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About Dr. Nick
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Randy D. Nichols is Associate Professor of Communication at Limestone University where he directs the Professional Communications Degree Program.
Dr. Nichols holds the B.A. in Pastoral Theology from Southeastern University, the M.A. in English Literature from Rutgers University, and the Ph.D. in Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design from Clemson University, where he led the international Cultural Literacies Across Media course. Dr. Nichols teaches such classes as Digital Literacies, Critical Thinking and Narratives Across Media at Limestone. He has presented at the National Conferences for the Popular Culture Association on his work in Digital Composition, Game Theory, and New Media Literacy. In the most recent PCA conference, Nichols joined Limestone colleague Prof. Brett Schenning and Dr. Tharon Howard from Clemson University to present on Technology and "The Americans" at the PCA/ACA Conference Dr. Nichols worked with fellow Clemson Doctoral Alumna, Dr. Josephine Walwema, to contribute a chapter to the 2016 NCTE book, Mobile Technologies and the Writing Classroom. This chapter, "Untangling the Web through Digital Aggregation and Curation" outlines an approach to encouraging students toward a more "critical consumption" of digital resources by using free and popular tools for mobile devices, such as Flipboard and Pinterest, and even includes a sample lesson as a "play exemplar" for fellow educators to revise, rework, subvert and remediate. (Students in Dr. Nichols’ “Introduction to Digital Literacies” class used the digital research principles from the chapter to compose their 2016 Student Symposium presentations on the field of Virtual Reality.) "The nature and tools of writing have changed... As a result, educational scholars are developing new understandings of how to incorporate such technologies into the classroom." -NCTE intro to Mobile Technologies for the Writing Classroom In 2012, Dr. Nichols premiered the "Smartphone Museum" at Limestone College. This innovative, interactive learning space is the model for his students’ standing installation at the Cherokee County History and Arts Museum. The students interviewed area individuals who are pieces of “living history” and have made these interviews available to museum visitors via QR codes in the exhibit space. The museum hosted a grand opening for the exhibit in January 2015. Dr. Nichols opened the Smartphone Museum exhibit, "Artifacts from the Future," on October 21, 2015 at Limestone College. Dr. Nichols presented on this exhibit in March 2016 at the National Pop Culture Association Conference in Seattle. In 2018, the Smartphone Museum presented "Agency and New Media," an interactive installation in Limestone University’s Granberry Hall Art Gallery. With examples from the printing press to the #MeToo movement, the exhibit explored how digital technology has enabled a paradigm shift in media by allowing users to print, publish, produce, edit, and share across various platforms in areas such as music, photography, movies, and more. Dr. Nichols is the 2020 recipient of Limestone University's Presidential Excellence Award for High Impact Practices in the Classroom, and the 2014 recipient of the Fullerton Award for Excellence in Teaching, and was named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2006. (Seriously, Google it.) 
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Connect with Dr. Nick
Dr. Nick on Fan Panel TCM's 50 Years of Hitchcock
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