http://journalism.cf.ac.uk/tracks/

http://journalism.cf.ac.uk/indienational/

We use a CMS that was custom built by a late colleague but are thinking of making an across-the-school switch to Wordpress, so having your recommendation is good.

The magazines are made in the second semester. In the first semester we have a standalone “Online Journalism” module that introduces a lot of the more historical/theoretical/ethical considerations. This is taught jointly to Magazine, Newspaper and Broadcast students (we still have specialist silos) and it is very interesting to monitor the reactions of the different groups. We have encountered most resistance to the whole idea from Newspaper students but it is difficult to untangle the skein of expectation and attitude that causes it.
On the Magazine course our approach is to emphasise from Day One that students will be working in a multi-platform world and they had better not just get used to it but positively embrace it. UK magazine employers increasingly expect journalism graduates to arrive with everything PLUS on-camera presentation skills.
Anyhoo - thank you for sharing your work with us.

How many people participated?

I had two groups for the same course. 35 students in each group so close to 70 students.

2. How long was the excercise from start to finish?

My course (a mere 2 hours a week - not enough time!) began in September until the end of March. It was madcap! This course should either be a year long or a half semester but 4 hours. 2 hours lab, 2 hours instruction.

2. Was the final project graded by peer review or by yourself?

BOTH! I had part peer evaluation and then graded according to the criteria of the assignment. During the presentations, all students evaluated the content according to a productive criteria (that would be professionally relevant).

Because this is an industry course (not theory, not secondary learning) the methods of evaluation and assessment were closely aligned to industry practices - so final presentations were professional presentations evaluated according to a client “sign off” (though everything gets a grade).

3. What was the inspiration behind starting such a course, what led up to it?

I was asked to teach this course because of my experience 1) as an early adopter to web2.0 social media 2) industry content producer 3) instructor at the college and 4) magazines industry consultant.

The course was the product of my recent presentations for the magazine industry and explorations of social and participatory media.

I designed and developed this course according to cutting edge/emergent philosophies, tools and trends. As far as I know, I’m one of the first to create a course specifically designed for the above purposes (i.e.., non theory production focused)

Additionally …

As I was just telling my partner, I’ve presented all of these same tools and philosophies to a variety of different learners - college, at risk, corporate and otherwise with varying results.

I’d like to say, for the record, that the final results depend almost entirely on the group you’re teaching - their prior knowledge, their interest, your ability to generate trust/interest and etc.

I taught virtually all the same tools to another group of students - those who did not have a university degree (and largely at-risk) and there was little engagement, participation and etc (same group were failing many courses simply because they weren’t coming to class, doing any work, etc). So again, it doesn’t always come back to the teacher and their *special* whatever.

Students, by and large, define the quality of our work. If you cannot earn their trust, you have nothing.

How many people participated?
How long was the excercise from start to finish?
Was the final project graded by peer review or by yourself?
What was the inspiration behind starting such a course, what led up to it?

Thanks for sharing this information.