During summer session of 2007 for the first time English Language Center offered the Seminar in New Media and Culture to level 3 (intermediate) students. The class met five days a week for 3.5 hours during the eight weeks of the summer session and was taught by Polina Vinogradova.
The goal of this class was to introduce the students to a number of cultural concepts and illustrate how these concepts can be recognized and analyzed using a variety of new media genres. For example, in class, the students talked and read about the Iceberg Theory, individualistic and collectivistic cultures, cultures that use high and low context communication styles, identity, culture sock, and aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication. At the same time, the students watched a number of motion pictures, documentary films, online advertisements, and digital stories applying the cultural concepts they have learned about in the analysis of the latter. The students also worked on a number of weekly group projects one of which was a production of photographic maps in which they illustrated how the aspects of culture can be visually present and interpreted.
The final project of the class was a production of individual digital stories on which the students worked during the eight weeks of class. In this process, the students chose the topics of their stories, wrote their narratives, collected photographic images, and chose the music to accompany their verbal narration. The students also discussed their stories in class, peer-reviewed their narratives, and made online journal entries twice a week which allowed them to reflect on their progress and express their doubts and concerns to their instructor. The students also intensively worked in the computer lab putting their stories together under their instructor's guidance. Several digital stories that were produced in this class can be viewed here.
| My Family | SUN HEE (SUNNY) CHOI |
| My Friends | JONG YOON (KEVIN) HAN |
| Travel is my Breath | BO HYUNG KOH |
| Vietnam: My Country, My Family | THAO NGUYEN PHAM |
| Sweet Homesick | OUMOU HELENE SAADE |
| JISUG (MELISA) SHIN | |
| The Market in Vietnam | LUAN MINH TRUONG |
| Changing Me: My Life in the US | HYUN JU (JAMIE) KANG |
During the fall semester and winter break, students from the New Media Studio returned to the Charlestown Retirement Community for another round digital storytelling. Following the success of