New Multimedia Site Inspires and Celebrates

By Ariel Carpenter on October 13, 2009 7:42 AM

As unsung heroes go, nary a note is heard in support of this country’s teachers. But, soon, thanks to a new multimedia Web site readying to launch in conjunction with the USC Rossier School of Education, teachers may finally get the recognition they deserve.

MyTeacherMyHero.com, sponsored by USC Rossier’s new online MAT@USC program and developed in conjunction with its technology partner 2Tor Inc., will quite simply celebrate great teachers, said Karen Symms Gallagher, the school’s dean.

The site will provide an online place where educators, past and present, receive the praise of their students via uploaded videos. Early content created for the upcoming public launch of MyTeacherMyHero.com currently includes videos from such notable names as HBO entertainment president Sue Nagle, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield and a host of other prominent Americans.

Their message is clear: Good teachers can make a difference.

The open invitation for video contributions will be issued to the public Oct. 26. USC alumni who already have uploaded teacher testimonials to the site include Jeff Smulyan (chairman and CEO, Emmis Communications), Dick Cook (former chairman, the Walt Disney Studios) and Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana (assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education).

“Teaching is a very special profession, and great teachers connect with students on both emotional and academic levels and help them realize their potential in life,” Gallagher said. “The idea behind the site was to pay respect to teachers who have accomplished this, as well as to motivate and inspire others to seriously consider teaching as a career.”

MyTeacherMyHero.com is also another unique way that USC Rossier is engaging potential students for its MAT@USC program.

MAT@USC (http://mat.usc.edu) is the first of its kind, an online Master of Arts in Teaching program from a major research institution that blends interactive lectures, streaming video, animation and Web 2.0 technologies with in-classroom guided practice and student teaching in high-need schools. The program launched its first cohort this summer with 144 students.

The “Become a Teacher” link on MyTeacherMyHero.com leads to the details of this groundbreaking program, encouraging those inspired by the videos to pursue a teaching career of their own. In addition, the site features a way to contribute to nonprofit educational partners such as Teachers Without Borders and Classwish.

“We want to demonstrate the important impact teachers have on our lives and really try to put the teaching profession in a new light,” said Jeremy Johnson, 2Tor chief technology officer, one of the key architects behind MAT@USC and founder of the new site.

“The response to our initial grassroots efforts to build the site has been unbelievable, attracting so many high-profile testimonials from business people to celebrities alike,” Johnson said. “We’re excited to open the Web site up so that people from all walks of life across the country can submit their videos and thank the teachers who changed their lives. ”Johnson said.

MyTeacherMyHero.com was designed with social media in mind in an effort to make it fun and accessible, and also to better leverage the growing interconnectedness of the Web. The use of video, he said, is a way for people to better experience the power of the stories being delivered on the site and to more easily share them with friends.

Once a video is uploaded, people can spread the word about their favorite teacher using various social media tools, including Twitter and Facebook.

“The site creates a fun, easy way to pay tribute to an influential teacher,” Johnson said, adding that the site is going to be officially dedicated to the students in the MAT@USC program who “inspire the My Teacher, My Hero team on a regular basis.”

TAGS: education

Search search

Search only News Archives