RESTRUCTURING

THE CURRICULA:

A NEW DIGITAL

FOUNDATION

Francine EdwardsDelaware State University

Department of Mass Communications

Session Overview:

• Successful Learners

• Creating a Thinking Curriculum

• Technology + Industry = A New Curriculum

• Skills Demanded by the Industry

• Digital First

• Reframing How We Teach

Successful Learners1

The Characteristics

• Knowledgeable - learners acquire a substantial and organized body of knowledge which they can use fluently to make sense of the world, solve problems, and make decisions.

• Self-determined - learners feel capable and continually strive to acquire and use the tools they need to learn.

• Strategic - learners have a repertoire of thinking and learning strategies that they use with skill and purpose to think about and control their own learning and guide their learning of new content

• Empathetic - learners are able to view themselves and the world from perspectives other than their own, including perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds.

A major goal of restructuring in general and thinking curricula in

particular is to develop these qualities in all students.

1Fennimore T.F. and Tinzmann, M.B. (1990). What is a Thinking Curriculum. NCREL, Utica, NY.

Creating a Thinking Curricula2

• Promoting in-depth learning

– Weds process and content, a union that typifies real-world situations;

– A thinking curriculum does not strive to produce "walking- encyclopedias," rather producing knowledgeable students who possess key concepts and tools for making, using, and communicating knowledge in a field.

• Content and process objectives are situated in real-world tasks

– Students should engage in complex and holistic thinking. This type of thinking reflects what individuals performing tasks outside of school do.

– Out of school thinking is:

• (1) situated in meaningful processes of making decisions, solving problems, evaluating situations, and so on,

• (2) shared among individuals also involved in carrying out the task,

• (3) aided by the use of tools, such as reference books, calculators, and other technology, and

• (4) connected to real-world objects, events, and situations. In addition, out-of-school thinking is often interdisciplinary, cutting across many "school subjects.

2Fennimore T.F. and Tinzmann, M.B. (1990). What is a Thinking Curriculum. NCREL, Utica, NY.

Creating a Thinking Curricula2 (continued)• Tasks are sequenced to situate holistic performances in increasingly challenging

environments

– Rather than fragmenting the process, it would be taught in a context or environment in which students can succeed.

– Thinking curriculum is not chopped up into isolated skills and facts; rather, it involves the holistic performance of meaningful, complex tasks in increasingly challenging environments.

– A thinking curriculum promotes a sense of efficacy and confidence in students

Why Should we Consider a Thinking CurriculaChanges in society itself require higher-order learning.

Consider the following shifts:

• Individuals will have a number of jobs in the course of their careers, and those jobs are continually redefined by rapidly advancing technology, decentralization of authority in the workplace, and changes in the norms that define the culture of the workplace.

• In the political realm, citizens struggle with difficult issues related to technology, concerns for social equity in a pluralistic society, and the nation's greater interdependence with other countries.

• Our economy is shifting from a traditional industrial base to an information and service base.

Technology + Industry = A New Curriculum

• If the “Newsroom of the Future” becomes industry norms, journalism schools need to do two things to better prepare students for the job market:

(a) offer innovative digital training to students.

(b) prepare students for jobs other than newsroom staff.

• Employees will need new tools and skill sets in order to fulfill their new roles. Examples include:

(a) the community content editor needs to analyze audience needs and this essentially requires knowledge of web metrics and analytics.

(b) some producers (journalists) will have to possess expertise in social media, marketing and events planning.

(c) overall, production or newsroom staff will find that digital and multiplatform production is an integral part of the job.

Media jobs are all digital-centric and aligned with initiatives, in which journalism is driven solely by metrics and journalists are expected to be marketers and community connectors.

Digital First3

• Flip the curriculum

• New concentrations

• Experience learning

3Royal, C. (2013). We need a digital-first curriculum to teach modern journalism. Retrieved July 20, 2015 from http://mediashift.org/2013/08/we-need-a-digital-first-curriculum-to-teach-modern-journalism.

curriculum in which digital is the foundation

Skill specific rather than industry specific

• Multimedia• Programming• Social media

work with clients or to cover university activities, local events or special projects

Skills Demanded by the Industry

• Multimedia storytelling skills

• Data and statistical skills for storytelling Collecting, editing, analyzing and interpreting data

• Audience development skills (formerly known as marketing and circulation)

• Basics of programming. How to create compelling pages that attract web audiences

• Understanding the business of media

What we Need to Be Teaching Across the Curriculum4

• Blog

• Video

• Audio

• Audio slideshow

• Social media

• Photography

• Data visualization

• Web design

• Web analytics

4Lin, M. (2012). How to teach multimedia journalism: An analysis of 30 syllabi. Retrieved July 20, 2015 from http://www.mulinblog.com/how-to-teach-multimedia-journalism-an-analysis-of-30-syllabi/.

How do We Get the Skills?• A willingness to upgrade their curricula

– This may mean a go-slower, gradual revision approach might work best for some programs,

– it might simply be dictated by the lack of a budget to do much more

– But all agree that new course work is required so students have a comprehensive, hands-on experience working simultaneously in doing stories for print, broadcast and the Web

• Continued attention to merging the skills across the three (3) concentrations with a more concerted effort to have all three concentrations reflect today’s newsroom, production house or PR firm

How do We Get the Skills? (Continued)

• Recognizing—and avoiding—short-lived media fads

• A willingness to learn what makes a newsroom/production house function in this age of convergence and bring it to the classroom

• Work collegially to reorganized the program with the student and student success FRONT AND CENTER

• Being flexible, having a collaborative spirit, and a strategic plan

What This Means for DSUs Mass Communications Department?

• Introducing new technology into all of our classes– We will have to engage in self-training (YouTube videos,

online sources, like Pearson Educational services, media blogs, etc.)

• Collaborating with colleagues on assignments and across platforms– Finding ways to increase convergence across the three

concentrations

– Working with colleagues outside of the department to do collaborative work

• Supporting student research and competition-ready work in class– This may mean including assignments directly related to

competitions, research conferences, etc into our courses

What This Means for DSUs Mass Communications Department? (continued)

• Renaming and redesign of current courses (a few examples) [This will be done in the simplest way as to avoid to much bureaucracy in the senate approval process:

• The creation of news courses– Smartphone journalism (Spring 2016)

– African American Cinema and Society (Spring 2016)

OLD NEW

Intro to Mass Communications Intro to Multimedia Communications

Online Journalism Digital Journalism

Communications Writing Digital Platform Writing

Reporting and Writing I Multimedia Reporting I

Final Thoughts…

• Sounds like a lot? It is but wait….we can do it!

• Improving a class by incorporating 1 digital element is a step in the right direction.

• Doing 1 collaborative project during the year is a step in the right direction.

• Setting time aside for professional development directly related to digital advancement by taking one of the FREE courses (see the Retreat website: www.dsumasscommretreat.webs.com) is a step in the right direction.