Chris Cobbler, publisher of the greeleytrib.com, says all journalists at newspapers should blog. He is brutally frank about how journalists should learn from bloggers. He says if you post blog after blog and get no reaction, that means no one is reading it. The same is probably true for what is published in print.
It is a good eye-opener for print journalists who think that cyber publishing is for the birds. No one has time to read longform journalism anymore, so keep it short and readable.
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Twitter for Journalists
When I first created a Twitter account about two years ago, I was terrified my tweets would appear trite. So my account simply hibernated. For this class, I started another account and revived my old one. I’ve gained confidence and have been using it regularly with my journalism students.
Twitter for journalists:http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/professor.aspx?profarticleid=100015
Why journalists should blog
PODCASTING ANYONE?
This week’s module could be summed up this way: keep it short; keep it lively; make it relevant. Whether it be podcasts, videos or lectures, it has to be short or students will immediately click on something else. All these digital tools are wonderful ways to engage students and can be an asset, but I would be wise to use them incrementally and supplement it with other learning objects.
Talk about learning objects – we were introduced to a ton of them this week and if I don’t write it all down, I’ll lose them. So here goes:
Learning Times Green Room : http://www.ltgreenroom.org/episodes/46 Podcasting in Education
http://www.cblt.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/PDFs08/Podcasting%20in%20education.pdf
Then there is broadband and streaming and Creative Commons. My head is spinning from all these new things we are learning.
Thanks to Carolyn for the DQ on the former.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloading-files-internet-faq#1TC=windows-7
SMART PHONES FOR BACKPACK JOURNALISM
This link is useful for students who will be using their smartphones to shoot video:
http://ijnet.org/stories/eight-tips-using-iphone-reporting
When they get into the real working world of journalism. students will have to become comfortable with multi-platform reporting. The days of just reporting or shooting video or photographs are long gone. So the best tool for a journo is to get a smartphone, preferably the iPhone which has any number of aps for editing and downloading pictures and video.
Five shot video
This instructional video is for teaching the five-shot method of shooting a video sequence by Mindy McAdams:
http://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/mmcadams/video/five_shot.html
I used this McAdams’s video to teach my journalism students about shooting videos. Her short video explains and demonstrates with still pictures which makes it easy to understand.
In this module, we learned how and when to use video. While the advantages are numerous especially in online teaching, it is too easy to fall into the habit of using videos as filler material or to replicate one’s own lecture. But when demonstrating or for science experiments, video is a useful too.
I find that in some ways, podcasting can also be a lively method of teaching because when it is well done, it makes the student pay heed. But just like video, the key is to keep it short, or you will lose your audience very quickly.
How Video Chat is Creating a Global Classroom
This is a useful link about teachers using video chat to communicate with classrooms around the world
A Social Media Storm Descends on Taiji, the Japanese Town at the Center of a Dolphin Slaughter
This link from Newsweek http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/04/04/social-media-storm-descends-taiji-japanese-town.html also from a classmate, shows the power of social media in action.
It describes the drive hunt of dolphins by Taiji’s fishermen. Taiji is, or was, a little known fishing village in Japan. For several months every year, dolphins are herded into a small cove and penned in. Some are captured and sold to aquariums the world over; others are stabbed by fishermen wielding long harpoons-killed so their meat can be sold in local markets. Following the onslaught of social media of the activities there, this village has received unwanted global publicity.
It’s a powerful way to teach my English and journalism classes about the power of social media. In particular they learn that Twitter can tell a story which forces users to be concise, precise and accurate.
Learn to use Google Form
The first link is a tip from classmate Carol. The second is additional material on the former.
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/
With this link, I can create a video and images to Google Form. I plan to use this in my journalism class. In journalism, theory only goes so far; you have to be able to show them every technique or skill you tech, so videos are crucial.
Password Dilemma
Thanks to Tech Tools classmate Dave for his post on how to store passwords. He says he has more than a 100, but as I looked through my notebook where I had my passwords written down, I realized I had half that number. Of course you may not be needing them all the time, but it’s useful to know where to find them when needed.
Tip from Dave about storing passwords: LastPass
Federal Writers Proejct
I think the tip for this link was from Dave. I wrote it down in a hurry and my apologies if they’re not from Dave.
Anyway, this link is useful for both my English Composition and Journalism classes.
According to the website, it was funded by the federal government under the New Deal during the Great Depression in order to support written work during desperate economic and social times. A number of different projects were undertaken for this initiative, among them was the Folklore Project which consisted of interviewing everyday people from all walks of life from across the country.
Students not only document the life of the person for a worldwide internet population, but also critically examine the processes of historical production involved in creating life histories in the Federal Writers’ Project.
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Federal_Writers%27_Project_-_Life_Histories
TechTools 