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

Tony DeMars

Convergence Curriculum Questions How does convergence relate to newspaper

and television news? How does convergence relate to journalism

and broadcast journalism education?

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?

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?

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

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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-

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

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.

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?

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?

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

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%

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%

How important do you believe each of the courses below are for a student majoring in

broadcast journalism?

Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not ImportantDesktop

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

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 ImportantWriting for Mass Media 65% 20% 15% 0%

Newspaper Reporting 60% 30% 10% 0%

Television Reporting 20% 40% 35% 5%

Computer Assisted 35% 35% 30% 0% Reporting

Online Journalism 50% 35% 15% 0%

Desktop Publishing 65% 20% 15% 0%

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

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%

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%

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

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

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