June 1 – Network (1976)

Would You Let Your Child Play in a Brothel?

Imagine the route between your home and your child's school went past a casino, an adult bookstore and a neo-Nazi clubhouse. You'd probably drive your kid to school. Or, at the very least, you'd have some detailed parental advice about the perils of the real world.

The virtual world has all these things and more. But parents often don't do any parenting when it comes to the Internet because they have less experience with the Internet than their children do. However, children are still inexperienced about people even if they know how to start a Facebook account or post a YouTube video.

This Los Angeles Times article, written by a family therapist, urges parents to continue parenting when their children go online.

The author discusses a popular YouTube video where a pre-pubescent girl asks the world whether she is pretty or ugly. To this adult she seems painfully vulnerable and waaay too young to put herself in front of the anonymous millions online, some of whom entertain themselves by making anonymous cruel comments.

Here are the discussion questions...

•Have you ever seen a child get involved with Internet content that he or she is too young for?
•Have you ever seen a friend, relative or classmate post a video that you knew was a bad idea?
•What advice should parents give their children about the Internet?
•What should schools teach children about the perils of the Internet? Should they add it to health class?

Latest from the Transfer Center

Following Kevin Meza's Transfer Center presentation in class, Your Humble Blogger is posting the following email on upcoming Transfer Center activities...

I hope your spring semester is going well. I wanted to alert you and your students about a few events coming up in March and April. Our complete Transfer Center calendar can be found at http://vision.glendale.edu/index.aspx?page=1516

Nor Cal CollegeTrip
The participants have been selected and we are set to leave during spring break. We had 115 applications for 52 spots. Thank you all for helping us promote the trip.

Nursing
A Day in The Life of A Nurse (presented by National University)
Interested in Nursing? Want to learn more about BSN and RN programs? Come find out what it would take to transfer to a 4-year institution and what a typical day in the life of a nurse looks like. Thursday, March 22nd in LB 225 from 12:30pm-1:30pm. See you there!

Transfer College Fair
Tuesday, April 17 10:30am-1:30pm and 5:00pm-7:00pm
Four-year college representatives will on campus to provide information to Glendale College students about the educational opportunities available at their campuses

UCLA
The UCLA Student Transfer Opportunity and Mentorship Program (STOMP), in conjunction with Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools, is hosting the 13th annual STOMP Conference. The conference will take place on Friday, April 27, 2012 from 8:30AM to 4:00PM in the Ackerman Union Grand Ballroom at UCLA. The goal of the event is to familiarize these students with the UCLA campus and the resources available to them. The program will include information on admissions and selection criteria, the application process and the corresponding deadlines. In addition, we want to inform students about the diverse academic, social and cultural opportunities at UCLA. We would also like to acquaint students with the many departments and majors available at UCLA. We encourage students to continue to utilize the many resources available to them throughout their college career beginning with our outreach efforts, continuing with our support services and culminating with their graduation. Beginning March 19th, students and staff will be able to RSVP at the following link: http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/stompconference/default.htm.

CSU International Fair
Date: 4/25/2012 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Location: GCC - SR Plaza
Various Cal State representatives will be on campus recruiting international students.

Make sure to add us on Facebook to stay informed about transfer events: http://vision.glendale.edu/index.aspx?page=150

Kevin A. Meza, PhD
Transfer Center Coordinator
Glendale Community College
1500 N. Verdugo Road
Glendale, CA 91208
(818) 240-1000 ext. 5820

Tough Times for Student Newspapers

Student newspapers often mimic professional newspapers: student journalists try to write and report like the pros, and for students the college newspaper is their community newspaper.

However, more and more student newspapers are also imitating their professional counterparts in a negative way: they are struggling to keep from going broke.

This NPR story looks at the efforts being made to protect the student newspaper at the University of Illinois.

Discussion Questions...

•What is the role of a student newspaper? What should it do?
•What types of events should an educated citizen know about?
•What can a student newspaper do online that it can't do on paper?

Behavioral Research: A Crash Course

The research behind this NPR story makes sense, sort of: People who watch a NASCAR race are more likely to get into car crashes over the next week. After all, media glamorizes things. A TV commercial glamorizes shoes, so we want shoes. A NASCAR race glamorizes aggressive driving, so we want to drive aggressively.

Or not. It's only one study. Other researchers may come up with a different result. But it's interesting, nevertheless.

Here's some discussion questions:

•In what ways do people imitate things they see in the media?
•Does the media ever give us cues about how we should act? What we should see as desirable? What we should see as undesirable?
•Do you find this study convincing? Why or why not?

Free Money

Your Humble Blogger received an email recently about the looming scholarship deadline. Here is something YHB has observed: Scholarships don't necessarily go to the most qualified students; they go to the most qualified students WHO APPLY.

Below is the email from Aida Avanousian of the Scholarship Office...

Dear colleagues,

Please encourage your students to apply for GCC scholarship. We have more than 500 scholarships and grants totaling over $300,000 to our students annually.

The Spring scholarship deadline is March 23rd, this means that both the application and recommendation must be submitted by this date. If you have promised a scholarship recommendation to a student, please do it as soon as possible. I would estimate about 40% of students who took the time to fill out the application have no recommendation. Students who do not have a recommendation won’t be considered for any scholarships.

In order to be eligible for all 500 of our GCC scholarships, students must have completed 12 units at GCC and have at least a 2.5 GPA. One simple application is all that needed. Applications are now done on-line at www.glendale.edu/scholarships. A recommendation is required from a teacher or counselor after submission of the application. The recommendation must be completed on-line as well.

Aida Avanousian [mailto:aidaa@glendale.edu]