John Phelan, psychology instructor at Western,
is the author of multimedia lecture outlines for the 8th edition
of the textbook Introduction to Psychology by Rod Plotnick. The
Multimedia Manager Instructor Resource accompanying the textbook
assists instructors in enhancing their lectures with various
types of video, animation, and the PowerPoint prepared by
Phelan.
Phelan was also the multimedia author for the 7th edition of the
psychology textbook. He first met representatives from the
Thomson Wadsorth publishing company at a conference. The
publishers had been looking for someone who had experience in
working with PowerPoint and was willing to develop presentations
based on the Plotnick text.
Phelan left his name and sent in samples of his previous work.
He soon received an email asking him to begin working on the
project. He said the process took about a year, beginning with
reading the entire text and working within the company’s
guidelines for style and with the pictures and video that they
provided.
The end product is available to instructors who use the textbook
in their classroom.
Phelan said that the new 8th edition has been so entirely
revised that it seems like a new book, and that his PowerPoint
has been upgraded as well.
Phelan said that he felt qualified for the task of creating the
multimedia project because of the technical training
opportunities available to faculty at Western.
