Reportr.net » Teaching the technical within the context of journalism

UBC School of Journalism students

In an article for PBS Mediashift, I looked at the challenges facing journalism schools in teaching technical skills without losing sight of the journalism.

This is a difficult area for j-schools as journalism becomes ever more interwoven with technology:

The challenges for journalism schools are two-fold. First, students need to be taught how to use a wide range of technical tools. Second, and more importantly, they have to learn how to produce real journalism using the technology. This is perhaps the hardest part.

Our students are digital natives, living in an always-on, always-connected world. The challenge in the classroom is less about teaching the technology and more about providing an understanding of how new media tools can be harnessed to create quality journalism.

I argue that journalism educators need to be part of the digital world if they are to teach digital skills. Too often academics are observers looking in from the outside, rather than being part of the new media world inhabited by our students.

The full piece is at Mediashift.