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The Innovation in Mass Communications class produced a video “The Class,” which parodies the TV series “The Office” and has received more than 27,000 views on YouTube in the month it has been posted.

“The Class” sheds light on technology use in the classroom and was student-produced as part of an assignment.

Lynn Clark, professor of the class, presented the students with results from a survey done by the Center for Teaching and Learning asking university faculty and staff about the use of technology at DU and elsewhere. 

The parameter of the assignment was a video essay that addressed the survey’s findings.

“The Class” comically portrays a typical class period with a technologically-challenged professor who attempts to integrate technology to a class of tech-savvy students.

The class completed the six-minute video in around two weeks of class time. Students presented it at the Education and the New Media Conference in the end of January where keynote speaker of the conference and new media expert, Michael Wesch, mentioned it on his blog after seeing it.

Clark attributes the blog and the article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, which appeared soon after, to the video’s success on YouTube.

“I thought we were just making a video,” said John Boswell, who played Michael, the professor character in the parody. “I didn’t think anything of it and then it just took off.”

Boswell is a sophomore studying journalism and said he got the lead by default because he is the oldest student in the class.

“It was challenging being in front of the camera,” said Boswell. “I’m kind of a private person like that.”

It was a different experience which made it fun, said Boswell.

After a collaborative brainstorming session, the group decided to parody “The Office” and roles fell into place based on talent, levels of comfort and practicality, said Joe Borrego, the chief writer and a junior studying journalism.

“I feel that our main goal with this parody was to increase public awareness that our society is rapidly advancing,” said Borrego,.”and with technology on such a quick rise, we need to work harder to better integrate it into the classroom because this is what today’s generations are growing up with.”

“My hope is that this video promotes discussion and critical thinking about what teachers can do to evolve the classroom to make it more relevant for today’s generations,” said Borrego, who thinks the video accurately portrays his experience at DU. “I also hope that viewers understand that we weren’t trying to poke fun at professors but bring light to a situation that we think needs attention,” Borrego said.

Aspects from “The Office” that the group thought were most important to implement were camera angles, interviews and the character names.

Kelley Hennigan, a senior digital media studies major, was one of the camera operators and aimed to get shots similar-looking to those used in “The Office.”

“When you’re trained it’s all about having [the camera] on a tripod, tight shots, no shaking, no abruptness,” said Hennigan. “It was kind of everything against what you’re told, it was a little challenging but it was different which made it really fun.”

Hennigan stressed that the production was completed on a very rapid timeline. The group used one class period to do a test-shoot and all of the clips used were from one class period of filming, said Hennigan.

All of the equipment, including cameras and Final Cut Express for editing, was accessed through the mass communications department as a part of the use from the lab fee the student’s paid for the class.

Some of the students in the class were invited to take the video to the WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World. It will be held at the Colorado Convention Center tomorrow through Friday and is co-sponsored by DU and the Denver Art Museum.

Deidre Helton, a sophomore studying journalism, is one of the students who will take the video to the conference. She said the project was valuable because it related to the present and real life instead of focusing on what has happened in the past like other classes.