RESTRUCTURING

THE CURRICULA:
A NEW DIGITAL
FOUNDATION
Francine Edwards
Delaware State University
Department of Mass Communications

Session Overview:

Successful Learners
Creating a Thinking Curriculum
Technology + Industry = A New Curriculum
Skills Demanded by the Industry
Digital First
Reframing How We Teach

Successful Learners1
The Characteristics

Knowledgeable - learners acquire a substantial

and organized body of knowledge which they
can use fluently to make sense of the world,
solve problems, and make decisions.
Self-determined - learners feel capable and
continually strive to acquire and use the tools
they need to learn.
Strategic - learners have a repertoire of thinking
and learning strategies that they use with skill
and purpose to think about and control their
own learning and guide their learning of new
content
Empathetic - learners are able to view
themselves and the world from perspectives
other than their own, including perspectives of
people from different cultural backgrounds.
A major goal of restructuring in general and thinking curricula in
particular is to develop these qualities in all students.

1Fennimore T.F.

and Tinzmann, M.B. (1990). What is a Thinking Curriculum. NCREL, Utica, NY.

Creating a Thinking Curricula2

Promoting in-depth learning

Weds process and content, a union that typifies real-world situations;
A thinking curriculum does not strive to produce "walking- encyclopedias," rather
producing knowledgeable students who possess key concepts and tools for making, using,
and communicating knowledge in a field.
Content and process objectives are situated in real-world tasks
Students should engage in complex and holistic thinking. This type of thinking reflects
what individuals performing tasks outside of school do.
Out of school thinking is:
(1) situated in meaningful processes of making decisions, solving problems,
evaluating situations, and so on,
(2) shared among individuals also involved in carrying out the task,
(3) aided by the use of tools, such as reference books, calculators, and other
technology, and
(4) connected to real-world objects, events, and situations. In addition, out-of-school
thinking is often interdisciplinary, cutting across many "school subjects.

2Fennimore T.F.

and Tinzmann, M.B. (1990). What is a Thinking Curriculum. NCREL, Utica, NY.

Creating a Thinking Curricula2 (continued)

Tasks are sequenced to situate holistic performances in increasingly challenging

environments
Rather than fragmenting the process, it would be taught in a context or environment in
which students can succeed.
Thinking curriculum is not chopped up into isolated skills and facts; rather, it involves the
holistic performance of meaningful, complex tasks in increasingly challenging
environments.
A thinking curriculum promotes a sense of efficacy and confidence in students

Why Should we Consider a Thinking Curricula

Changes in society itself require higher-order learning.
Consider the following shifts:

Individuals will have a number of jobs in the course

of their careers, and those jobs are continually
redefined by rapidly advancing technology,
decentralization of authority in the workplace, and
changes in the norms that define the culture of the
workplace.
In the political realm, citizens struggle with difficult
issues related to technology, concerns for social
equity in a pluralistic society, and the nation's
greater interdependence with other countries.
Our economy is shifting from a traditional industrial
base to an information and service base.

Technology + Industry = A New Curriculum

Media jobs are all digital-centric and aligned with initiatives, in which journalism is driven
solely by metrics and journalists are expected to be marketers and community connectors.

If the Newsroom of the Future becomes industry norms, journalism schools

need to do two things to better prepare students for the job market:
(a) offer innovative digital training to students.
(b) prepare students for jobs other than newsroom staff.

Employees will need new tools and skill sets in order to fulfill their new roles.
Examples include:
(a) the community content editor needs to analyze audience needs and this
essentially requires knowledge of web metrics and analytics.
(b) some producers (journalists) will have to possess expertise in social media,
marketing and events planning.
(c) overall, production or newsroom staff will find that
digital and multiplatform production is an
integral part of the job.

Digital First3
curriculum in which digital is
the foundation

Flip the curriculum

New concentrations

Skill specific rather than

industry specific
Multimedia
Programming
Social media

Experience learning

work with clients or to cover

university activities, local
events or special projects
3Royal,

C. (2013). We need a digital-first curriculum to teach modern journalism. Retrieved July

20, 2015 from http://mediashift.org/2013/08/we-need-a-digital-first-curriculum-to-teachmodern-journalism.

Skills Demanded by the Industry

Multimedia storytelling skills
Data and statistical skills for storytelling
Collecting, editing, analyzing and interpreting
data
Audience development skills (formerly known as
marketing and circulation)
Basics of programming. How to create compelling
pages that attract web audiences
Understanding the business of media

What we Need to Be Teaching Across the

Curriculum4

4Lin,

M. (2012). How to teach multimedia journalism: An analysis of 30 syllabi. Retrieved July 20,
2015 from http://www.mulinblog.com/how-to-teach-multimedia-journalism-an-analysis-of-30syllabi/.

Blog
Video
Audio
Audio slideshow
Social media
Photography
Data visualization
Web design
Web analytics

How do We Get the Skills?

A willingness to upgrade their curricula
This may mean a go-slower, gradual revision
approach might work best for some programs,
it might simply be dictated by the lack of a
budget to do much more
But all agree that new course work is required
so students have a comprehensive, hands-on
experience working simultaneously in doing
stories for print, broadcast and the Web

Continued attention to merging the skills

across the three (3) concentrations with a
more concerted effort to have all three
concentrations reflect todays newsroom,
production house or PR firm

How do We Get the Skills? (Continued)

Recognizingand avoidingshort-lived media fads
A willingness to learn what makes a newsroom/production house function
in this age of convergence and bring it to the classroom
Work collegially to reorganized the program with the student and student
success FRONT AND CENTER
Being flexible, having a
collaborative spirit, and
a strategic plan

What This Means for DSUs Mass

Communications Department?
Introducing new technology into all of our classes
We will have to engage in self-training (YouTube videos,
online sources, like Pearson Educational services, media
blogs, etc.)

Collaborating with colleagues on assignments and

across platforms
Finding ways to increase convergence across the three
concentrations
Working with colleagues outside of the department to do
collaborative work

Supporting student research and competitionready work in class

This may mean including assignments directly related to
competitions, research conferences, etc into our courses

What This Means for DSUs Mass

Communications Department? (continued)
Renaming and redesign of current courses (a few examples) [This will be
done in the simplest way as to avoid to much bureaucracy in the senate
approval process:
OLD

NEW

Intro to Mass Communications

Intro to Multimedia Communications

Online Journalism

Digital Journalism

Communications Writing

Digital Platform Writing

Reporting and Writing I

Multimedia Reporting I

The creation of news courses

Smartphone journalism (Spring 2016)
African American Cinema and Society (Spring 2016)

Final Thoughts
Sounds like a lot? It is but wait.we can
do it!
Improving a class by incorporating 1 digital
element is a step in the right direction.
Doing 1 collaborative project during the
year is a step in the right direction.
Setting time aside for professional
development directly related to digital
advancement by taking one of the FREE
courses (see the Retreat website:
www.dsumasscommretreat.webs.com)
is a step in the right direction.