Most Popular Media of the Last 4 Years - You Voted With Your Library Card
Recommendations from Instructional Improvement
Quick Pick: Connecting in Healthcare
Did You Know We Carried These?
Quick Pick: I'm Normal, You're Weird
Educational Media
This three-times-a-year newsletter is published by the Renton Technical College Library. It is intended to spotlight issues regarding the use of educational media—videos, DVDs, audiotapes, software, and other electronic resources. If you have any questions or suggestions for topics, please call the library at (425) 235-2331, or email Laura Staley at lstaley@RTC.edu .
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Outstanding Media Titles |
RTC Library carries over 2400 media titles, including videos, DVDs, audiotapes and software. In this issue of Educational Media, we highlight some of our best or most interesting titles.
How do we define best? We emailed the college in early January and asked for your recommendations. Those are listed in “Titles Your Peers Recommended” on page 3.
We also included two titles that the library staff suggested — including ones that library patrons recommended as being superior. We picked one that can be used in any class, and one that is health-care specific. See Quick Picks on pages 2 & 3.
Then we asked Judith Frey, of Instructional Improvement, which title were best for us as teachers. Those are discussed on page 2.
Next we ran a list of the 30 titles that had been checked out most often in the last four years. The top six are listed on page 2 in the story “Most Popular Media”. When we noticed that one video publisher’s name appeared several times on that list, we did a story on them. (See the article on the Standard Deviants, below.)
Finally we created a list of our interesting titles—and we covered them in the page 3 story “Did You Know We Carried These?” (That comes from what people say when they come across these items.) This reminded us of the few feature films we carry, and how they are used in the classroom. See that story on page 4.
We hope you enjoy reading about the best of our media collection. If you want to check anything out, just give us a call at (425) 235-2331.
Humor is a very effective way to get your message across in the classroom, and videos can often help provide that comic touch. RTC Library carries more than 30 educational titles by the comedy troupe Standard Deviants. (And 6 of those titles show up in the Most Popular list—see the story on page 2.) These videos all demonstrate a hokey humor that tends to take the stress out of learning new subjects.
While the videos aren’t very complex, they’re a nice way to lighten the mood. They feature upbeat music, several narrators, skits, and repeated review of basic concepts. Even the video titles let you know you’re in for something different: “The Untamed World of English Punctuation”, “The Zany World of Basic Math” and “The Reasonably Priced World of Marketing.”
Each video is written in collaboration with college professors who are experts in the subject, and reviewed by other subject specialists for accuracy. Some Standard Deviant videos come with small information sheets that can be used to preview the video, or create an outline for class use.
Topics include basic mathematics and English (including a SAT preparation series that offers a good review of basic writing and math), anatomy and nutrition, accounting, marketing, psychology, sociology, economics, English and Spanish for second language learners, and tips on finding a job.
The same publisher produces another similar series covering life-skills topics. It’s called “No-Brainers.” RTC Library carries No Brainer titles on public speaking, personal finance, buying a car, wine (including tasting it, pairing it with food, starting your own wine cellar), cooking a meal, and even dating!