Tag: Education

Ideas for visiting Virginia Commonwealth University graduate journalism class

I’ll be trekking down to Richmond, the capitol of the commonwealth I now call home, to speak with a graduate-level online journalism class on Friday evening. My esteemed Publish2 colleague (and all-around awesome dude) Ryan Sholin was not able to attend and I’ve been invited to discuss what we do, how journalism is changing and whatever other topics can fit into the session.

Maybe I’ll even throw in some of the ol’ tips.

As would be expected, I posed a question on Twitter about what I should discuss.

(Tweets curated and published with ease courtesy of this and this.)

Thanks to Craig Kanalley, Adam Glenn, Vadim Lavrusik, Mike Higdon and Yuri Victor for their advice. These are all great topics and I hope to touch on as many as possible.

As I read the responses, I thought more about the best approach for the visit. Here’s what I’m thinking now:

  • Introduce myself
  • Ask students to introduce themselves
  • Discuss their interests and goals
  • Ask what they want to discuss
  • Maybe show some things on the screen
  • Challenge assumptions, if warranted

The last point bounced around my head as I asked the question and read the answers, most likely because it was the topic of my Skype video chat with Dave Stanton‘s senior-level journalism class earlier this month.

Then I saw this and laughed:

  • danielbachhuber: Questioning the assumptions will always produce mind-blowing results.

Daniel and are often on the same wavelength, but this was just a funny coincidence. He sent that tweet via text message and wasn’t responding to me (I doubt he even saw the question).

I will qualify and say I don’t think you will always get mind-blowing results, but we could all use a little more challenging of assumptions now and then. Particularly when it comes to journalism education and how we deal with related conversations.

So let me know what you think of this approach and what would you discuss if you were speaking to a graduate-level online journalism class.

June 18 at noon EDT: Poynter live chat about avoiding social media overload

UPDATE: The chat is now embedded below.

Yet another CoverItLive blog! Yes, on Thursday at 1 p.m. EDT I will help lead a Poynter live chat about avoiding social media overload (during my lunch break):

How Do I Help Students Handle Information Overload on Social Media Sites?

The URL is simple and easy to remember (and tweet!), so please share the link with others!

http://bit.ly/poynterchat

Also, please come ready with questions and/or ready to help answer others’ questions.

If you are not able to follow the chat live, you can submit questions beforehand by commenting below or contacting me on Twitter.

I’ll be co-leading the discussion with Poynter’s Sara Quinn, a visual journalism faculty member who oversees the Poynter College Fellowship, which I attended in late May.

Speaking of cool Poynter people…

Mallary Tenore invited me to help with this chat, and I thank her for the opportunity. She’s awesome. If you don’t read her blog or follow her, you should.

I’d also like to thank Ellyn Angelotti, Poynter’s interactivity editor, who you should also follow.

Some background: While at #pcf09, some other fellows and I joined a live chat led by Emily Ingram. Ellyn said if I pitched a good idea, I could lead one too. I mentioned the topic of effectively using various social networks, which soon became this topic. Voila!

ONA student group: Journalism education discussion round-up

(This post originally appeared here on the Online News Association‘s student journalism discussion group.)

Last week there was an epic Twitter discussion about journalism education.

The conversation continued on the blogosphere and I’d like to offer a few links in the interest of keeping that conversation alive:

Rich Beckman discusses how to reshape journalism education – Greg Linch (me)

J-Schools Now – Emily Kostic

Peripheral education – Daniel Bachhuber

What do you think? Please post a comment or, if you blog about this topic, drop a link here.

UPDATE (Dec. 2 at 11 p.m.): Jared Silfies has also weighed in,

Education 2.0: The Internet makes us the computer wearing tennis shoes

Rich Beckman discusses how to reshape journalism education

I keep forgetting to post these notes, but tonight’s grand conversation on Twitter about journalism education reminded me.

Read the Twitter discussion: Twitter discussion about journalism education or see it as a Wordle visualization.

Context: Rich Beckman, Knight Chair in visual journalism at the University of Miami, gave a presentation on Nov. 11 about how we should reshape journalism education. He spoke as part of the first Knight Chair Lecture Series.

Continue reading Rich Beckman discusses how to reshape journalism education

TNTJ: Uncertainty is the greatest challenge facing young journalists

This post also appears at Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists, a new blogging ring for journalists under 30 started by Dave Lee. We will be discussing issues relevant to everyone in the media, particularly the younger members. Here is the first month’s topic:

The biggest challenge facing a young journalist in today’s media is…

Uncertainty.

This is a very simple answer to a very complex question. But it’s fitting because uncertainty is a common theme in many other challenges young journalists face. Uncertainty about many things:

  • Am I learning the right concepts and skills in school?
  • Will I find a job — let alone a good job — after graduation?
  • Should I join an innovative new venture that may not pay the bills?
  • Should I join an organization that may be behind the times but provides steady pay and benefits?
  • How can I improve journalism?
  • Should I speak up at work and risk causing trouble?
  • Should I be quiet and just do my job?
  • Should I go into PR?
  • What kind of news do people want to read, see and hear?
  • What economic models will be needed to save the different journalism industries?
  • Are they all worth saving?
  • What will my industry look like in five years?
  • Will my industry still exist in five years?

But more important than being able to identify these uncertainties is being able to deal with them. No one has all the answers and we can’t wait for all the answers.

The old models are broken and we can’t wait for someone else to fix them for us. Of what’s broken, there are some things that can be fixed and there are some that can’t.

We need to be able to work in an uncertain world. We need to be able to find a balance in some areas while breaking ground in others.

That’s why you need to have the right mindset and be open to change. That’s why you need to be entrepreneurial and be able to adapt.

We might not be able to reinvent journalism on our own, but we sure can lead the way.

UPDATE (Aug. 21): Check out a related post by Mindy McAdams, The kids are all right.