Can journalism education rise to the challenge? — from Teaching Online Journalism by Mindy McAdams
Excerpt:
Most journalism programs face the same challenges:
- How to find, employ and retain faculty who are comfortable teaching new skills and techniques.
- How to provide equipment and software to students (especially with shrinking budgets).
- How to keep up with a rapidly changing field.
- Perhaps most important: How to determine the best ways to prepare the journalists of tomorrow—our students.
Overall, considering programs of every size and at every kind of four-year college and university, I would say that just about everyone needs to do better. Yet the core issue really is that final point on my list—and I think every journalism program can address that and come up with satisfying answers.
Seek out new exemplars
The first step in determining the best ways to prepare the journalists of tomorrow is to go beyond traditional journalism organizations. Don’t look only at what newspapers, magazines, and radio and television news organizations are doing…