e portfolio :: [projects and case studies]

In his most recent role, David Grandison Jr. led a team as the Senior Producer of the Teacher Channel for Scholastic.com. In this capacity, he created and managed  a variety of websites, developing all forms of content (video, audio  and text). As a part of his role, he also consulted with business units to develop microsites for marketing partners.

The entire Scholastic.com site underwent a redesign in 2007. David Grandison Jr. managed the redesign of multiple sections of the site in order to improve usability and overall appearance. The effort and skill exercised in this massive redesign was rewarded with a 2008 Webby Award in the Youth Category.

In addition to the Webby award in 2008, David's redesign of the Scholastic.com New Teacher Website (Resources, Tools and Tips for New Teachers) was selected as a finalist for the 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award for Instructional Technology Websites (Adult Learning) from the Association of Educational Publishers.

David Grandison Jr. offers over a decade of experience in multimedia production and social media marketing. The unique combination of experience in these emerging areas allowed him to lead in the development of social networking strategies for Scholastic. In 2008, he developed and launched over 20 of the first dynamic blogs on the Scholastic site. Each blog focused on specific education oriented topic or a teacher, similar to the "Teachers Blog." David launched this community to allow users to quickly find new content on the site and receive updates via RSS or connect with a teacher blogger who could help them navigate the sometimes overwhelming amount of resources on Scholastic site. He also served as a resource to Scholastic business units and was the key production contact in the implementation of any Scholastic's social media strategy that included video, blogs, or message boards.

Here are several examples of marketing microsites that David project managed for Scholastic Marketing Partners. One was a microsite that was launched for Lexus called The Lexus Environmental Challenge, another was called Dream In Color for Target.

In April 2007 the Sundance Channel became the first national network to produce a weekly block of programming devoted to "Green" and sustainable lifestyle oriented issues. This programming block was called The Green and because of David's unique background in science, video and social media marketing, he was called on to lead this project. As Senior Producer, he conceptualized the site's features, functionality and lead the project's development team. Additionally, he was in charge of project management, information architecture, web development and web video production. The website was the marketing and promotional hub for this unique block of environmental television programming. It was sponsored by Smith Barney and Lexus.

David developed a Eco-mmunity as a social network that would allow users to interact with The Green's hosts and each other. The Eco-mmunity map was conceptualized as a way for users to share ways they were personally, attempting to change and become more "green". This map was the first location-based social network ever developed on Google's mapping platform. It allowed users to place markers on a map to share both locations and detailed information (video and images) on the topics of "green" on-air programming, hosts, personalities, projects, places, and events, as well as, to geotag habitats in danger.

David developed map marker "groupings" to facilitate browsing by allowing users to filter the map by topics such as: ecofriendly personalities, organizations and, of course, Lexus hybrid dealerships and Smith Barney's "green" Financial Advisers. Map marker "groupings" were designed to allow the map to be monetized by Map marker "groupings" and showcasing sponsored locations.  We also created groupings for documentary and video program locations, as well as, Environmental News story locations which were posted automatically via RSS feed to cross promote the sites content and provide an additional layer of information and interactivity for users. An example of the map with the Lexus marker grouping selected is shown in the image on the right.

A video page  called Eco videos was also created to aggregate all video content. To further enhance online offerings, David's team produced a series of video segments entitled "The Green Online" with on-air host Simran Sethi.

David's team developed a number of web 2.0 marketing tools to promote The Green. One of the most important tools for television/web cross-promotion was a virtual weekly discussion forum with one of The Green's on-air host, Simran Sethi and a variety of eco-expert guests. This meeting was held on The Sundance Channel's Island in Second Life, a online virtual community, immediately after each weeks telecast.

On-air viewers were encouraged to meet weekly to discuss environmental topics with Simran's avitar. This forum was held in a virtual theater/auditorium on the Sundance Channel's Island in the virtual world. A segment of the Green Online show was streamed prior to the meeting and then an environmental discussion took place with one of her guests, that included, experts in sustainable lifestyles, scientists and directors of the many eco-documentaries shown during the programming block.

Unique marketing methods had to be developed by David's team to market to "in-world" users and television viewers alike. The key technique used to market the project "in-world" entailed setting up 15 virtual kiosks where avatars could get free virtual "hoodies" with The Green's logo. The kiosk also streamed Lexus "eco-tips" so that avatars (Second Life users) within 25 feet of he kiosk could "hear" ways to be more eco-friendly. To bring more attention to each kiosk, when a avatars walked within 10 feet of it, animated plants grew out of it automatically. When a user walked onto the kiosk he/she could save the location of the weekly meeting automatically or beam directly to the auditorium on Sundance Island. The meeting transcripts, pictures and videos shown in the meetings are available on the Sundance Channel's Second Life blog.

At BMW University Studios (Team Productions), David held the role of Instructional Designer. In this position, David authored all scripts and supervised production of a variety of types of innovative video-based instructional programming for BMW of North America and MINI.

This production facility was located within the BMW Group of North America's (BMWNA) national headquarters. In this role David produced programs ranging from consumer video programs for BMW's website to internal training programs delivered via Satellite Broadcast (BMW's internal, Visionwerks network) or as streaming content delivered on the BMW University  website or on MINI's website.

The video clip seen here shows segments from a variety of programs for which David wrote scripts and supervised the development of instructional content. 

Conceived and funded by Herbert Allen of Allen and Company the Global Education Network was an innovative early provider of online courses for universities. Due to his education background, David was key in developing and overseeing the instructional design of GEN's, multimedia courses. As a Writer his role was key in developing and organizing the educational content of these courses. He supervised a team of top animators, editors, and camera people to create Flash-based CD ROMs. Additionally, all courses were designed to be compatible with both the Web CT and Blackboard learning management systems.

As a Writer/Producer on the development team for Calculus I, David had a key role in developing the interactive math activities. The goal of this fun and innovative, cartoon-based course was to teach calculus principals using a funny, cartoon murder mystery. The interactive activities that were created challenged students to apply calculus to real-world situations, in order to solve the mystery.

An Interactive Workbook designed for the Calculus course used "learning pathways" to help students review material. It served as a fun interactive, "game show" styled, method for the student to self-test comprehension of calculus material. It also allowed students to determine areas where improvement was needed, efficiently linking them to video in the module of the course that the student could use to review material.

The Calculus Workbook program offered questions for each module of the course allowing students review content while highlighting areas for review. 

U.S. History II course modules utilized over 2000 historic photos and 20 hrs of video to immerse students in the stories and interpretations of the important people, events, and concepts central to understanding the history of the United States, from the end of the Civil War to modern day. As students encountered the people and events that are simultaneously different from and similar to the world they know today. The goal was that they develop and demonstrate deeper understandings of both past and present through the interactive modules in this course.

The Source Inquiry Exercise (aka SIE) program was designed as a template that can be reused throughout an entire course for reviewing lessons.

The Interactive Timeline was a introduction module that was reused throughout an entire course. They way it works is by loading the objectives and questions that will be answered in the module, as well as, the dates to be covered in the class. It then loads a series of images to accompany each question to give the student a over view of the historical period to be covered.

His team developed several unique, interactive tools to teach students to "think like historians". One such activity was the Source Inquiry Exercise (SIE). This exercise challenged students to analyze "original sources" to answer questions about the historical period that they were studying. These sources were items like historical video clips, music from the time period, political cartoons, poems, essays, or other historical documents. SIE's were combined with interactive, timeline-based, quizzes to give the student a unique opportunity to explore history using rare original sources.

The Pseudo Online Network (Pseudo.com) was the world's largest producer of original Internet-TV entertainment in 1999. Show topics ranged from fashion, business, and music to professional wrestling, computer games and celebrity gossip. Pseudo was a unique combination of streaming video, real-time chat, and other interactive features that put Pseudo's online viewers directly in touch with the on-screen, "VJ" hosts.

Pseudo .com made the audience part of the show by inviting them to send messages, comments, questions and requests via chat. This audience/VJ interaction was enhanced by an adjacent feed of multimedia content updated continuously throughout the show. The result was a freewheeling experience that merged the best of TV with the Internet for a groundbreaking new kind of entertainment.

In addition to live programming, Pseudo.com produced a wide variety of short topically focused video shows that aired each weekday and were available as streaming media. Pseudo's brand of programming was a kind of "narrowcasting", providing audiences with quick bites of video content tailored to individual interests, styles and sensibilities. David Grandison was the first and only educator to work with Pseudo. He was instrumental in developing content ranging from the Levi's Show- A Semester Online, and SpaceWatch.com to Pseudo's Live (12 hour/day) show format.

SpaceWatch shows allowed space aficionados and students to communicate with astronauts and scientists in real time discussions during its live shows. The network was also a early development partner with Real Networks, pioneering the development of live streaming broadcasts, recorded streaming broadcasts, codecs and SMIL programming techniques.

Ultimately, SpaceWatch's innovative and historic content was purchased by Lou Dobb's website Space.com. He then went on to produce for the Pseudo Online Network's live music channels until the network went out of business at the end of the dot com boom. SpaceWatch's programming was the only content purchased from Pseudo.com before its demise.

See below for more recent production examples, as well as, more detailed info on the programs that David produced for Pseudo.com.

This Video Production Reel (on right) is made up primarily of segments from live and recorded news magazine style, streaming television programs that David produced in the years 1999 and 2000. At the time he was a Producer for SpaceWatch.com, a channel on the groundbreaking Pseudo Online Network (Pseudo.com). This network was the largest streaming video network in the world at the time, combining live streaming video and synchronous chat.

SpaceWatch.com was the only educational channel developed by the Pseudo Online Network. SpaceWatch.com was comprised of 3 online space news programs. Mission Control...Over, was a online program that combined a live, streaming video broadcast, from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas with a chat room in which online viewers could interact in real-time with the space experts that each show featured. Mission Control...Over, focused on interviews with astronauts, mission Control personal and other experts that were a part of the US space program. Deep Sky, the second program, featured interviews with astronomers, astrophysicists, and other scientists involved in astronomy. And, finally, Cosmic Visions which was a space news program that highlighted important people, places and events in the space industry.

LiveFromMars.com was a site that the Space Watch team developed to cover the Mars Polar Lander and it's decent into the Martian atmosphere. This site featured detailed streaming video descriptions of all of the components of the Lander. It also featured live streaming updates with scientists from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. David Grandison was the educatonal content expert involved in the creation and development of this site. Spacewatch was the only channel on the Pseudo Online Network that was purchased. It was ultimately purchased by Lou Dobb's website, Space.com.

In the 2000 election Pseudo.com made history by being the first web-based company to be allowed to broadcast live from the National Conventions. This was done using two methods, a roving reporter utilizing a wearable camera/computer to show his point of view while chatting live with the Pseudo viewers and by using QuickTime VR cameras placed strategically around the convention floor. Using these two groundbreaking methods we allowed Pseudo viewers to interact with and experience a 360-degree panorama of the convention floor. Pseudo.com's VR cameras and the Xybernaut wearable computer seen to the right are now housed in the Smithsonian Museum to document this achievement.

David filmed and produced the motorcycle, stunt film, the Loose Riders Volume II.