Instructor: Cindy Royal, Ph.D.

Week of March 9

Description
This week, we’ll talk about some of the emerging trends in media, related to digital platforms and product management, and how they can/should influence curriculum.

Objectives

• Understand the ways that technology is affecting media
• Describe how digital platforms and products can influence curriculum
• Become introduced to design thinking techniques that will be explored in the in-person workshop
• Analyze your own teaching competencies and the curriculum in your program

Read and Watch

Instructor Videos

The following videos are a presentation entitled Is Your Curriculum Digital Enough? This presentation introduces the range of concepts in the digital environment and provides a means for assessment.

Products and Platforms

• Product Management is the New Journalism, Nieman Journalism Lab, Royal 2015
• Begun, the Platform War Has, Nieman Journalism Lab, Herman 2015
• Managing Digital Products in a Newsroom Context, #ISOJ, Royal 2017
• Seven Reflections on SRCCON: Product, Rich Gordon, 2020 – a recent conference dedicated to introducing product concepts in journalism
• Best Practices for Product Managers in News Organizations, American Press Institute, 2017
• The Hunt For News Products of the Future, The New School, 2017
• Interviews with Product Leaders from Product Management for Journalists – these are edited interviews I did with five digital media product managers for the Product Management for Journalists MOOC with the UT Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
  • Part I
  • Part II
• Additional Interviews from 2nd Knight Center course on Product Thinking for Newsroom Leaders
  • Andrew Losowsky – Part I
  • Andrew Losowsky – Part II
  • Emily Withrow and Elite Truong – Part I
  • Emily Withrow and Elite Truong – Part II
  • Sisi Wei – Part I – Sisi is now the Director of Programs for OpenNews
  • Sisi Wei – Part II

Curriculum Issues

• Prepare Media Students for Skills, Not Job Titles, Nieman Journalism Lab, Royal 2019
• Are Journalism Schools Teaching Their Students the Right Skills, Nieman Journalism Lab, Royal 2014
• Your Journalism Curriculum is Obsolete, Nieman Journalism Lab, Royal 2017
• My BA is Obsolete, Sean Smith 2017 – Sean is the graduate assistant for the bootcamp!
• For Journalism Curriculum to Change, It’s Faculty Needs Disruption, Nieman Journalism Lab, Royal 2018

Design Thinking
We’ll be using Design Thinking techniques during the in-person workshop, so familiarize yourself with the overall concepts.

• The Five Stages of Design Thinking
• David Kelley On Why Design Thinking is Relevant, IDEO

Just FYI, here are some articles I have written about the new DMI degree at TXST.

• Developing a New Major in Digital Media Innovation at Texas State
• Why Texas State’s Digital Media Degree is Attracting Female Students

Discussion
I’ve introduced you to a lot of resources that are meant to generate new ways of thinking about media and how we teach it. Look at the Digital Curriculum Inventory. What areas do you feel proficient? Which of these areas would you like to move into? How is your program (where you are getting your phd or where you now work) doing in these areas? Make some general assessments and discuss any challenges or opportunities you see in doing this analysis in the #curriculuminventory channel.

I know there’s a lot of material to digest here, so peruse as much as you can and bookmark as a resource for the future.