Susan Witte

- Associate Professor, School of Social Work

“The Triangle Initiative contributes enormously to both my research and my teaching. Developing Multimedia Connect with CCNMTL staff, we are producing new teaching tools and materials for our students at the Columbia School of Social Work alongside developing a more streamlined, efficient way to deliver a complex HIV prevention program for couples at risk. For instance, video is an important part of the tool kit both for the prevention program and the classroom, and the project has enabled us to produce a valuable new collection of professional communications training videos used for teaching couples therapy. Another innovation is the digitized version of the social support network map. Having this new tool has transformed the way I teach this topic. Instead of spending class time introducing the mapping process with pencil and paper, I can assign students to create their own digital maps in the field with clients. They bring them in to share with the class and reflect on how they can be useful in practice. The discussion is much more valuable and the students’ understanding is clearly better.

The ultimate goal of the Multimedia Connect project is to help more people practice safer sex so that they avoid getting or giving HIV - not only here in the U.S. but in places where HIV prevalence is much higher or rapidly increasing. We are well on our way to creating a highly effective digital environment to support couples in changing their behavior. In the meantime, we are breaking new ground in intervention design and in curriculum development.”

Conrad Johnson

- Conrad Johnson, Clinical Professor, Columbia Law School

“The C4 Calculator will help defense attorneys better counsel their clients, prosecutors charge defendants with more precision and with better understanding of the ramifications of those charges, and judges assure appropriate sentences are imposed, because it makes possible the previously impossible: the quick and easy consideration of the entire range of collateral consequences of a criminal charge.

Today, because we have nothing like this tool, legal professionals are not held accountable for knowing the full impact of the law. New York’s Chief Judge, Judith Kaye, wants to raise the bar. In the future, the C4 Calculator will allow lawyers and judges to better understand the effects of collateral consequences.

CCNMTL made the theoretical possible. They helped us articulate our thoughts and understand the relevance for our work, both within the University and beyond. Working with the Triangle Initiative has allowed us to imagine and realize the larger pedagogical, social and research opportunities that the C4 Calculator creates.”

Nabila El-Bassel

- Professor, School of Social Work, Director, Social Intervention Group

“CCNMTL’s Triangle Initiative is groundbreaking and employs state-of-the-art advanced media technologies to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. It will also contribute to increasing the use of technology in research dissemination.”