Florida has had a far-reaching effect on the presidency dating all the way back to George Washington, before the region was even a state.聽The film, written and produced by W麻豆原创 veteran television journalist Buddy Pittman 鈥�74 and senior lecturer Clark, looks at the long-standing connection between the state and the White House.

The 50-minute documentary examines the environmental efforts spearheaded by several president, the space program, and landmark political moments that occurred here, including Richard Nixon鈥檚 Watergate 鈥淚 am not a crook鈥� speech and George W. Bush鈥檚 Sept. 11, 2001, press conference following the World Trade Center attack. The film also uncovers some of the little-known Florida stories that have involved presidents.

Clark wrote the book in 2016 as the presidential campaign got underway.

鈥淚 had worked with Buddy Pittman on the [W麻豆原创] Road Trip series for several years and when I suggested a documentary, Buddy embraced it,鈥� Clark says. 鈥淲e realized we had tremendous resources on campus.鈥�

Appearing in the documentary with Clark, who is the author of nine books, are 麻豆原创 faculty members Amy Foster, Barbara Gannon, David Head, David Morton 鈥�14MA 鈥�19PhD, and Lori Walters.

The film is narrated by long-time CBS News radio reporter Peter King, who is known for his coverage of NASA and the space industry.

鈥淲麻豆原创 has dedicated itself to telling community stories as Central Florida鈥檚 Storytellers. It鈥檚 our commitment to the community to educate, engage and inspire through our content,鈥� says Phil Hoffman, W麻豆原创 executive director. 鈥�Presidents in Florida comes at an interesting time in history, with Florida taking a major role.鈥�

As a history teacher, I have long criticized President Warren G. Harding who is considered one of our least intelligent鈥攑erhaps the least intelligent鈥攑resident. In surveys of presidential performance, he always finishes near the bottom. He famously said about pending legislation: 鈥淪omewhere there must be a book that tells all about it, where I could go to straighten it out in my mind. But I don鈥檛 know where the book is, and maybe I couldn鈥檛 read it if I found it.鈥�

I thought it was a perfect example of his ignorance, but it also explains my position with the advance of technology. I have new sympathy for Harding, although I still vote for him to finish near the bottom.

For a couple hundred years, technology in education changed little. There were books, blackboards and students whose attitudes ranged from indifferent to enthusiastic. The students haven鈥檛 changed, but everything else has.

The original blackboards were made of slate, and during the 1930s there was a radical change as synthetic green boards replaced blackboards and white chalk gave way to yellow chalk. By the 1990s, the green boards鈥攕till called blackboards鈥攂egan to give way to white boards, which eliminated dusty chalk and the terrible screeching sound, but did lead to dried-out markers and difficult-to-erase boards.

The arrival of the overhead projector in the 1970s seemed to be the ultimate in high technology, slowly replacing the huge wall maps that graced classroom walls for a century.

That was the state of education technology until the 1990s when computers revolutionized teaching and changed everything.

For students raised on computers, it has been a seamless transition, while for veteran teachers such as myself, it has been a challenge to keep up with the latest in technology. I had total command of the blackboard and chalk鈥攁n era when the only problem was other teachers hoarding chalk. I still have a box of chalk in my desk鈥攋ust in case.

I also have hundreds of transparencies that I collected over a decade, slides, VHS tapes, and exhibits used to pass around the class. They are all useless in the computer age, but I can鈥檛 let them go.

The technology has come so rapidly and has changed education so much that it is difficult to keep up.

The biggest change is in online courses, which have grown exponentially. Today, nearly 6 million college students are enrolled in an online course and one in four college students is taking at least one online course.

For teachers, it has meant a sea change in how to reach students in a meaningful way. Schools such as the 麻豆原创 have established training to encourage best practices in online teaching. What I have learned is that online teaching contains remarkable opportunities and great limitations. It is possible to reach students who otherwise would not be able to take classes. The student in Afghanistan serving in the U.S. military, the student with job limitations, or the student with a disability is able to take courses at a major university.

But I have found limitations, primarily in stirring discussions, which are often the vital part of a face-to-face class. Students also cannot learn to interact with other students and make contacts for the future.

We are also faced with the rise of personal computers in the classroom. As we look at our students during class, we see a sea of laptops and wonder if they are using them to take notes or writing their friends on Facebook. One study found that students using laptops spend one third of their class time on Facebook, YouTube, playing games, watching videos (look for the earplugs, they are the tipoff) or instant messaging. It might be easy to blame the students and social media, but surveys have found that there is also a correlation between boring professors and how students use laptops.

Researchers are beginning to question the effectiveness of laptops鈥攅ven among those students who are actually taking notes. Too many of them are merely typing, not learning. They are using their laptop to parrot the teacher鈥檚 words, and their comprehension remains spotty. Scientific American reported that 鈥淭aking notes by hand is more effective than doing so with a laptop.鈥�

Finally, there is faculty use of social media to reach students. Some professors have taken to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to reach students. And some of the more intriguing ideas involve the students using social media to reach the teacher in online courses.

There was at least one advantage to the blackboard鈥攖he screeching sound kept everyone awake. But I doubt that a back-to-blackboards movement has any chance of success.

Jim Clark is a lecturer in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of History. He can be reached at James.Clark@ucf.edu.

When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, I noticed a student in class who seemed distracted. After class, I asked her if there was a problem, and she said she had been unable to reach her family in San Juan for three days.

It is difficult to ask students to concentrate on the intricacies of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act when they are going through the greatest personal crisis of their lives.

Increasingly, the concerns of the outside world have come to university campuses around the country, bringing the problems that confront every city. Campuses may seem idyllic with manicured lawns and well-tended buildings, but administrators have had to deal with problems that did not exist a generation ago. One student told me she would miss class because her brother was getting out of prison and her parents wanted her to go with them to pick him up.

Unfortunately, colleges are not immune to rising crime rates. In response, universities have established police departments with sworn officers, often replacing a small contingent of security guards. For its first few years, the 麻豆原创 did not have a police department. Today, there are some nearly 75 officers protecting a campus of about 80,000 who learn, work and visit here. The crimes they handle reflect society in general.

The influx of foreign students has also brought new issues. There are more than a million foreign students studying in the United States and more than 2,000 at the 麻豆原创. They often bring the problems of their homeland. One of my students from Turkey was worried about her family caught up a revolution. Another student was awaiting news about a terrorist bomb set off near her family home in London.

Foreign students also offer radically different points of view that often challenge my innate Americentrism. When I taught about China entering the Korean War, a Chinese student not only objected to my take on the situation, he asked 鈥� and was allowed 鈥� to draw a map on the board at the front of class and explain why China was right to join the war. When I spoke of problems with the Sandinista dictatorship in Nicaragua, a student whose family fled Nicaragua challenged me. In the next class, she brought a picture of several Sandinista soldiers and pointed to a youngster who was about 9 years old. The smiling boy holding an automatic weapon was the student鈥檚 father who fought with the Sandinistas as a child.

For faculty members, the global changes have created new challenges. The first years I taught, the student reasons for missing class ranged from flat tires to illness to an occasional family tragedy. The new reasons can present difficulties. What do you say to the student who missed class to take her grandmother to dialysis? I have dealt with legions of students seeking to take the final exam early who cite such reasons as 鈥淢y family is planning a vacation鈥� or 鈥淢y sorority is taking a cruise.鈥� Those have been predictable and easy to deal with. Much tougher is a woman who asks to take the exam early because her daughter is scheduled to undergo surgery.

There are also students who have dramatic memories of regimes in their home countries. One student escaped Cuba on a raft with his family, another fled Haiti in a small boat during one of the many regime changes in that country, and a third left Vietnam in a boat and was rescued at sea by a passing freighter. It seems strange to teach them history when they have lived history.

Most college administrations have recognized the changing landscape. Security has been tightened and schools have established offices to deal with the new set of problems.

As the world鈥檚 demands come to the universities, I imagine the issues we deal with will increase 鈥� and so it will be up to teachers and administrators to stay alert and find the solutions.

Jim Clark is a lecturer in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of History. He can be reached at James.Clark@ucf.edu.