A wide variety of media subjects are discussed in an introductory mass communication course at Southern Arkansas University, and one of the most popular instructional sections with students is "infomercials." This paper acquaints students with the history, scope, and controversy surrounding the infomercial genre. It first explains that…

This paper discusses a class project in which a broadcast education professor's students at Southern Arkansas University produced campus news stories for the local NBC affiliate--the affiliate ran the stories once a week on their newscasts. The paper begins with a short explanation of course requirements for Advanced Electronic News Gathering and…

Do textbooks matter in an ever-changing field of broadcast journalism? Are some teaching materials irrelevant or out of touch with equipment needs, or lack thereof, at small institutions? Noting that these questions need to be considered when evaluating broadcast or mass communication writing and production textbooks by national companies, this…

This paper contains materials which were developed in a course at Southern Arkansas University (SAU) designated as Broadcasting 4003, Advanced Electronic News Gathering. The paper lists the names of the course participants and states that the course is designed to give junior and senior broadcasting majors assignments which will prepare them for…

An instructor uses a unique instructional paradigm in his MCOM 1003/Introduction to Mass Communication course at Southern Arkansas University (SAU) in a unit on media and politics. According to his students, one of the most popular learning strategies is the use of original edited videos that focus on dubious practices by some media professionals.…

Interactive courseware applications are becoming more prevalent as instructional tools in the communication classroom. Prometheus, developed by George Washington University, allows instructors to post syllabi, course outlines, lecture notes, and tests online, in addition to giving students access to discussions and chat sessions. Other popular…