College Teaching

Class discussion on university goals and formlating a mission statement. Continue reading →

Thanks to Jonathan for sending on this video:

Friends, I came across this piece and thought it was interesting in light of our last class session on various uses of the technology for teaching/connecting with students and even a larger audience. It also interested me because I am a real Tolkien fan myself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/09/AR2011020903117.html

Bass

Ellen Mrjra’s review of Media Studies: An Introduction is a helpful tool when deciding curriculum for a new media class.  Media is evolving at a rapid pace and it is important for textbooks and scholars to keep up with this pace in order for the next generation of journalists to stay relevant and informed.

With the introduction of the World Wide Web in the early 1990’s, media changed forever.  “Traditional delineations among producer, channel, and audience have been blended, merged, destroyed. Web 2.0 demands a Media Studies 2.0 response.” Mrjra’s analysis and review of the text book Media Studies: An Introduction explores the issue of “textbooks having only a ‘vague recognition of the internet and new digital media.’”

It is important for students to see the evolution of print media into digital media.  This article explains that transition and offers a textbook that she recommends media professors apply in the classroom.  The author of the textbook, Robert Kolker, is professor emeritus at UMd and is a “leading twentieth-century mass media scholar.”

Instead of chapters focusing on the traditional thoughts of media, for example, “journalist-as-sleuth,” Kolker uses unique current events to explain how media has changed. He cites Anderson Cooper’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina and NBC’s To Catch A Predator. Mrjra writes, “by studying these and other patterns of kind, Kolker gives students the ability to analyze the culture of the media.”

Kolker breaks his textbook down into “threads.”  These threads, or key points, are intertwined throughout the textbook, very similar to the way the Internet functions.

Interestingly, in an attempt to stay current, and realizing that a textbook itself is static in the digital age each chapter ends with URLs that students may go to in order to learn more about a certain topic.

As new media evolves it is critical for new media education to keep pace.  Textbooks and reviews like this ensure that our institutions are providing the highest level of media education.

http://proquest.umi.com.mutex.gmu.edu/pqdweb?index=2&did=2041368061&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1298043518&clientId=31810

I have chosen to read articles from the Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. My plan is to teach Journalism and Communication on the freshman and sophomore level.  This journal offers many different articles from scholars in the field.

It is important to stay current on the different issues that face the Journalism field.  This journal tackles those issues and helps instructors inform their students of what is happening in the journalism world, both in class and on the job.  For example, an article entitled, Rigor or Remediation? Exploring Writing Proficiency and Assessment Measures in Journalism and Mass Communication Programs explores how proficient students are when entering the program and whether teachers should use a rigorous approach to enhance proficiency or if the teacher should use a remedial approach in order to help the students develop.  The article also touches on the notion of whether teachers need to meet the students at their needs as opposed to teaching a lesson and assuming the student is prepared to follow that particular lesson.

I believe this article will help to prepare me for assessing students abilities and deciding the best way to teach them.  This pertains to Bain’s readings as well, all students learn at different levels and different ways and it is important for me, as a teacher, to understand each student’s proficiency and determine what the best method of teaching will be.

Another interesting article within the journal is 2009 Assessment of the Status of Diversity Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Programs. This article states:

Using survey responses from 105 academic programs, findings support earlier studies that found the number of special courses on media diversity is increasing steadily. Findings also identify a preference for integrating diversity content across the curriculum. Among factors pushing these improvements are accreditation standards and an increasing multicultural environment.

This covers many different aspects of what I am currently working on.  My field will be Community College specific, so this article not only touches on improving the diversity of the types of classes offered but also on creating a more multicultural atmosphere.  This is a major discussion at the Community College level.  I can benefit from learning how to integrate the classrooms and effectively teach all the students.

Lastly, a passage by John D. Shelley is intriguing.  The passage discusses being a correspondent in World War II where he covered the Battle of the Bulge.  This passage and many like it are important for Journalism students to read.  First hand accounts of embedded journalists show the different and unique challenges of covering stories in a war zone.  This is an extremely valid topic considering today’s strife around the world.

Reading a journal that covers topics ranging from how to teach journalism students to real life reporting and the challenges that come with the job will help me stay abreast of the most current issues within journalism.  I look forward to learning about the growing practices of teaching journalism and the evolution from print to digital, also, the passages and stories of those who have worked as teachers, reporters and editors for many years and are now in a place to pass on their expertise.