Myself and Dr. Joey Lopez at Kyle Field. (Fall 2019)
In 2019, I began my tenure as a Full-Time Lecturer in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Here, I joined my mentor, Dr. Joey Lopez, who serves as a Professor of the Practice and directs a course called COMM 230: Communication Technology Skills. After having taught digital media and news production courses at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) in San Antonio, Texas, this was my second foray into teaching, but my first into taking on a full-time position. Still, I was confident heading into this position, as I had developed a good amount of teaching prowess while working at OLLU and I was even more determined to carry on the alternative pedagogical dialogic educational methods that I had studied in my Master’s capstone on Black Mountain College.
In my first semester, I taught a mixture of new media production courses (including COMM 230) aimed at providing students with a well-rounded education in production skills with a grounding in communication and media theories. As part of these courses, the students had to create projects using the skills we covered in class (ranging anywhere from photography to videography to 3D projection mapping). These classes gave the students a chance to explore their interests creatively, as we encouraged them to only create projects that they were truly passionate about. Although COMM 230 wasn’t necessarily entrepreneurial in nature, it let the students explore multiple new media concepts and encouraged them to use these concepts in new and creative ways. Because of the exploratory nature of this class, we oversaw the creation of many amazing student projects and, before long, I had many students in my class coming to see me asking about my experience starting and operating my media production company, GA Media Productions and my online news publication, the San Antonio Sentinel.
Prepping for my COMM 489 class on West Campus. (Fall 2020)
As a result of this interest, in the Spring of 2020, I began developing a new course called New Media and Entrepreneurship. Although I had never before developed my own course, I drafted up a syllabus that focused on various types of new media businesses and the skills they use. I knew that I wanted the course to be a mix between a basic business course and a new media course, where students could build off the skills they learned in COMM 230 and other COMM classes to make a company around an idea that they are passionate about. The syllabus included basic business knowledge, such as recognizing the difference between an LLC and a Sole Proprietorship, understanding basic capitalistic principles, and even examining the concept of Free Culture as defined by Stanford Professor Lawrence Lessig. The idea to combine all of these various topics together when developing the course came in part from the work I did on my paper, Free Culture and The 21st Century Social Entrepreneur, as well as the work Dr. Joey Lopez and I conducted in the fledgling field of Entrepreneurial Communication. After drafting the syllabus, I then emailed it to the Department’s Undergraduate Coordinator, Nancy Street. She responded quickly and stated that she was very interested in the proposal and liked the idea for the course.
Pioneers: The First New Media & Entrepreneurship Class
Nancy and I met several times over the Spring semester to discuss the development of the class. In the Fall of 2020, I had the syllabus ready to teach as a Special Topics course (COMM 489) with a plan to propose it as a curriculum course for the Fall of 2021. With classes being taught in a hybridized manner in the Fall of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I taught the first section of New Media and Entrepreneurship to students on-campus as well as remotely via Zoom. With social-distancing being of paramount importance at this time, the university had placed me in a small auditorium-style room on the West side of campus, far removed from the Communication Department and my office in Bolton Hall.
“Thank You” Slideshow from the Fall 2020 Class of New Media and Entrepreneurship
The first group had some awesome startup ideas and really engaged with the course material. Watching them grow their concepts to fully thought-out companies over the course of one semester was truly awe-inspiring and demonstrative of the course’s potential for helping produce budding entrepreneurs in the field of new media. In this class, I saw students create everything from real estate companies to media production companies to package design companies, and do so while dealing with the stresses of college life and the demands of their other classes. This was exactly what I wanted from the beginning…an oasis of sorts where my students could devote a few dedicated hours per week to building their companies to show them that they don’t have to wait until they have their degree to start working in the field of new media.
All-in-all the first iteration of New Media and Entrepreneurship was a huge success and I was very proud of the work my students accomplished! Even with strict Covid protocols in place for this inaugural class, they still came together to grow their enterprises and work towards their futures. At the end of the course, the class even put together a “thank you” presentation to reflect on all they learned from the course and show their appreciation for being in the inaugural group.
Below are a few select projects from this first class:
This video is of Landry Stokes’ keynote presentation for her company. Her project was one of the few that dealt with travel and I really enjoyed hearing her concept and watching her grow it in the class.
This video is of Marco Mireles’ keynote presentation for his company EXP+ Media which focuses on videography, animation, web design, and social media management.
This is the final project for Luke Harrison’s company, Luke Harrison Photography, which focuses on portraits, event photography, and wedding/couples photography.
This video is of Keegan McQuin’s keynote presentation for his company Aisle Media which specializes in product label design.
From COMM 489 to 377: Entrepreneurship and New Media Enters the Core Curriculum
After the first iteration of New Media and Entrepreneurship, I was excited to see how it was progressing through the administrative system. Eventually, it went up for approval from the Communication Faculty and was approved by university leadership as a new addition to the core curriculum. I chose the course number COMM 377 and, in the Fall of 2021, I taught it as a core course for the first time. With Covid restrictions having been relaxed during the Fall semester of 2021, this was also the first New Media and Entrepreneurship class to meet fully in person.
This new cohort featured almost double the number of students that were in the initial class. Despite this larger size, this class became one of the closest-knit communities that I have ever seen, quickly becoming engrossed both with the material and the overall concepts of the course. As the course is mainly project-based and so much of it revolves around taking slow steps to develop business plans and marketing materials for the students’ companies, there was ample opportunity for growth and group work. Every week, I would present a new business concept or new media theory to the class and put them into groups to discuss the subjects at hand and how they relate to their prospective enterprises. They also used these group discussions in a manner similar to an incubator or co-working office space to utilize each other’s unique skills to help everyone in the class grow their businesses together.
At the Texas Renaissance Festival with some of my COMM 377 students. (Fall 2021)
An example of the community that developed in this class happened about halfway through the semester as I began to notice that multiple students in the class had a similar interest in Renassaince festivals. Although I had never been particularly interested in festivals myself, when my students asked if I would like to accompany them to the Texas Renaissance Festival in Todd Mission, Texas, I was honored and excited to see the community that I had worked so hard to nurture expanding beyond the four walls of the classroom. This type of educational community was exactly what I strived to create, and I couldn’t be happier to see the dialogic principles that I had been utilizing in the classroom spawn such a dynamic group of students interested in growing their businesses and sharing new experiences together.
Aside from the fun classroom environment, this group also produced some amazing final projects and proposed some inventive enterprises. In this cohort, I saw my students propose ideas as varied as video production companies, graphic design companies, custom keyboard production companies, and even a company that specializes in the production of high-quality women’s swimwear. All-in-all, I couldn’t have been more pleased with my students’ work and I feel grateful to have provided them with an outlet to explore their entrepreneurial interests while still learning in a college setting. I know that many of these students are going to go on to be successful after graduation, and I can’t wait to see where their ventures take them!
Below are some of the top projects from this class:
James Baugh’s keynote presentation for his company, Baughstone KB, which manufactures custom keyboards for the discerning typist.
This is the keynote presentation of Faith Reynolds, who pitched her wedding photography and videography company to the class.
This is the keynote presentation of Yunsu Kim, who pitched his skate graphic design and streetwear company to the class.
This is Madison Hejny’s keynote for her digital media marketing company Crowned Crow Digital.
Mackenna Benson’s presentation for Paintin Paws, which produces custom pet portraits using her signature monochromatic styling.
Zoe Sundberg’s presentation for her company Bo and Peach Swimwear, which focuses on the production of high-quality women’s swimwear.
NEW MEDIA & ENTREPRENEURSHIP SYLLABUS (SPRING 2022)
