My initial reaction to the product is…Yikes! If I put my lectures online, will students bother to come to class? Will this ruin the integrity of the teacher-student rapport? (Corny pun, but I had to take it. ) I know this would be a particularly tough sell for my 8 a.m. students who would probably prefer viewing in bed. Then I think about my students who have serious health problems.

Since I have been at Morgan State, I have had students diagnosed with lupus, Crohn’s disease, Grave’s disease and other potentially debilitating conditions. Although I tried to work with the students to help them keep up with their work, often sending it to their parents who have reached out, many of them end up failing the class. The assignments I send home make no sense to them if they were not there to hear my lecture.

So, I am toying with the idea of using this Tegrity tool. Especially since I saw this very funny music video a math professor made in celebration of it. He gets extra points for the use of autotune!

As for an artist’s spirit, I believe, by nature, it is part voyeur and part exhibitionist. I think one has to have a keen interest in one’s surroundings to capture it fully in any given medium. An artist also must be willing to give away part of his or her soul in order to share the work with the greater public. After all, to create art is to give people a peek into one’s psyche and belief systems.

For these reasons, Ayo’s choice to livestream his wedding should come as no surprise. It is an expression of his desire to share a work of art: his matrimony. As journalists, I think we should begin to think of ways we can be more candid in the making of our masterpieces. Before, I sign off, here is a list of the top 5 things I think my fellow journos should “stream.”

Morning meetings

I started out at a newspaper in Upstate New York, many moons ago. What I enjoyed most was the morning meeting, where editors and reporters discussed, bantered and often argued about what made the paper. In an age where the general public assume we scramble to put only the most sensational stories on the cover or above the fold, we should start thinking of giving them an inside peek into our arduous decision-making process. If we demystify it a bit, we can restore credibility and authority in many markets.

Press conferences

If news breaks, people should not have to wait until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. to find out what is going on. One journo with one cell phone should do the trick. Platforms like Qik or Ustream have mobile apps that should make it easy for us to gather solid soundbites. Once we return to the newsroom, we can pull from the livestream coverage to provide deeper context for readers.

Headline interviews

If your newsoom has an interview with a politician or celebrity, why not livestream all or some of the session? If newsrooms make this a standing online feature, as in new streams every Tuesday morning or so, readers might make this appointment online TV viewing. Create a YouTube or Blip TV channel for broadcast and you’re sure to cull some clicks.

Journalist roundtables

It is obvious. Journalists tell great stories. Generally though, they tell other people’s stories. Why not create a revolving livestream session where staff journalists share their recent exploits? This could be really good exposure for younger journos or reporters in smaller markets, who probably will not get that Keith Olbermann interview for quite some time.

The design session

Some of my most rewarding work has been in magazines. Assembling a “book” is like a work of art. Designers and writers meet and decide how typography, photos and white space interact on a page to produce a visually appealing display. As flowery as this might sound, there is often a clash of the titans when art meets editorial! Let the world in on this discussion. You might think that viewers do not care whether the logo on the cover is fuschia or turquoise this month, but readers might. Plus, it’s cool for readers to see what shots from the photo shoot did not make the cut. Better yet, go full-on Ayo: livestream the whole photo shoot!

Webcam chat at Ustream

After filing through hundreds of applications, the J-Lab picked nine projects. The Morgan MOJO Lab was one of the lucky nine! Thanks to this award, my students will learn to become mobile journalists (MOJOs). They will report using iPhones. They will create locative journalism apps using the iPad. And they’ll (hopefully!) have a lot of fun. The National Association of Black Journalists featured our win in its Digital Media Blog. Read more about our project here: http://nabjdigital.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/667/

After viewing the presentation, I instructed them to take an accompanying timed quiz. The 15-minute quiz was only open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., and students got to take it once. I created both online documents using Zoho’s online applications. This is my first time using Zoho, and I love it. If any of you have any interesting suggestions on how to incorporate Zoho as a learning tool, please share!