Judy Robinson

Congratulations to JEA Mentoring Committee’s Judy Robinson for being named the 2011 David Adams Journalism Educator of the Year by the Scholastic Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The award was announced at the AEJMC convention in St. Louis last week.

In presenting the award, SJD head Vanessa Shelton noted Robinson’s ability to improve the teaching of the division’s members.

“Over the years, we have appreciated Judy’s role in keeping those of us in the Scholastic Journalism Division informed about the latest technology and how it can be applied to journalism.”

For the Scholastic Journalism Division, Robinson has taught sessions on blogging, podcasting and handheld computers. For more than 15 years, she has taught hands-on workshops at the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association conventions. Her workshops have included Soundslides, Dreamweaver, editing audio, Flash, and handheld computers. Robinson was praised for her ability to teach new technologies to college educators, high school advisers and high school journalists.

Robinson leads sessions at the JEA Mentor Forums and has earned the name of “Digital Judy” for being able to explain technology applications that mentors can then use with their mentees.

JEA Mentoring Program members Linda Barrington, Julie Dodd, Nick Ferentinos and Konnie Krislock applauded Robinson’s teaching ability in an article Teaching Committee chair Karen Flowers wrote about Robinson’s teaching award in Scholastic Source — robinson_teaching_award-2011.

Barrington said that one of Robinson’s greatest gifts is making her students, whether 21 or 71 years old, feel comfortable with technology.

Carol Knopes, education director for the Radio Television Digital News Foundation, wrote in support of Robinson’s selection for the teaching award. Knopes met Robinson at one of her podcasting workshops at JEA/NSPA and recruited her to held create two courses for Poynter’s NewsU — Reporting Across Platforms and Video Storytelling for the Web. The two courses now are part of Poynter’s five-course Multimedia Certificate Program.

Jack Dvorak recruited Robinson to teach New Technology for High School Journalism Educators, a graduate course for secondary school teachers at Indiana University School of Journalism’s High School Journalism Institute.

Robinson said that a goal has been to teach at every grade level — and she has.

She taught elementary and secondary education in Ontario, Canada. She has taught undergraduate and graduate classes in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida and in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. She taught technology classes for college faculty when she was the senior instructional designer for UF’s Center for Technology and Training. And she has worked with retired teachers through the JEA Mentoring Program.