12/07/2011

Thompson Scholar to Create Digital Presentations for Human Experience Course

Quick Facts

Stokes, an associate professor in design, imagines designing a series of 10-minute mini-documentaries that will include images, quotations, related texts and maps, and video.

He believes that providing the digitally created presentations will advance the course structure in ways that add depth of learning.

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David Stokes

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Winthrop University’s newly appointed Thompson Scholar David Stokes will spend the next year creating a set of visual/digital teaching aids that will enhance the Human Experience course, part of the Touchstone Core and a required course for all students.

The appointment was announced on Dec. 7 by President Anthony DiGiorgio.

Stokes, an associate professor in design, imagines designing a series of 10-minute mini-documentaries that will include images, quotations, related texts and maps, and video. The presentations would be available any time online so students and faculty members who teach the course would have access.

He believes that providing the digitally created presentations will advance the course structure in ways that add depth of learning. Now students are required to read text essays as part of the course, and Stokes hopes the digital presentations will add information that parallels the essays and will enhance student participation, motivation, comprehension and writing skills.

“I hope to revolutionize how the course is taught, resulting in heightened student learning and interactive participation,” Stokes said in his application. “The multimedia approach encourages more information to be conveyed, is more explanatory and offers greater clarification of concepts.”

Administrators said his proposal offers an innovative way to use visual media in teaching the course. “Our students are being shaped by our visual world, and this shift has impacted both teaching and learning,” said Gloria Jones, dean of University College. “David Stokes’ proposal is both timely and pedagogically sound.”

A native of Bronzville, N.Y., Stokes earned his M.F.A. at the Pratt Institute. He started at Winthrop in 1987, and he is a working graphic designer. He has won numerous awards, including the 1997 Logo Design Award in the Roan Mountain Logo Competition in Roan Mountain, Tenn., and the 1980-82 Regional Award from Printing Industries of Carolina Best of Show for his silkscreen posters.

This is the seventh year for the Thompson Scholar Award, created by Winthrop Board of Trustee member Bob Thompson and his wife, Norma, of Rock Hill. The fund provides for reassigned time for two classes per year for a faculty member "to work on projects that strengthen the academic, intellectual, and co-curricular life of the university."

The Robert and Norma Thompson Endowment was established during the university’s first capital campaign. Other Thompson Scholars are: Phil Moody, photography; Pedro Muñoz, Spanish ; Carol Marchel, education; John Bird, English; David Bradbard/Barbara Fuller, business; and Padmini Patwardhan, mass communication.

For more information, contact Academic Affairs at 803/323-2220.

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