CMA Multimedia Producer Eric Wilson Wins Award in Statewide Video Podcasting Tournament

For release: August 21, 2009
For press information, contact Simone Notter Wilson (901) 678-4164

The Digital Media Sandbox Consortium (DMSC) has chosen AutoTutor Lite, a video podcast by Eric Wilson, Multimedia Producer at the Center for Multimedia Arts (CMA), as the winner of the Faculty Creative Feature division of this year's Governor's Challenge Academic Media Tournament. DMSC's goal is to advance the convergence of technology and education for quality of life and education.

The subject of Wilson's podcast is the AutoTutor Lite software program; an interactive, Web-based tutoring system that uses a natural language interface and custom avatars. The program can be adapted to a wide variety of teaching applications.

"I attempted to enter the contest last year," Wilson says, "but at the time DMSC didn't offer a category for professional productions."  When Wilson noticed that the Consortium had added the professional category this year, he entered several podcasts that are also available at the U of M's Podcast Central.

"I have been producing videos of research projects based in the FedEx Institute of Technology (FIT) for more than three years and the AutoTutor Lite video is definitely one of our best videos," Wilson notes. "It features interviews with researchers and developers who worked on AutoTutor and describes the basic operation of the software. The visual style is a synthetic high-tech look with the overall goal to 'keep your eyes busy' and focused on something new every time you watch the video."

The CMA first learned of the podcasting tournament in 2008 after a visit from Bob Bradley, Tennessee State University's director of technology integration. The tournament is the combined effort of Bradley and Steve Holt, UT Martin's  Director of  Instructional Technology & Web Services.

AutoTutor Lite was developed by a team led by Xiangen Hu of the Workforce ADL CoLab and the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the FIT. The innovative software is regarded as one of the best examples of online interactive training currently available.

The AutoTutor Lite video podcast "Artificial Intelligence" as well as the other winners can be seen and heard on the podcasting tournament's Web site.