Multimedia in the classroom was the theme of the concluding presentations of the “Wholesome Professor” series Monday morning.

Linda Ghent, assistant professor of economics, presented “Using Popular Culture in the Classroom,” which discussed how teachers could use video clips from various popular culture resources to better connect with their students.

Kiranmayi Padmaraju, assistant professor of education technology, featured a presentation called “Using Video Clips to Increase Student Engagement,” which followed Ghent’s discussion.

The presentations drew some of the largest numbers of audience members the series has seen this semester.

More than 25 faculty members and graduate students packed into the Effingham Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union to hear the professors speak.

Mildred Pearson, director of faculty development, said she was pleasantly surprised to see the good attendance.

Pearson said setting up presentations for professors has been difficult because of scheduling conflicts for many faculty members.

“It’s always difficult to gauge a time when most faculty members can attend,” she said.

Pearson said she was pleased with the presentation not only because of the attendance, but also because of the interest audience members showed in the subject matter.

“As I looked around, I could see the sparks of interest among the faculty members,” she said.

One such faculty member was Richard Wandling, professor of political science, who came to learn how to expand his use of technology while teaching.

“I would like to take that next step in using multimedia in my classes,” he said.

Wandling said he uses Internet links in classes already but said he could see the need for more multimedia.

Faculty members were not the only people in attendance Monday morning – many graduate students also attended the event.

Biology major Stephen Clark came to the event to fulfill a graduate requirement. He said the topics discussed also interested him.

Clark said he thought students learned more when they were offered more than just lectures in courses.

“I know I do when I’m in class,” he said.

That reaction is shared by many students, Ghent said, and is one of the main reasons she uses movie clips from different pop culture sources, ranging from television shows like “I Love Lucy” to movies such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

She said this generation of students is more active than those who came before them and need interactivity to break up the monotony of 70-minute lectures.

“This generation is sometimes called ‘Generation Y,'” Ghent said. “I call them ‘Generation Wired.'”

Ghent said she has been using these techniques for several semesters and has received positive feedback from students.

One memorable activity Ghent shared with the audience was bringing a box of doughnuts to class and having a student eat them until he or she could not eat more. She said she did this to demonstrate the law of diminishing returns to students.

While Ghent focused on why teachers need to include more popular culture and interactivity in their classrooms, Padmaraju used her time to tell the audience about the resources they have available to them and how to use them.

She told the audience the need for video clips in their classroom stemmed from the students need to be involved technologically while learning.

“This is generation is a multimedia generation,” Padmaraju said.

She gave the assembled faculty several sources of video clips to use in their classrooms and instructed them how to use the sources properly.

Due to the positive response to the program Monday, Pearson said she hopes to have Ghent and Padmaraju speak about these topics again next semester.

Pearson said she will try to provide them with more time to speak the next semester to provide more detailed discussions.

Linda Ghent, assistant profesor of economics, talks to faculty about using various types of media in the classroom. Ghent gave examples of what media she uses in the classroom, including “Big Yellow Taxi” by the Counting Crows as well as a movie clip from

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