I was interviewed by GME regarding my work at Eastern Washington University developing media for faculty and online courses.

1. Faculty & Staff Newsletter Eastern Homepage
October 2, 2006
Top Story: Giving
Attention to Detail for
QuickTimeª and a a Tech-savvy Audience
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture. Laurie Klaue is acutely aware
of details. You can see it in the
vintage purses she carefully
selects at her favorite
boutiques. You can see it in the
colored glass artwork she displays in her window in Senior Hall. And you can see it
in the videos she produces that help connect distance learning students to their
instructors.
In her position as production specialist in the Division of International and
Educational Outreach, some of Klaue’s latest projects include tending to the details
that go into creating digital videos of faculty to bring them to life as they introduce
their courses to students enrolled in the Independent Learning (IL) Program.
To help Department of Philosophy Assistant Professor Kevin Decker
introduce his introductory ethics course to his IL students, Klaue came up with a
scenario in which Decker walked around campus, teaching like Aristotle might have
taught philosophy in his day. Klaue and Decker collaborated on the script, making it
interesting for students to watch when they logged on to Blackboard.
"I poked and prodded him a bit to try new things," Klaue says. "And he came
up with a beret and other fun props that help paint a picture of the course and him as
a faculty member. We took what could be a dry course – exploring the theories of
good and evil – being described by a professor standing still, and we made it
interesting, combining it with a short tour of campus."

2. Video camera in hand, Klaue shot video of Department of Art Lecturer Shelly
Murney with her own art as a backdrop as it was displayed at the Tinman Gallery on
Garland Ave. in Spokane. It was a perfect setting for Murney to introduce her Art in
Humanities course, as she describes the importance of sense of place and she
expects her students to go out and explore art exhibits.
Klaue followed Department of English Lecturer Polly Buckingham and her
dogs around the countryside near her home to promote her creative writing class. On
a sunny summer's day, they hiked to Cattail Glade, where nature’s beauty – pine
trees, wildflowers, grasses, scab rocks, small lakes, ponds and songbirds – provided
an ideal setting for Buckingham to talk about poetry and painting pictures with words.
After shooting video, Klaue begins the time-intensive process of editing and
adding sound. She likes to bring out more of the faculty members' personalities by
allowing them to select their own background music to enhance their video
introductions. In much of Buckingham's video, Klaue brings forward the sounds of
nature at Cattail Glade as the lecturer, who sits on the grass, a small lake glistening
behind her, addresses the blank page of poetry: "Listen for rhythms and follow the
rhythm," she says. "The words come after the rhythm." As Buckingham continues,
encouraging her students to look at objects and access "their inner life," Klaue pans
to logs sticking out of the lake. Upon closer inspection, the viewer sees its mirrored
image becomes a series of arrows on the water.
In addition to taking classes in video, programming and audio, Klaue has
taught herself a great deal of what she has learned about the details of film directing,
editing and sound. She reads every screen writing and directing book she can get
her hands on – especially those about women directors – she explores new editing
and music-making software with the energy of a child with a new toy.
"I'll always continue learning," she says. "I take classes here, I read a lot of
books. I need to learn more about the software to compose music to play for my
videos. There are copyright issues with other people's music, and sometimes we
need original pieces. My mom is a piano teacher, so I learned to play by ear. I think
that will help me."
She recently attended a cinematography workshop in Sandpoint where she
learned about temperatures of lighting. "I learned we need more of the right lighting

3. equipment to produce high-quality work," Klaue says.
"I feel very strongly that we have a real treasure in our faculty, and we need
to showcase them," Klaue adds. "Today's audience expects video and they expect
good quality."
Klaue says that because she's professionally and technically grown with
video technology and has "been a student for so long,” she can relate to both
students' and faculty members' needs to communicate and receive their messages
through video. She has ventured into podcasting – publishing audio and video files to
the Web for uploading to portable devices. She has created podcasts of Get Lit!
speakers and EWU and guest lecturers on campus.
"Ipods are more popular than drinking," Klaue points out. "All the students are
always listening or watching or both. The time is now – we have to think about our
target audience. I'm trying to produce good media for tech-savvy students."
For Klaue, the field is wide open. As new classes are produced, she will
continue to produce the media for them.