AsianDOC Electronic Newsletter 1:1(March 1998)

ASIAN EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SERVICE

February 13, 1998

by Rebecca Payne

AEMS is here to help you locate media materials you can use in learning and teaching about the cultures and peoples of Asia. Media materials are plentiful, and new ones appear almost daily. Finding them and choosing among them can be a challenge. That's where we come in.

AEMS offers information about where to find materials, and advice about ones that may best suit your needs. Our international panels of experts review newly-released audio-visual media items, and evaluate them for content, accuracy, appeal, ease of comprehension, and educational usefulness. We provide this at no cost to you, as a public service of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Our activities are supported by funding from The Freeman Foundation.

AEMS evaluations are available electronically at any time on our Web site. They are published in the AEMS Newsletter, which we will send to you free. Or you may take advantage of our call-in / write-in service.

AEMS also offers training workshops, plus educational media materials and printed guides to instructional resources that we have created or commissioned.

AEMS on the Internet

http://www.aems.uiuc.edu

On the AEMS Web site you will find a searchable database with information about an array of educational media dealing with Asia. Media types include audio cassettes, video cassettes, films and slides, videodiscs and CD-ROMS, and curriculum units. You can search by categories such as country or culture, media format, academic discipline or subject, keyword, or date of release. Each database entry offers a description of the item, plus information about how to buy or rent it.

AEMS is moving ahead energetically, adding reviews and evaluations of items listed in the database, plus cross-references to reviews found elsewhere. Doing the job right will be a work of many months; we encourage you to check the database regularly for additions and revisions.

AEMS will help you use the database; just ask. If you do not have Internet access we will search the database for you.

AEMS reviews are prepared by international panels of experts, coordinated by an on campus editorial board.

Board members:

• Nancy Abelmann, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and East Asian Languages and Cultures;
  
• Clark Cunningham, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology;
  
• Roberta Gumport, Assistant Director and Outreach Coordinator, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies;
  
• Jacquetta Hill, Professor of Anthropology and of Educational Psychology;
  
• Blair Kling, Professor of History, and
  
• George Yu, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies.

AEMS on tape and in print:

• AEMS Newsletter is issued twice a year. Each issue includes reviews of recently released media materials, essays on the uses of educational media, and updates on our activities and services. Send us your address and we will add your name to our mailing list.

• AEMS Catalog for K-12 is a print selection of entries from our database, prepared and printed especially for K-12 teachers. It offers an introductory listing of items categorized by countries and school subjects. Available free.

• Asia Video Reports are K-12 learning modules that blend videotapes with print materials. Each module is organized around a topic; and it includes a 15 minute videotape (of 4 or 5 short segments) together with readings, classroom activities, and suggestions for using the Internet. The first four modules are on Japan, and deal with Arts and Crafts, Festivals and Holidays, Food, and Housing.

• MPG Documentaries are created for AEMS by our affiliated Media Production Group. We offer several programs on Japan and one on Thailand; most are 30 minutes long. Some programs include a printed Study Guide with original essays; many programs are keyed to widely-used books and articles. The programs are suited for college and secondary classrooms and for use by civic groups. They have been broadcast in many regions by local public and cable television stations.

• Other AEMS services:
  

  AEMS Workshops and Exhibits are provided at an array of national, regional, and local conferences on Asian studies and social studies education.

  AEMS Resource Library, currently in preparation, will bring together a collection of high quality media items and curriculum materials. These will be available for use in the AEMS office and, eventually, for use elsewhere. Our Web site will include a catalog of these materials.

AEMS Advisory Board:

• Caroline Bailey,
  Program Associate, Asian Educational Media Service
• Burnill Clark,
  President and C.E.O., KCTS Television
• Richard Gordon,
  Executive Producer, Long Bow Group, Inc.
• Peter Grilli,
  Executive Director, Donald Keene Center for Japanese Culture, Columbia University
• Karl Heider,
  Professor of Anthropology, University of South Carolina
• Laurel Kendall,
  Curator in Charge of Asian Ethnographic Collections, American Museum of Natural History;
  Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
• Marianna McJimsey,
  Executive Director of ASIANetwork, Inc.;
  Lecturer in History/Social Studies Education, The Colorado College
• Sharon Wheaton,
  C.E.O., E.T. Interactive Multimedia
• Diana Marston Wood,
  Associate Director, Asian Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh

Staff:

David Plath, Program Director
Rebecca Payne, Program Coordinator

For more information, contact:

AEMS/Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
228 English Building, MC-718
608 South Wright Street
Urbana, IL 61801
Tel: (217) 265-0640
Fax:(217) 265-0641
E-mail: aems@uiuc.edu
Web: http://www.aems.uiuc.edu

URL http://asiandoc.lib.ohio-state.edu/v1n1/dbs/aems.html

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