SAN FRANCISO (April 1, 2015) — PBS MediaShift is excited to announce the launch of our new online training series, DigitalEd, in partnership with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri and the BigMarker browser-based online conferencing platform.

DigitalEd is a series of live, weekly, one-hour premium online trainings to showcase the knowledge at top journalism schools and to give participants practical information from smart instructors. Those topics will range from measuring impact of stories; shooting mobile video; increasing audience engagement; and creating an entrepreneurial venture. Eventually DigitalEd will include multi-week courses as well with certificates offered.

“In surveys, the MediaShift audience has asked for more workshops and training, and we’re trying to provide more of that for them,” said Mark Glaser, founder and executive editor of PBS MediaShift. “Thanks to seed funding from RJI, we’re able to offer practical, how-to training that will give people the skills they need to succeed.”

MediaShift will initially partner with RJI and include instructors from the University of Missouri, and eventually partner with other journalism and communications schools. The idea is to give people a taste of the quality of education at top schools.

As the platform for DigitalEd, BigMarker offers a simple browser-based solution for live-video conferences, handles e-commerce and archives video so people can experience the training on their own time.

“We’re excited to partner with PBS MediaShift on its new DigitalEd online training courses,” said BigMarker CEO Zhu-Song Mei. “It’s great to host innovation trainings on our platform to help spread the word about our great offerings of talks, events and classes.”

The initial DigitalEd sessions, in partnership with RJI, are as follows:

• April 22, 4 PM ET: How to Measure Impact for Your Crucial Content, taught by Joy Mayer, associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, and a former RJI Fellow. Mayer will help content creators measure impact on their important, in-depth stories to go beyond simple metrics.
• April 29, 1 PM ET: How to Become a Mobile Ninja in the Field, taught by Judd Slivka, assistant professor of convergence journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. Slivka will teach various mobile techniques that require less than 90 seconds to create content that goes up to social media and lets you get back to reporting.

James Buck is MediaShift’s manager for DigitalEd and will schedule instructors and topics for future trainings. Buck is a multimedia photographer and former Washington Post Innovations Editor and has conducted trainings and helped drive digital transition in a wide range of newsrooms.

“Digital changes in the journalism industry represent an incredible challenge and an incredible opportunity,” said Buck. “I’m excited to launch an effort that will help media professionals stay ahead of the curve and drive the kind of innovation that keeps our industry strong.”

One-hour trainings will cost $39 each, with handouts and personal interactions with instructors included. MediaShift is also developing free sponsor-supported training, to be launched in the coming months.

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PBS MediaShift is the premier destination for insight and analysis at the intersection of media and technology. The MediaShift network includes the sites MediaShift, Idea Lab and EducationShift, as well as a series of mixers and workshops, e-books, a weekly podcast and DigitalEd online training. MediaShift tells stories of how the shifting media landscape is changing the way we get our news and information. MediaShift correspondents explain how traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, music and movies are dealing with digital disruption and adapting their business models for a more mobile, networked world.

The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute‘s work crosses diverse specialties within journalism, including media convergence, editorial content and methods, the evolution of advertising, innovation in management and the impact of new technologies. It also includes varied fields on campus such as law, computer science, marketing, education and other disciplines. In 2012, the Foundation awarded RJI a $30.1 million endowment gift to guarantee permanent funding to pursue innovation, collaboration and research in media industries. Learn more about RJI here.

BigMarker’s mission is helping people connect, learn and share experiences in a live setting online. Big Marker offers a patented browser-based webinar platform where people can host, discover and follow webinars and online events,. Founded in 2010, BigMarker’s platform has hosted 35,000+ conferences by 5,000+ organizations in 190 countries in 14 languages. Learn more about BigMarker here.

Contacts:

Mark Glaser, PBS MediaShift, Executive Editor: mark@mediashift.org

Jennifer Nelson, Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, Senior Information Specialist, nelsonjenn@rjionline.org, (573) 884-5599

Joe Yeoman, BigMarker, Director of Partnerships, Joe@bigmarker.com, (313) 869-9870