Teaching Journalism

Teaching online journalism ethics

Journalists using social networking sites, photo sharing sites and other new media technologies to gather information face new ethical challenges. Journalists are being forced to re-evaluate such questions as "What is in the public domain?" and "Is it okay to publish information obtained by 'lurking?'" This Online Journalism Blog post describes some of those challenges and reviews a new book called Online Journalism Ethics: Traditions and Transitions by Cecilia Friend and Jane B. Singer that journalism educators may find helpful in adapting their ethics courses.

Teaching students to evaluate websites

Journalism students rely heavily on the internet for research, but are not always good judges of what's credible and what's just plain wrong. This guide by John R. Henderson, a reference librarian at Ithaca College in New York, provides a clear set of guidelines for evaluating websites. He also offers some fascinating examples that should help students be more skeptical about what they find online, even if they find the same information on multiple websites.

Teaching investigative journalism

An extensive and detailed guide for educators on investigative journalism from the people who produce the show seen on PBS called Exposé, America's Investigative Reports. It includes links to useful pieces by professionals about selecting stories, conducting interviews, locating documents and packaging stories.

The one-minute (OK maybe five-minute) editor

Some advice about how to be a good editor/teacher when you only have a few minutes, from Steve Buttry, the director of Tailored Programs at the American Press Institute.

Seven basic rules of investigative reporting

The Committee for Concerned Journalists has a variety of tools on its website to help journalists, students and teachers, including this list of seven basic tools for Investigative Reporting produced by Clark Mollenhoff with the Des Moines Register.

Teaching numeracy

This site called Statistics Every Writer Should Know provides a simple guide to understanding basic statistics for journalists who might not know math. It's put together by Robert Niles, a journalist and website editor in California. It includes clear, simple explanations, examples and quizzes to help journalists and journalism students understand such things as mean, median, margins of error and interpreting statistics.

Math test for journalists

An online quiz (with answers) for journalists and journalism students to test their ability to do the kinds of basic calculations they are often required to do for their news stories. It was prepared by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Another math test for journalists

A second math test for journlaists by Steve Doig at Arizona State University who admits to being inspired by the one above.

Teaching journalists - A 25-year odyssey

Roy Peter Clark is a senior scholar with the Poynter Insitute for Media Studies. In 2002 he wrote a list of tips for journalism educators which can be found at the site called No Train, No Gain.

Neverwinter Nights in the classroom

Two university professors in Minnesota are using a graphically-sophisticated computer game, produced by a Canadian gaming company, in which the students transform the medieval wizards and rogues into news editors, reporters, and other modern characters. They roleplay their way through a major news event.

So, you want to teach journalism

This tipsheet from a journalist-turned-teacher acts as a great checklist for anyone making the transition from the newsroom to the classroom, covering everything from syllabus preparation to student management.

Teaching newspaper design

This is a site full of provocative ideas about newspaper layout and design from a Virgina-based design company. It includes lots of visual examples and thought provoking content.

The challenge of teaching business journalism

An article by a Mark Anderson, a teacher at Algonquin College in Ottawa, about the special challenges of making young journalism students see the value in learning business journalism. The piece ran in the Ottawa Citizen in January, 2007