Karlin Andersen Tuttle, PhD
8 Carnegie Building · University Park, PA 16802 · kja30@psu.edu
Mass Communications Instructor at Penn State Bellisario College of Communications
Mass Communications Instructor at Penn State Bellisario College of Communications
Defended Dissertation title: “Your Trusted Friend: Narrating Untold Histories of Five Christian Women’s Magazines, 1974-2009”
Advisor: Dr. Ford Risley
Defended thesis: “Evangelical Erasure?: Digital Communications Technology and the Memory of Rachel Held Evans”
Minors: Journalism
Editing, Layout, & Design
My teaching reflects an emphasis on the foundational skills students need to prepare for their future careers while recognizing that test scores and grades are not the most important element of a well-rounded college education. The three areas below are central to every course I lead and focus on life-long skills that help students grow and prepare for their life beyond the classroom.
Completing a mass communication degree and maintaining a successful career in almost any field requires strong communication, which is often grounded in writing. While media production and consumption live predominantly in a digital and visual world, students still need to understand the basic mechanics and writing structures that underpin all media. I achieve that by meeting students at their skill level and providing multiple avenues for additional practice in- and out-of-class including practice assignments, options to edit or redo assignments, open communication about their progress during ofce hours, and referring them to the university’s writing center. I am committed to work with them as individuals with a focus on improving basic skills rather than achieving high grades.
Even students who do not enter one of the many professional fields within mass communications will still engage with and even produce media every day that will inform how they understand and interact with their surroundings. I do not attempt to change their beliefs or convince them to take on my viewpoints, rather I ask them to understand and reflect on how and why they use and/or create media so they can be informed users who make conscious choices about the media they consume.
I strive to improve students' self-confidence in their classroom skills and overall belief that they can transfer those abilities to professions and challenges outside of the collegiate environment. I use office hours and casual conversations to help students work through imposter syndrome to tackling student fears about being in a classroom and attending college. I work with with students as individuals, welcome diverse perspectives, beliefs, and backgrounds into the classroom conversation, and recognize that college is a time for students to grow and learn about themselves just as much as it is an opportunity for higher education.
Based on a 15-week semester, outlines learning objectives, course policies, assignments and exams along with course schedule.
Lecture materials and discussion questions for the development, funding models, and current trends of the podcasting industry. Created for a MWF course week with two lecture days and a class discussion.
Assignment description and format details for in-class discussion days.
Each student is assigned a beat outside of their normal topic area to push them to consider events, sources, and point of views outside of the type of stories they usually cover.
Students write, record, and edit their own short audio story on a topic of their choice.