No. But apparently I do.

My name is Mark Berkey-Gerard. I am a college journalism teacher. I teach online and multimedia journalism courses at Rowan University in Southern New Jersey.  I spend a lot of my day teaching students how to do “techie” things.

But my real passion – and my real challenge – is helping students become better storytellers and helping them learn how to use technology to create forums for authentic interaction and conversation.

So I’ve created this blog to:
•    Flesh out my own ideas about journalism, new media, and education.
•    Offer resources (links, articles, books, people, tutorials, workshops).
•    Open up my teaching approach to my students.
•    Invite others – journalists, teachers, students, and anyone who cares – to offer their own insights and ideas.

The title of the blog is inspired by the writings of educator James Carey, who thought of journalism as a kind of collective campfire storytelling. “Conversation not only forms opinions, it forms memory,” Carey wrote. “We remember best the things that we say, the things the we say in response to someone else with whom we are engaged. Talk is the surest guide to remembering and knowing what we think.”

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