Redesigning a University Curriculum in the Age of Convergence: A Lesson in Progress

1. Redesigning a University Curriculum in the Age of Convergence: A Lesson in Progress Tony DeMars

2. Convergence Curriculum Questions • How does convergence relate to newspaper and television news? • How does convergence relate to journalism and broadcast journalism education?

3. Convergence Curriculum Questions • What parts of convergence are driven by technology and what parts are driven by economics? • If news convergence in media industries is primarily driven by economic factors, is there really anything new to teach undergraduate journalism and broadcast journalism majors?

4. Convergence Curriculum Questions • Do students majoring in journalism expect to learn how to do broadcast news, and do students majoring in broadcast journalism expect to learn how to write a newspaper article? • Does the news industry expect newly graduated journalism and broadcast journalism students to be skilled in writing and producing for multiple forms of content distribution?

5. Previous Studies • Quincy, IL -- 2002 • NBC broadcast, Fox cable, radio stations, web site and newspaper • Multipurposing content (news but also talk shows), coordinating newsgathering, creating product for multiple outlets • Challenges – turf, coverage areas, locations • Partnership with Northwestern University

6. Previous Studies • Survey of Texas TV News Directors and newspaper editors in same markets -- 2003 • Evaluation of what was working and what was not • Wide range of market sizes • Co-owned worked better than partnerships • Newspaper editors less enthusiastic and optimistic of benefits than TV News Directors • Making the web site useful and profitable was a challenge

7. Writing Class Example • What sections could be moved or deleted to accommodate more broadcast? • Found limited number of texts that cover both print and broadcast writing • Book chosen addresses broadcast writing, but does not go very deep enough into the subject • Biggest concern with the new approach is that it may be difficult for students to keep print and broadcast writing separate in their minds if both are emphasized in a single course

8. Applying this to curriculum change • Merger of R-TV and Journalism • Convergence in a TV Reporting class? – or having Broadcast Journalism majors take some print-focused classes? • Writing – easier ; production – more challenging • Skills of faculty to teach a class how to do good TV news, good newspaper article and a good multimedia web-based version? • Research leans toward what the industry is doing and an assumption we should teach convergence, but – what do students expect?

9. Literature • Kraepun and Criado (2005) report that journalism educators placed a higher belief in the importance of convergence than did newspaper editors or TV news directors. • How important are convergence skills to media managers when hiring? • 23.5% of TV managers said ‘very important’ and 49% said ‘moderately important,’ • Newspaper managers: 16.2% said ‘very important’ and 27.5 said ‘moderately important.’ • 27.5% of TV managers and 30.9 of newspaper managers said convergence skills were ‘not at all important.’ • Among educators surveyed, • 31.1% thought convergence skills were very important to media managers when hiring, • 62.2 rated them moderately important, • while only 6.7 said it was not at all important.

10. Literature • Birge (2004) reviewed previous studies and did interviews to question what convergence really is and to suggest that journalism schools should not rush to teach convergence as part of their curriculum. • Notes a study done in 2002 by Popovich and Massé: a reasonable number of journalism and mass communication programs were adding convergence components to certain writing classes….but also found a lot of indecisiveness about how to approach convergence. • Birge suggests adding too much to the traditional areas of study in a journalism or broadcast journalism program can weaken the quality of classes. • Even industry professionals working in converged newsrooms say the attempt to create this be-all newsperson creates more chaos than benefit.

11. Literature • Castaenda, Murphy and Hether (2005) documented the development of a converged journalism curriculum at the University of Southern California. • USC instituted a curriculum in fall 2002 designed to teach journalism students print, broadcast and online journalism concurrently • Used surveys of both students and faculty, but also made judgments from open-ended questions and faculty comments at meetings, • Students and faculty believed the new curriculum diluted classes and slowed the learning process, • But, their study did find an improvement in key journalism skills.

12. Literature • Corrigan (2004) says convergence benefits the media owner, but not the consumer • Suggests university researchers should consider the loss of insightful journalism that comes as a result of convergence efficiency • Discusses several issues university researchers should consider: • (a) Where is good journalism when reporters are required to create multiple versions of an important story instead of one, thoughtful, in-depth version? • (b) What further burnout chances are there to those working in the industry when faced with even more demands on their time in a world of convergence? -more-

13. Literature • (c) How superficial will news become when reporters have to work in a convergence mode in all their stories? • (d) Doesn’t convergence simply mean big media conglomerates are squeezing more and more work from each person to the benefit of the bottom line? • (e) Isn’t it likely the media conglomerates like more superficial content instead of in-depth stories that might question their power and the related dangers to democracy

14. Deb Winger in Quill, Sept. 2005 • As of September 2005, after 10 years of struggling with some of these types of convergence challenges, at least one journalism program has just said no to convergence. • Brigham Young University was one of the first schools in the country to begin teaching multimedia journalism. By 2001, the school started to realize that the convergence experiment was not working. • The faculty turned Writing for Mass Audiences back into a basic news writing course. But in 2004, Dept. Chair Ed Adams said BYU started to back off on the model entirely, primarily for two reasons. • First, both the broadcast and the print faculty felt they had evidence that students were still not getting the depth they needed within the individual journalism disciplines. • The second big obstacle is the amount of faculty resources convergence requires.

15. Research Questions • Will students with broadcast-focused career plans believe Broadcast Journalism students should learn about convergence-based, print-style or multimedia courses? • Will students with broadcast-focused career plans believe Print Journalism students should learn about courses that are convergence, broadcast-style or multimedia?

16. Research Questions • Will students with broadcast-focused career plans have a positive view of integrating ‘new media’ content into existing courses? • Do students with broadcast-focused career plans believe they are being properly prepared for what it appears the future will be?

17. Data Collection • An e-mail solicitation sent to 228 students enrolled in courses in six different broadcast-related subject areas • Seventy-eight responses were received during the time period the survey was open. No follow-up efforts were made in an effort to generate a higher response rate • More than 75% were in the age range of 17 to 22 • More than 60% of those responding felt ‘pretty certain’ about their career plans • Sixty-eight percent who answered the question regarding gender were female

18. What other issues besides courses offered are important to you in preparing for a career, related to the mass communication field of study? • Hands-on work in a TV studio 78% • Hands-on work in radio 52% • Hands-on work in TV field shooting 48% • Hands-on work with a student newspaper 8% • Hands-on work with web page design/multimedia authoring 4% • Hands-on work with an online magazine’ 0%

19. How important do you believe each of the courses below are for a student majoring in broadcast journalism? Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important Writing for Mass Media 58% 38% 0% 4% Newspaper 22% 17% 43% 17% Reporting Television 64% 27% 5% 5% Reporting Computer Assisted 9% 52% 30% 9% Reporting Online Journalism 13% 26% 48% 13%

20. How important do you believe each of the courses below are for a student majoring in broadcast journalism? Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important Desktop Publishing 4% 22% 65% 9% Video Shooting 65% 22% 13% 0% & Editing Print 18% 23% 41% 18% Photojournalism Newspaper Editing 17% 22% 43% 17% TV Studio 61% 30% 9% 0% Production Investigative 52% 30% 17% 0% Reporting

21. How important do you believe each of the courses below are for a student majoring in print/newspaper journalism? Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important Writing for Mass Media65% 20% 15% 0% Newspaper Reporting60% 30% 10% 0% Television Reporting20% 40% 35% 5% Computer Assisted 35% 35% 30% 0% Reporting Online Journalism50% 35% 15% 0% Desktop Publishing65% 20% 15% 0%

22. How important do you believe each of the courses below are for a student majoring in print/newspaper journalism? Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important Video Shooting 25% 15% 20% 40% & Editing Print 65% 25% 10% 0% Photojournalism Newspaper Editing 65% 30% 5% 0% Producing TV 30% 15% 30% 25% Newscasts TV Studio 25% 15% 25% 35% Production

23. Preliminary Findings: Careers • Should ‘new media’/ multimedia skills training be incorporated into a Broadcast Journalism degree? Y: 38% N: 53% DK: 9% • Do you believe the courses you currently take in your major properly prepare you for your career plans? Y: 67% N: 12% DK: 21%

24. Please indicate in which of the following courses you would like to have more work: • TV Reporting 0% • Newspaper Reporting 0% • Mass Media Writing 0% • Television Studio Production 0% • Video Shooting and Editing 0% • Advanced Video Production 0%

25. Preliminary Findings • Will students with broadcast-focused career plans believe Broadcast Journalism students should learn about convergence-based, print-style or multimedia courses? No—every area clearly ‘print’ or often associated with new media—more negative side answers • Will students with broadcast-focused career plans believe Print Journalism students should learn about courses that are convergence, broadcast-style or multimedia? Possibly—more middle range to positive answers in new media courses and TV-related courses

26. Limitations • One university program analyzed • Some possible student misperceptions of what classes were by title • Students may have been evaluating with biases based on current faculty or tracks • This part only covers broadcast-focused students

27. Conclusion • Students need to be involved in the changes to convergence curricula • Maybe the curriculum changes are not as necessary as some have thought • While knowing about all the people – traditional media areas and beyond – doing multimedia is important, we can’t teach everything—so, combine the traditional mass communication training with an awareness of how jobs are changing