This month, throngs of fresh-eyed students are filing back onto campus (or logging in online), attempting to become journalists at a time when the very definition of a journalist is in constant flux.
Those who teach tomorrow’s journalists have a monumental task ahead of them: Not only do they have to instruct and mentor these students, they have to do so as the media landscape heaves and buckles beneath all of them. This can make for a wild ride for students, teachers and schools alike. But with the challenges comes great opportunity — for innovation, for creativity and for experimentation. All this week on MediaShift, we’re exploring how “J-School” is changing as we push forward into a new age of journalism and communications.
Series Posts
Why We Need Radical Change for Media Ethics, Not a Return to Basics, by Stephen Ward
Outsourcing Journalism 101: NewsU’s Experiment Falters, But Signals a Change, by Alexa Capeloto
A Multitude of Platforms Give Educators Tools to Showcase Student Work, by Susan Currie Sivek
Forcing Students to Step Outside Their Comfort Zone in Jerusalem, by Rachele Kanigel
Mediatwits #91: Back to J-School: Degree Needed?; MOOCs, Online Learning, Digital Skills, hosted by Mark Glaser with guests Howard Finberg, Eva Avenue and Amy Schmitz Weiss
Poll: What’s the Best Way to Learn Journalism Skills? by Mark Glaser
We Need a Digital-First Curriculum to Teach Modern Journalism by Cindy Royal
Teaching Journalism Abroad Means Challenging the Status Quo, by Rick Rockwell
Can Slow-Moving Universities Adapt Quickly Enough to Teach in the Digital Age? by Gary Kebbel
Past Coverage
Do Journalists Need a Journalism Degree? Educators, Practitioners Disagree by Susan Currie Sivek
Columbia J-School Looks to Shed ‘Old School’ Image with Curriculum Revamp by Mark Glaser
Memphis Brings Diversity to Entrepreneurship in Journalism Education by Carrie Brown
At Oklahoma J-School, Tornado Coverage Hits Home by Kathleen Johnson
Where Innovation and Collaboration Can Start in Higher Education: Digital Ninja Workshops by Amy Schmitz Weiss
Journalism Schools Become Incubators for Media Startups, Entrepreneurs by Rachele Kanigel
Special Series: Beyond J-School 2011 by various authors
If you have ideas you’d like to share or stories you’d like to see included in this mix, please holler.
Managing editor Courtney Lowery Cowgill is a writer, editor, teacher and farmer based in central Montana. In addition to her work with MediaShift, she teaches online courses at the University of Montana’s School of Journalism. Before she came to MediaShift, she was the co-founder and editor in chief of the now shuttered online magazine NewWest.Net. When she’s not writing, teaching or editing, she’s helping her husband wrangle 100 heritage turkeys, 30 acres of food, overgrown weeds or their young children.