Final post pt. 2

Honestly, and I’m not sucking up: I enjoyed this class immensely. I was interested in the subject matter each and every week. Almost all the readings and assignments were engaging. I was excited to participate each week on the discussion boards. The interaction with both you and my classmates was extremely rewarding, and I grew immeasurably through our discussions as a writer, editor, producer and student.

That said, I have a few suggestions.

Because of my journalistic background, I found some of the basic journalism modules to be a little elementary. It’s great to return to the basics. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think I’m above that in any way. And I understand that you have to account for a diverse amount of experience and background. But I think you could do more in the modules on journalism. The assignments, in particular, could be more rigorous. More than just writing and reporting a simple story, you could require an enterprising assignment that extends beyond that one week. You could ask for folks to develop a multimedia complement, too, or some non-writing component as part of that. Reporting just the five Ws is a start, but we should be looking at the modern reporting process, which is decidedly less traditional.

Again, I know this course isn’t about code or producing multimedia, but I think you could do more there. WordPress is a simple platform that enables some of these tools easily. We studied so many great concepts related to online presentation and producing more than just a simple story: You could require students actually to do more of what they’re learning. I think you could do that without overextending them. For instance, the blogging assignment is great, but you should ask folks to shoot video, audio, to produce parts of a Web site. (You could create an open site for the class, which they would edit and design.) We studied all these things, and most folks could handle it with help.

Again, these are just suggestions. I enjoyed each of the assignments, but I felt that we could have done more in some of those modules. I know you want to start at the most basic unit with each of these topic areas, but maybe you could integrate more assignments (like the original reporting piece) that extend beyond each week. That’s why I enjoyed that assignment so much: It allowed us to combine all the things we were learning and work on something over time. When I look at some of the other individual assignments, I see opportunities to go beyond JUST writing a story, blog post or press release. The requirement should be to integrate these concepts we’re learning. Many of my classmates did this, I know, and you encouraged it. But I think you should require it. Every one of those assignments should require folks to think about non-linearity, presentation clarity, hyperlinking and transparency to the extent possible.
We learn so many great things in this class. Let’s put them to use.

You

All that said, you were a great source of encouragement. I thought your interactions on the boards were light-hearted but informative. I looked forward to your posts. You were a pleasure to have as a teacher. You led us through the readings without being condescending, and you did consider our diverse backgrounds and perspectives. You were fair.

My one observation: I wanted to know more about what you thought, about what you like to read and, perhaps, about your experience. I know it’s tough as a teacher because you want US to think critically about these issues. You don’t want to just tell us the answers, and in many cases there aren’t easy answers. You were great about playing the devil’s advocate and in raising diverse perspectives, but there were times when I thought you could have been more forceful. Tell us what you think. We want to know. We trust your perspective and want to hear your thoughts. I know you did share your opinion in many cases but there were times when I wish you had stepped in more, as the person with the most experience.

I already expressed in the boards that I don’t think that you should become “grandpa journalism” and spin yarns all over the board. You w ere great at letting the conversation stay organic and student-led. But I thought you could have been more forceful with some of our open questions, even if it’s to say: I don’t know.

Reading

As for the readings, I enjoyed MOST of them. Many people have criticized the Aarseth reading, and I was one of them. It was dense and it didn’t say anything. I thought our studies of theory were incredibly helpful, but Aarseth’s piece wasn’t theory – it was drivel. Similarly, the Pavlik convergence reading was a bit dense. So many of these issues are complex, but those two readings, in particular, ignored our most important lesson in this class: Keep it simple. (They ignored another: Don’t write pretentiously.) Theory is one thing, but theory should make me think. It shouldn’t make me more confused.

But most of the other readings were easy and informative. I particularly liked how you mixed blog entries, journal articles and news pieces. This mix is important. If anything, I’d suggest you use more blogs and blog entries, such as from Poynter’s E-Media, cyberjournalist, Steve Outing, Jeff Jarvis or other experts. We mentioned a lot of these sites – my del.icio.us is full of all those great links from the study book – but I’d like to see stuff from these guys more than those dense Aarseth-type pieces. I also appreciated the inclusion of tip sheets, studies and presentations, especially on the design module and in studying online readership habits.

Even the module on writing for the Intranet, by far the least practical for me, included interesting material.

If I had to choose, I’d say the Long Tail readings as well as the blog and hyperlocal readings were my favorites. I’d list the Vonnegut and Stephens writings right behind them.

Overall, the reading selections were diverse and mostly helpful. I appreciate the difficulty you must have in choosing what to include, since there is SO much content available and since practices and theories are constantly changing. You do a great job, and this study book truly is something I’ll keep for some time.

I hope you understand how much I enjoyed the class. I just have these few suggestions, which I know you invited. Overall, this was one of my most rewarding academic semesters.

And I thank you for that. I hope we stay in touch, as, frankly, I’d like to become a professor. If you have advice for me, I’d sure appreciate it. You certainly were a role model for that potential path.