Each week, MediaShift will list upcoming online trainings and courses for journalists and media people — with a focus on digital training. We’ll include our new DigitalEd courses, as well as those from Mediabistro, NewsU, KDMC, and others. If we’re missing anything, please let us know at mark [at] mediashift [dot] org.
FEATURED TRAINING
Self-Publishing 101: The Basics for Publishing Your Book
Are you thinking about self-publishing for the first time? Self-publishing is becoming a first option for authors instead of just a backup. Join us for a 1-hour training for self-publishing newbies where we walk you through the ins and outs of publishing a book. We’ll walk you through the process of self-publishing a book and teach you how to avoid the pitfalls that first-time authors make.
Date and time: August 19, 2015, 1 pm ET
Place: online
Price: $29 (25% off!)
Podcasting: Create your own five-star podcast
According to reports from Edison Research, the number of consumers who listen to podcasts has jumped 163% from 2006 to 2012. And with shows like Serial, This American Life, 99% Invisible, and Radiolab, millions of listeners are informed and educated every week. If you are looking to connect with influencers, customers, and the world, podcasts are the way to go. In this course, you will create your own podcast. You’ll define and refine your show’s concept and audience, record the first episode of your podcast, and publish it to the world.
Date and time: August 17 – September 21, 2015
Place: online
Price: $470.
AUGUST 2015
Creative Writing Foundations: Magazine
Every established magazine writer once had to learn the basics. This course will teach you the foundations of what makes great magazine writing, and will also cover how to write a great pitch, how to research your article and interview your subjects, a grammar review, and matching the tone of different publications.
Date and time: August 17 – September 21, 2015
Place: online
Price: $470
Picture Editing 101: Essentials and Ethics (August 2015)
Strong visual storytelling relies on effective picture editing. To tell compelling stories, you need to understand the principles of photo composition, selection, sequencing and presentation. In this course, you’ll examine the process of editing and practice the techniques you need to develop compelling narratives.
Date and time: August 3-28, 2015
Place: online
Price: $429. Applications due July 31, 2015.
Digital Editorial Production
Navigate the complex waters of content production and transform yourself in to a production pro. This course will teach you how leverage tools of online production to ensure a your users have a dynamic and engaging experience with the content on your website.
Date and time: August 3-24, 2015
Place: online
Price: $470
TV Power Reporting Academy
For 17 years, The Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins has led this seminar that is a bedrock for Poynter teaching. You will get feedback on your work, will sharpen your writing and storytelling skills, learn how to enterprise stories and look beyond the obvious, tired ways of covering daily news. Of course, Poynter focuses on ethical decision-making skills and adding diverse voices to stories. We keep things practical, usable and affordable. We’re combining the best of online learning with in-person coaching and mentoring to help you tell stronger stories and make those tough calls on deadline.
Date and time: August 17 – September 25, 2015
Place: online
Price: $500. Applications are due July 31, 2015
Crowdfunding 101 for Journalism Projects
Crowdfunding is the latest trend in a media world in search of money beyond ads, and it’s the most exciting thing happening in journalism today. This is course will not only teach you how to fund your ideas but will introduce you to innovation happening at the edges of our industry. We will examine crowdfunding basics, the key elements of successful campaigns and take a look at 20 of the most interesting ways reporters, photographers and filmmakers around the world are using this tool. We’ll discuss why people give money to crowdfunded journalism and the kinds of stories people are most likely to pay to see reported.
Date and time: August 18, 2015, 1 pm ET
Place: online
Price: $29 (25% off!)
The Inner Life of Grammar
You’ve mastered agreement; you know how to make a sentence parallel; pronouns give you no trouble. But do you know what a fused participle is, how to use the hortatory subjunctive or when you need a double genitive? The inner workings of grammar don’t have to be a mystery. This session delves deeply into the mechanics of English, so that when you encounter a sentence that “just doesn’t sound right” you’ll know why — and you’ll know how to fix it.
Date and time: August 20, 2015, 2 pm ET
Place: online
Price: $29.95
Build a Student Media Powerhouse on Digital, Mobile and Social
To better engage readers, motivate staffers and report the news, student media teams must ramp up their daily digital, mobile and social media efforts. With a new school year set to start, this one-hour session will feature a rapid-fire breakdown of ideas and exercises aimed at fueling your new media storytelling and audience engagement potential. The focus will be on providing innovative, yet practical tips and the types of examples you can duplicate or adapt for use at your own outlet ASAP — every day of the week. Ample time will also be set aside to answer attendee questions.
Date and time: August 26, 2015, 1 pm ET
Place: online
Price: $39
SEPTEMBER 2015
Web Headlines & SEO Essentials (September 2015)
Headlines appear on the Web with photos, graphics or other type, but usually they stand alone. That means you’ve only got a few words—and a few seconds—to tell readers what the story (or blog posting, video or photo gallery) is about. In this course, we’ll focus on considerations unique to the Web. Chief among these, of course, is SEO – a set of technologies and techniques that can bring more eyes to your content and more visitors to your site.
Date and time: September 7-22, 2015
Place: online
Price: $299
Investigative Storytelling, Lessons from a Career in Radio: Master Class with Howard Berkes
In this Poynter NewsU event, NPR investigations correspondent Howard Berkes will discuss his approach to audio storytelling, including why and how to gather compelling audio, how audio often needs a reporter’s finely-tuned writing to make it work best and how to tell complex stories solely with sound and spoken words. Participants will also hear about Berkes’ approach to investigative stories, including the challenge of rendering reams of data, documents, perspectives and facts into a compelling audio narrative. He’ll talk about how he humanizes data and documents, and how he decides what fits into a story or series after days, weeks and even months of work.
Date and time: September 25, 2015, 10:30 am ET
Place: online
Price: $99
OCTOBER 2015
Mobile Media: Producing Visual Stories With the iPhone
This two-day certificate workshop provides all skills necessary for shooting quality video on your iPhone. We’ll take you through how to capture key moments from events, product launches, conferences and interviews to publishing on social networks or your website. You’ll work hands-on with experienced TV and online content producers to learn foolproof techniques for capturing professional looking videos on your iPhone. Plus, we’ve added an optional one-day lab: Advanced Video Editing for the iPhone.
Date and time: October 1-2, 2015, from 8:30 – 4:30 daily; additional one-day advanced editing lab October 3, 2015, from 8:30-4:30.
Place: 160 Spear Street in San Francisco, CA; additional one-day advanced editing lab at 141 North Gate Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA
Price: $825 USD for two-day workshop on October 1-2, 2015. Register before September 10, 2015 for a 10% discount. Discount automatically applied during registration. $350 USD for one-day advanced video editing lab for the iPhone on October 3, 2015. Register Here – Advance Registration Required.
App Development Strategy and Marketing
As the app ecosystem continues to explode, many magazine publishers and content creators are still wrestling with app development and overall audience marketing and engagement strategies to ensure their app performs in an ever increasing competitive marketplace. This two-day certificate workshop will help you determine what app development strategy is the right fit for your organization with best practices for building and engaging your digital app audience.
Date and time: October 7-8, 2015, from 8:30 – 4:30 daily
Place: Graduate School of Journalism, University of California Berkeley, near San Francisco.
Price: $865. Register before September 4, 2015 for a 10% discount.
NewsTrain: Digital Skills for Journalists, Monroe Edition
Sessions include maximizing your use of social media for branding and reporting; improving your mobile newsgathering; generating better data-driven enterprise stories; mastering the mobile-first, multi-platform news cycle; and navigating the new ethical challenges of digital journalism.
Date and time: October 15-16, 2015
Place: University of Louisiana at Monroe Student Union Building, Mitchell St., Monroe, Louisiana.
Price: $75. It includes dinner on Oct. 15 and Continental breakfast, lunch and snacks.
NewsTrain: Digital Skills for Journalists, DeKalb Edition
You will learn how to: produce enterprise stories efficiently; get started with data journalism; maximize your use of social media for reporting, as well as for personal branding and community engagement; shoot engaging smartphone video; use audience analytics to get your stories read; take create approaches to local features coverage; and unleash your watchdog with beat mapping.
Date and time: October 29-30, 2015
Place: Northern Illinois University, where visitor parking is at 200 Carroll Ave., DeKalb, Illinois 60115. The workshop sessions will be in the university’s Holmes Student Center, 340 Carroll Ave., in the Heritage and Lincoln rooms.
Price: $75. It includes Continental breakfast, lunch and snacks each day.
Digital Media Skills Certificate
You’ll experience best practices for telling stories to an online audience—through social media, on the web and to a mobile audience. You’ll learn to engage with video, digital photography, audio recordings, and data visualizations. You’ll have the tools and storytelling skills to produce, edit and post content 24/7. This includes having the skills to code or use tools for quick production. We’ll also teach you what metrics are important in determining engagement and how to market your product or personal brand. Upon completion of this program, participants will have the knowledge and tools necessary to apply their new skill set immediately to their profession.
Date and time: October – December 2015
Place: Graduate School of Journalism, University of California Berkeley, near San Francisco.
Price: TBA
NOVEMBER 2015
NewsTrain: Digital Skills for Journalists, Philadelphia Edition
This will be a digital-storytelling boot camp: two full days of training that will help you make smart decisions about the best way to tell a story. This workshop will introduce you to: producing video, recording sound and shooting photos with your smartphone; writing news for mobile; using data to drive enterprise reporting; and maximizing your use of social media for both reporting and branding.
Date and time: Nov. 13-14, 2015
Place: Temple University in Philadelphia. The Nov. 13 classes will be in Mitten Hall, 1913 N. Broad St. The Nov. 14 classes will be in Annenberg Hall, 2020 N.13th St. The Friday evening reception will be in the Atrium of Annenberg Hall.
Price: $75. It includes two days of training, Continental breakfasts and lunches, plus a reception on Friday evening.
JANUARY 2016
Visual Storytelling
A one-week workshop with seminar style and hands-on training in essential skills for producing visual content to a digital-first media environment.
Date and time: January 11-16, 2016, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am- 5:00 pm daily. Morning coffee and networking lunch is included.
Place: Graduate School of Journalism, University of California Berkeley, near San Francisco.
Price: $2,400 USD, Register Early for 10% discount. Discount immediately applied at registration.
NewsTrain: Digital Skills for Journalists, Lexington Edition
In this daylong NewsTrain, you will learn how to maximize your use of social media for reporting, as well as for personal branding and community engagement; tell video stories more efficiently in ways other than the traditional TV-news segment; shoot video effectively on your smartphone; spot enterprise stories in data, whether your beat is government, sports, the arts, business or education.
Date and time: Jan. 21, 2016
Place: Hyatt Regency Lexington, 401 W. High St., Lexington, Kentucky 40507. The workshop precedes the Kentucky Press Association Winter Convention at the hotel.
Price: $75. It includes a full day of training, breakfast, lunch and snacks.
More course listings are available at MediaShift’s DigitalEd, Poynter’s NewsU, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, Columbia Journalism School’s Continuing Education listings and Mediabistro.
Sonia Paul is a freelance journalist based in India, and is the editorial assistant at PBS MediaShift. She is on Twitter @sonipaul.
