2006 Programs and Events

U.S. Embassy Supports Department of Mass Communications at Lao National University

Professor Bob Hooper and translator Bounthanh Phongpichid

Fulbright Senior Specialist Robert Hooper spent five weeks at the Lao National University’s new Department of Mass Communications conducting intensive workshops for ten faculty and eight students, advising on curriculum, and developing teaching materials and course content for three core courses: Television Production, Film and Television Design, and The Documentary. Hooper also began work on a new text in the Lao language, Handbook of Lao Documentary Production, utilizing popular lectures presented to Lao-TV and NUOL staff in previous years. The workshops focused on the skills that professors in the new Department need to teach, including feature story development, scriptwriting, interviewing and reporting skills, and television field production techniques. Hooper used a variety of techniques, including lectures, demonstrations, role-playing exercises and interactions with students, to ensure that production skills and teaching skills were effectively transferred to the faculty. Eight Lao students also participated in the training, which enabled the creation of a simulated classroom experience for faculty and students alike, with videotape of the sessions screened in class following the exercises. A digital video camera and related equipment donated by the Embassy’s Public Affairs Section were used in the training, and will be used in future classes. Other production materials were donated by Hooper, and textbooks in the Thai language were purchased in Bangkok and delivered to the University following completion of the program. Two used Embassy computers will soon be donated to the Department and upgraded with video editing software. |July 10, 2006|