What I am seeing in the research I have done is the idea that Journalists need to be up to date on all the new technology that is out there, but the practices in the classroom (those getting a degree) dont match up with the expectations. So what I am looking at is the idea of how can the classroom better prepare journalism students for a career in the field by using all the technology or why dont programs use the technology that we are taking about here in class to better prepare journalism students for theri future career. One interesting thing I did find in my reading so far is that a big number of students who get degrees in journalism dont plan on being journalists, which I found to be odd. But the reason they gave was they wanted the skills and tools that were offered in that program to use in a field they might go into in the future. Some were going into Public Relations (some what realted) or Communications of some sort, or some other area, but felt that a degree in Journalism would benefit them. What many students wanted more of were classes in the use of the technology that were being used in the field by journalists currently. There seems to be a communication breakdown between what is expected of journalists in the field and what is being taught in the classroom. This is creating an issue because practical application is so important and if students want to be hired when they are done with school they need to tools for the job. There are some schools who are creating programs that incorporate technology but they are few and far between as well as they seem to be getting flack from the administration to make the classess still words in a row type of classes. What is essential is that those who are teaching listen to those that are hiring. If you want to work in a bank you need to know how to add, but also need people skills, how to write, etc. What to be a journalist you need to know how write but also how to use the technology to reach your audience. Twitter, SNS, hand camera, the web, blogging, vlogging, podcasting, and anything I have missed. Make it revlent.
March 25, 2010
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This sounds pretty good, but I have two things I’d suggest you keep in mind as you come into the finish for this project. First, keep it as narrow and as focused as you can. I kind of see you still covering a bunch of different topics/areas here. Second, make sure you are making “a point” here– that is, the “why” students should learn new media technologies like Twitter (or whatever) rather than “what” they should learn. If that makes sense….
Comment by Steven D. Krause — March 28, 2010 @ 8:48 pm |
The why they need to learn them is because that is where the future of news it going. I want this to be part of my project talking about ideology and the fact that I am seeing a lot of schools still using the “old” way and teaching only about print, but not how to transfer that into web, video, etc., when all these papers out going out of business. What is the point of print if print will not be around as much any more. How does that sound?
Comment by cbobee — March 29, 2010 @ 11:27 am |
Sounds interesting Cristin. It seems like you suggest two directions here. 1.) How journalism classes can better prepare students for future jobs and 2.) Why current journalism programs don’t align with this goal. Perhaps you should focus on the first part more than the second. The “why?” is interesting, but it probably won’t do anything to strengthen your argument that journalism classes should be teaching “technology” to better prepare them for what current employers are looking for. Also, you may want to consider one or two specific types of “technology” that you think would benefit journalism students the most… perhaps blogs or even twitter (since it forces one to be concise, which is definately an important aspect of traditional journalism). Might be better than just talking about the all-encompassing “technology.”
Comment by giventofly99 — March 29, 2010 @ 5:51 pm |