CCR Instructor Blog

A dream has come true! Students in our classes can now enjoy guest lectures and workshops from artists and other creative leaders in the field who we beam in through our Marratech video-conference technology.

Thanks to a grant from SICA, or the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts for innovations in Curriculum and Pedagogy, we were able to set up an entire series of workshops for students in our PWR 1 and PWR 2 classes.

John Paval, a Stanford alum and professional communication coach, led several virtual classes through CCR video-conference technology, focusing, for instance on Oratory for Leadership. One of his video-conference workshops took place during the visit by our colleagues from Uppsala University, who had a chance to sit in and see first-hand how we can expand learning for our students with virtual lectures. Then, John Paval came to visit Stanford in person and led additional sessions with our students.

The SiCA grant also made possible a virtual workshop with Steve Bodow, senior comedy writer for The Daily Show. We had quite a packed house in the Writing Center for this special curricular opportunity - including Helle's students and many lecturers attending.

In addition, we had fabulous interactive class lectures by Dr. Bump Halbritter on sound and cinema, and a stand-up comedy workshop by sportswriter comidienne Julie Kicklighter.

The end of Spring brought the good news that SICA awarded CCR a new grant for 2009-2010 which will make possible more video-conferences, virtual guest lectures, and - in a new development - student showcases of work produced collaboratively through this exciting opportunity for global connection.