For the past few years I have used student blogs as a primary format for my introductory online journalism course.
Each student selects a topic or beat to cover for the semester and creates a blog dedicated to that subject. Then students report, write, photograph, gather audio, shoot and edit video for Web, and create interactive maps and timelines. All the student work is public, and the authors must cultivate an audience.
I like using the blog format for a number of reasons:
- It’s a free (or relatively inexpensive) way to create an online publication.
- Blogs can serve as an open-source reporter’s notebook – a place to try things, develop sources, and advance a story.
- It’s a hands-on way to learn about things like HTML, CSS, feeds, linking, traffic, search engine optimization, and copyright and fair use.
- Students are required to generate ideas, write frequently, and learn to edit their own work.
- It allows for experimentation with multimedia and a chance to explore which elements can or should be used to tell a particular story.
- Students often have their work picked up by other publications or noticed by other reporters and editors.
- When students finish the semester, they have an online publication for internships and job applications. From my own experience, I know that an editor can tell a lot more about an applicant from 15 weeks of covering a single topic than from a stack of clips from the school newspaper.
When I began teaching several years ago, I was one of only a few instructors in my journalism department to use blogs for student work; today, many do. Some students now complain that they have to maintain three or four blogs at the same time.
At the end of each semester, I ask myself: Is blogging outdated? Should I move on to another platform?
A recent report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which found that blogging has dropped among teens and young adults while simultaneously rising among older adults, raised these questions for me again.
I regularly remind my students that the class is not about blogging. It isn’t about the technology, software, or equipment. All of those things will be outdated in a few years. I hope they take away lessons in reporting, writing, editing, fact checking, producing, informing, sharing, storytelling, and connecting with an audience.
I’d abandon blogs if I found another way to create that same experience in an introductory online journalism course. Much of the traffic on the Web has moved away from blogs to social networking sites. But I’ve yet to see a social networking experience that allows for all of the elements listed above.
I welcome suggestions.
