Integrating social media into the classroom: resources, readings and lessons learned.

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Gary Ritzenthaler, University of Florida, Ph.D. Student/Instructor, @gritz99

Introduction

At the 2009 AEJMC Convention in Boston, I presented a paper (written with David Stanton and Glenn Rickard) entitled, “Facebook groups as an e-learning component in higher education courses: one successful case study.” (See the paper here or presentation slides here.) The paper described a study we did in 2007 regarding students use of a Facebook group as a course component. That 2007 study, in turn, grew out of my experiments in building social media websites for a college audience, undertaken as a part of my master’s degree on social media, completed in 2006.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Social Media and Copy Editing

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Yanick Rice Lamb, Howard University, Associate Professor/Sequence Coordinator, @yrlamb

Students use social media in their daily lives, but they don’t always think about using those skills as journalists. We are revamping how we teach Copy Editing to place a greater emphasis on Interactive Editing for newspapers, magazines and the Internet in print, on the Internet and on mobile devices. Social media is also a key part of the curriculum. However, we stress the importance of solid reporting, sound editing and high journalistic standards so that students don’t focus on speed, bells and whistles at the expense of quality.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Using Social Media to Connect Content and Develop Individual Responsibility

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Serena Carpenter, Arizona State University, Assistant Professor, @drcarp

I design and teach Online Media, which is the required foundation skills online/Web reporting class for journalism and public relations students at the Cronkite School. I focus my social media efforts on helping them understand how to connect content to online users and build their online reputation. To accomplish this goal, I weave social media throughout my assignments and lectures. I have highlighted my major social media exercises for my class.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s New in Cross-National Comparative Communication Research

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Vanessa de Macedo Higgins, The University of Texas at Austin
with collaboration of Thomas Hanitzsch, University of Munich

International Communication • Comparative communication research, an inherent part of international communication studies, is receiving increasing attention from communication scholars, funding organizations and publications. Technological, political and economical developments of the late 20th century, combined with increased global media and transnationalism, have elevated the subject of comparative research to new prominence.

Comparative communication research has also faced its share of critics. There are those who doubt the accuracy of cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons, who fear reductionism and the lack of theoretical base in such studies. In a wide range of studies, cross-national communication researchers have recently undertaken major efforts to address such methodological and theoretical challenges. These projects bring innovation and a better understanding of communication phenomena, cultures and initiatives. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , ,

Bringing back the written word: 24 hours on the iPad

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Robert Gutsche Jr. and David Schwartz

It seemed impossible.

How could we go 24 hours without touching our laptops? Could we use our smart phones only for making and answering calls? Could we really live off of an iPad for all we do?

Those were the goals, anyway – to see how much we could do over 24 hours without any other device. Just the iPad.

So, for two days last week, the two of us, both journalism educators, avid news-users and news men, attempted to use Apple’s iPad for all of our electronic communications needs.

It worked – kind of.

These, then, are the major points from our iPad experience, and our thoughts on what it could do for journalism and journalism education. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Osmosis, Active Pursuits, and the Role of Guidance in the Graduate Experience

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Jennette Lovejoy, Ohio University

Similar to Breed’s (1955) description of how newsroom socialization happens by “osmosis,” graduate students also learn by keenly listening and watching the habits, routines, and accepted norms of the faculty and administration at their respective institutions. Open faculty meetings, job talks, interactions at the copier, advising, and co-authoring research papers are a few ways we are molded and shaped into academicians. At conferences, we give paper presentations side-by-side tenured faculty and our peers. We receive feedback on teaching evaluations as if we were faculty. When submitting a manuscript, we receive the same peer review as if we were all endowed chairs. We hope.

There is value in this equality; it allows us to know and experience the world of academia as a student with the clear reality of what it may be like in a faculty position, if we watch and take the time to listen and work with faculty who are willing to share their time, insights, and expertise with us. So much of navigating class schedules, teaching loads, research agendas, and leadership involvement is being able to watch someone else do it, ask questions, and learn through the process so that there are not disillusions or unrealistic expectations. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , ,

The Challenge We Face Today

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Elliot King, Loyola University Maryland

History • Among the widespread upheaval underway in journalism is a redefinition of the role of the academy in journalism education. Outright scorn for the study of journalism in college and universities has long been one of the odd and rather remarkable features of the journalism profession. It is hard to think of any other professional occupation in which it practitioners denigrated what students could learn if they studied a field as their undergraduate majors. Students interested in journalism were urged by professionals to study something else. The journalism was best learned on the job, the argument went.

Well, those days are over. Nobody pretends that any organization has the time or resources to teach entry-level journalists the tools of the trade. In fact, the opposite is true. The most common entry-level position in broadcast news is that of a backpack journalist, somebody who can report, use the camera, and edit the package. These are skills learned in journalism school these days, not in the field. In fact, for the first time, I have heard several job seekers report that people in the field are telling them to get masters degrees in journalism and master’s degrees give people a big advantage in the job search. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , , , ,

Media Careers in Changing Times

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

By Tony DeMars, Texas A&M University-Commerce

The mission of the AEJMC Internships and Careers Interest Group is to research and discuss how JMC educators can help college students get into media and media-related careers after graduation. In tough economic times, this may be even more problematic than usual. Even worse, as we struggle through a tough economy, we also struggle with what mass media has become and will become.

How are media companies and job options changing? We all know legacy media are undergoing significant changes. Newspapers continue to struggle, in part because of how citizens access news and in part because of a loss of traditional revenue sources. Local market TV stations are likewise finding competition and technology issues eroding their audience. A recent college graduate’s experience is one good example of today’s realities. This student completed a degree in broadcast journalism about three years ago and was hired into a reporting position in a medium/small market, then moved within just over a year to a medium market, then to a Top 10 market. This upward movement within such a short period of time represents how much faster good TV news talent can move up today. She now sees an even more drastic reality, reporting that her station has laid off several good people in recent months. Further, while she has never had to one-man band herself, the last three reporters hired at her station are all one man band reporters—making one-third of her salary—and are much younger. The newest hire had just recently graduated from college. Again, this is in a Top 10 TV market. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: ,

Revving Up Mobile Delivery of Information

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

There's an app for that.By Lori Blachford, Drake University

Magazine • I have a bad case of the apps. Symptoms: shrinking wallet, trance-like episodes, thumb cramps. I’m not alone. Apple reports that iPhone and iPod Touch owners have downloaded more than 3 billion applications since the App Store launched July 2008.

And it’s not just Apple (although, iLovers by far rule the category with more than 100,000 options); apps are a growing business for all mobile devices. The Motorola Droid phone, which was introduced in November, already has surpassed 10,000 apps and is growing fast. Intel is working on apps for its netbooks.

There’s something for everyone. Apps can be fun (Lightsaber Unleashed; when you need the Force with you), practical (iHandy Level; no more crooked shelves), informative (DunkinDonutz Locator; name says it all), educational (NASA; great photos), and downright silly (iDragPaper; try to pull toilet paper off the roll in record time). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , ,

Paradigm Shifting in Journalism: When Readers and Community Participation Strengthen Media Companies

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Share

by Manuel Chavez, Ph.D., Michigan State University
and Amy Schmitz Weiss, Ph.D., San Diego State University

The Elusive Challenge of Infusing Public Input in the News Process

It is no surprise to see how media companies in the United States are solving their economic problems, especially as related to the print industry: layoffs, hiring freezing, page reduction, international bureaus closings, and ultimately draconian newsroom reductions. The crisis has been more severe here than in other parts of the world mainly because of a voracious economic model that relied heavily in captive traditional advertising. And yes, as one travels to countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia is startling to see the vitality, size, and variation of newspapers and weekly magazines, simply put: newsstands and traditional press kiosks are alive and well.

There is one international example that shows a successful form of news production with public input that stands out in these challenging times. It is surprising if not paradoxical that a news organization in Mexico for almost twenty years has practiced the inclusion of the public (readers and community members) into the process of creating more attractive and relevant news products from print to websites. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »