Presenting Dr. Chris A. Heidelberg III After A Successful Dissertation Defense!

I always said it would be cold day when I would become Dr. Chris A. Heidelberg III; I just forgot to include the snow.
Here I am above explaining to the seated committee members and the public audience that attended. The presentation of the research findings lasted 45 minutes and was following by another hour of questions and answers, before a brief 10 minute or less deliberation before I was officially welcomed into the club by my wonderful committee of noted author and former college president Dr. Rosemary Gillet-Karam, the chairperson; former college  president and researcher Dr. Sylvester McKay, and Morgan Mile founder and noted researcher, Dr. Jason DeSousa. As I prepare for the final publishing formatting, editing and revisions for the manuscript, I would love to thank the committee for their support and guidance and I would like to thank the guests who attended and all of my friends and family members who supported me for the past 4 and one half years during this worthwhile endeavor. I have enclosed a brief re-cap with photos to tell the story. I look forward to providing you with the video in the near future.

Highlights Of The Dissertation Defense Presentation



The highlights of the presentation were numerous, but the following questions did get answered by me in the presentation!

Can education and convergence be utilized in higher education?
Yes, edutainment and convergence can be utilized in higher education.

Grand Tour Question

How can entertainment techniques and technology be utilized in higher education?



Edutainment and convergence can be utilized through traditional storytelling, role playing, drama, dance, music, art, spoken word, poetry, rap, dance, video, audio, podcasting, blogging, handheld devices, the Internet, computers, flat screen media, software, photography, digital filmmaking and more according to the participants and the literature (Farkas, 2006, 2007; Gee, 2004, 2005; Jenkins, 2006; Prensky, 2006).

Can entertainment techniques and convergence technology be transferred to higher education?

Yes, entertainment techniques and convergence technology be transferred to higher education through handheld gadgets, and online software and Internet sites like iTunesU, iTunes, Amazon, Google search, Google scholar, YouTube, Blackboard, Facebook, Plaxo, MySpace, Microsoft products, and gaming platforms like the Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox.





Why have government agencies embraced edutainment and convergence and spent billions of dollars on Defense Department and NASA space exploration?



The government has spent billions of dollars in Defense Department research and NASA exploration research because the digital technology, simulation and gaming has been an effective educational and training tool according to the participants and the literature (Bonk & Wisher, 2000; Farkas, 2006,2007; Gee, 2004, 2005; Jenkins, 2006; Robert Wisher, personal communication, August 20, 2007).

Conclusions


Edutainment and convergence is the future of higher education and offers economic opportunities for universities and faculty through digital publishing, digital classes through multiple portals, electronic classrooms, and tailored learning that is student centered through the use convergence technologies. The embedding of entertainment and the fun factor into education enables education to become fun, collaborative and democratic. Edutainment and convergence also can enable higher education to narrow-cast its offerings to low-income, non-traditional, and minority students through handheld devices like the iPhone, cell phones, the Kindle book reader from Amazon and the iPod and Zune multi-media devices.