Teaching online journalism

I’m just back from Kansas City, where I took part in a panel discussion on teaching new media journalism at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention.

I shared the panel, titled “What I Wish I’d Learned In My Online Journalism Class,” with Tim Richardson of the Topeka Capital-Journal and Jane Singer from the University of Iowa.

The discussion covered a number of topics, but a recurring question was whether educators should focus more on the journalism or the technical aspects of the job.

The consensus on the panel, and among teachers in the audience, seemed to be that the technical demands change so much from job to job that it makes them difficult to teach. Meanwhile, good, solid training in writing and editing, coupled with strong news judgment, is always in style.