graduate qualities and journalism curriculum renewal: balancing tertiary expectations and industry...

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Graduate qualities and journalism curriculum renewal: balancing tertiary expectations and industry needs in a changing environment

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Marcus O’Donnell, Stephen Tanner, Trevor Cullen, Kerry Green IAMCR Dublin 2013

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Two Drivers of Curriculum Renewal

• changes in the journalism sector

wrought by innovations in the digital, networked, creation and delivery of

information; and

• moves within higher education to a

standards approach to curriculum, which seeks to guarantee teaching

and learning quality and broad graduate employability.

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disciplinary skills

generic graduate attributes

generic graduate attributes

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Graduate AttributesInformation Literacy

• Technological Literacy

• Information Processing

Research & Inquiry

• Ability to undertake research

• Critical Analysis

• Discipline knowledge

Ethical, Social and Professional Understanding

• Ethics awareness

• Professionalism

• Sustainable development

Communication

Personal & Intellectual Autonomy• Manage Change• Work Independently•Leadership• Teamwork

GAP Project -Barrie 2006

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Graduate Attributes for an unknown future

Graduate attributes are the qualities, skills and understandings a university community agrees its students should develop during their time with the institution.

These attributes include but go beyond the disciplinary expertise or technical knowledge that has traditionally formed the core of most university courses.

They are qualities that also prepare graduates as agents of social good in an unknown future. (Bowden et al. 2000)

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Multiple journalisms & the unknown future

Journalism is not moving from A to B, from one stable state in postwar America to some new, alternate state today. Journalism is instead moving from one to many, from a set of roles whose description and daily patterns were coherent enough to merit one label to one where the gap between what makes Nate Silver a journalist and what makes Kevin Sites a journalist continues to widen.

We’re not shifting from big news organizations to small ones, or from slow reporting to fast. The dynamic range of journalism is increasing along several axes at once.

Post-Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present C.W. Anderson, Emily Bell & Clay Shirky, Tow Center Columbia University

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constantinnovationchange

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graduatesfor an unknownfuture

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Evolve the industry: lower our fists•There has only been a relatively brief period in

human history when these ideas of editorial independence within a huge industrial media structure have existed in the way we are now trying to preserve. I don't think we need to preserve it. Well maybe we should be trying to preserve it but also evolve it and lower our fists a little. That's one of the reasons I think journalistic integrity is a better word than independence.

•Margaret Simmons Melbourne University

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1010

lower our fists

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evolve the industry

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Basic skills agendaA variety of studies of what skills are valued by journalism employers (Callaghan and McManus 2010; Nankervis 2005; Dickson and Brandon 2000; Criado and Kraeplin 2003; Huang et al 2003)

they prioritize traditional skills including basic writing, punctuation and grammar over computer skills and technological literacies.

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Apprentice/Cadetship model

What are the implications for innovation if what has gone before is always presented as best practice? Where, indeed, when one trainer explicitly states, "we are trying to create journalists in our own image, it is a chance to shape people" and further, "we try to influence them culturally"?

This constant emphasis on replication would seem to leave little space for the notions of innovation and change.

Mandy Oakham 2006

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Hospital modelJournalism education programs have an opportunity to become “anchor institutions” in the emerging informational ecosystem....Just as teaching hospitals don t merely lecture medical ‖students, but also treat patients and pursue research, journalism programs should not limit themselves to teaching journalists, but should produce copy and become laboratories of innovation as well.

They should beta test new models for journalism and understand how journalistic ecosystems emerge as well as contribute to the policymaking process that underpins them.

C.W. Anderson et al 2011

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Journalism Values

Journalism Process

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Journalism IdeologyPublic service: journalists provide a public service (as watchdogs or ‘newshounds’, active collectors and disseminators of information);

Objectivity: journalists are impartial, neutral, objective, fair and (thus) credible;

Autonomy: journalists must be autonomous, free and independent in their work;

Immediacy: journalists have a sense of immediacy, actuality and speed (inherent in the concept of ‘news’);

Ethics: journalists have a sense of ethics, validity and legitimacy.

(Deuze 2005: 447)

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Journalism ProcessAccess/Observation – access to news events and news data is negotiated and reporting involves first hand observation and analysis

Selection/filtering – reporting resources are prioritised according to perceived public impact

Processing/editing – stories are edited and packaged

Distribution – stories are published and publicised

Interpretation – audience/public reaction is monitored and engaged

Domingo and colleagues (2008),

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Access/observation

Selection/filtering

Processing/ editing

Distribution/ Platforms

Reception/ Interpretation

Public service

Objectivity

Autonomy

Immediacy

Ethics

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Access/observation

Selection/filtering

Processing/ editing

Distribution/ Platforms

Reception/ Interpretation

Public service

Negotiate accessPrioritise for

relevance and impact

Process for clarity and impact

Maximise reach and access

Facilitate active citizenship

Objectivity Seek range of sources

Represent diverse points of

view

Fact-check and verify

Produce non-sensationalised but impactful delivery

Ensure transparent accountability for

journalistic processes

Autonomy Balance access and independence

Provide independent

critical analysis

Undertake independent

critical analysis

Negotiate commercial

imperatives and potential conflicts

Ensure transparent accountability for

journalistic processes

ImmediacyNegotiate timely

access to information

Use varied technologies/pla

tforms to minimise intrusive

gatekeeping

Use layered processes and

delivery methods to ensure different story iterations to ensure immediacy in breaking news

Use multiple technologies and

varied story iterations

Facilitate active engaged feedback

loops

EthicsProtect source

confidentiality and journalistic

independence

Ensure respect for minority and

diverse viewpoints

Ensure respect for minority and

diverse viewpoints

Maximise reach and access

Develop engaged community

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Journalist ‘soft skills’Mindset: “a mindset that wants to improve journalism, not simply replicate or salvage it”

Being Networked: “Editing, assigning and reporting all become tasks wholly or partially delegated to the network”

Persona: “The more we feel engaged with a journalist through his/her persona, the more we want to hear what they have to say about the world.”

Post-Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present C.W. Anderson, Emily Bell & Clay Shirky Tow Center Columbia University

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Journalist ‘hard skills’Specialist knowledge: “the complexity of information and the speed at which people wish to have it explained and contextualized leaves little room for the average generalist.”

Data & Statistics “the volume of available data on many of the important actors—businesses, politicians, priests, criminals—has grown dramatically”

Understanding Metrics and Audiences: “in today’s fragmented and fraying world, knowledge of how audiences consume information, and whether what you write,record, or shoot reaches the people whom you want to see it, becomes critical”

Coding: “every journalist needs to understand at a basic literacy level what code is, what it can do, and how to communicate with those who are more proficient.”

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Storytelling: “We focus less on these skills because we do not expect the basic skills of being able to identify and report a story to change, and they remain central to a journalist’s skill set. As part of technical literacy, journalists need to understand how each of these skills might be affected by a development in technology or a shift in human behavior. Narrative can be created by the new skills of aggregation, which implies understanding sources and verification of disparate material. One aspect of working with networks and crowds is the journalistic skill of aggregation”

Journalist ‘hard skills’

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Project management: “As we see more effective models of journalism emerge from a remaking of the existing process, one widely held observation is that journalists are having to move from a world where the sole focus of their activity was their own stories to a host of different concerns....being able to keep across all parts of the process and understand how they can be brought together to produce something that works.”

Journalist ‘hard skills’

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Information Literacy• Technological Literacy• Information Processing

Information Literacy A journalism graduate will make efficient and effective use of a range of technologies to gather, process and communicate information

Research & Inquiry

Their use of current technologies and adaption to technological innovations will be grounded in a sound knowledge of media histories, forms, technologies

and techniques and they will be able to critically investigate and analyse the affordances of new technologies

Ethical, Social & Professional

Understanding

Their use of current technologies and adaption to technological innovations will be grounded in a sound knowledge of media ethics and professional

standards and processes

Communication

They will be particularly adept and efficient at using a range of software and technologies to gather edit and produce material for public multimedia

communications and to engage communities in public discussions which facilitate active citizenship

Personal & Intellectual Autonomy

They will understand fundamental technological and software processes and functions which will enable them to quickly adapt to changing technologies

and programs

They will be aware of the ways that technologies can facilitate both independent and collaborative work.

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Research & Inquiry Ability to undertake research Critical Analysis

Discipline knowledge Problem Solving

Information Literacy They will be adept at using a range of technologies to access and process research data

Research & Inquiry

A journalism graduate will be able to undertake a broad range of research tasks, making use of original interviews and data analysis, together with

quickly and effectively processing and verifying information gathered from wide-ranging secondary sources.


Understanding

They will adopt a critical independent perspective in their research investigations, informed by a sound knowledge of media histories, ethics

and professional standards and processes.

They will adopt a rigorous range of verification strategies to ensure the trustworthiness and credibility of all information gathered from primary

and secondary sources

Communication They will be adept at gathering, organising and communicating complex information in clear, concise, engaging and entertaining ways.


They will work well as part of research and reporting teams

They will develop and evaluate ideas, concepts, sources and processes by thinking creatively, critically and reflectively.

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Ethical, Social and Professional Understanding• Ethics awareness• Professionalism

• Sustainable development

Information Literacy Their negotiation of new technologies and new approaches to media and communication will be governed by an understanding of the ethics of privacy

and human rights

Research & Inquiry

Their professional choices will be informed by a sound knowledge of media histories, forms, technologies and techniques and an understanding of the

ways that media and communications facilitate democracy and global citizenship.


Understanding

A journalism graduate will function ethically and professionally in a variety of autonomous and organisational environments across the rapidly changing

media and communications sector

CommunicationTheir choice of sources, story formats, and story approaches will be governed by an understanding of media ethics and professional responsibilities and an understanding of media communication as an engaged participatory process.


They will be adept at assessing and negotiating personal and organisational ethical frameworks for ethically responsible professional practice.

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Communication

Information Literacy They will effectively leverage the full spectrum of technological solutions to produce professional public communications in a variety of differently

resourced environments

Research & InquiryTheir public communication products will be underpinned by rigorous,

critical, original research and exhibit creative responses to public communications problems


Understanding

A journalism graduate will function ethically and professionally in a variety of autonomous and organisational environments across the rapidly changing

media and communications sector

They will be familiar with and adept at utilising a range of standard journalistic conventions in the presentation of news and feature stories

Communication

A journalism graduate will be adept at engaging a variety of audiences through entertaining, creative and informative story formats presented in a

broad range of media. Their execution of media communications will be underpinned by an understanding of and designed to facilitate the

participatory cycles of contemporary communications.


They will be able to edit and produce a range of communication packages both independently and collaboratively

They will be able to engagingly present and promote their own work as skilled communications professionals

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Personal & Intellectual Autonomy• Manage Change

• Work Independently• Leadership• Teamwork

Information Literacy They will be able to identify and leverage a variety of new and existing technological solutions to facilitate effective and efficient solutions to

emerging media problems

Research & InquiryThey will be skilled researchers who can identify emerging trends and who can source and provide information that will aid the effective and efficient adaption to and facilitation of change in a rapidly changing media sector


Understanding

Their sound knowledge of media histories, ethics and professional processes will aid their effective and efficient adaption to and facilitation of change in

the rapidly changing media sector

Communication They will be able to edit and produce a range of communication packages both independently and collaboratively


A journalism graduate will be able to work independently and collaboratively in a range of autonomous and organisational environments across a

constantly changing media and communications sector. They will exhibit resilience and creative flexibility in the face of change.

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Public serviceCommunity

Development

Objectivity Creativity

Autonomy Entrepreneurship

Immediacy Multiplicity

Ethics Integrity

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Resilience

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