Content
In the 3-4 weeks teaching students the basics of journalism, about 2 are given to design basics. As the content I teach within this course is an advanced elective course, there are not necessarily common core standards to adhere to, however, there are standards or benchmarks within my own curriculum design I must reach before beginning publication. I would like students, prior to the first issue’s brainstorm, to not only have knowledge of journalistic writing and coinciding topics, but most specifically, they should know the parts of a newspaper page, what a dummy sheet is, basic uses of typography, basic elements of newspaper design, headlines/subheads and texts, as well as cutlines and bylines. They should be able to design a new page, place copy/images/etc., evaluate other pages’ design, know correct terminology, and be able to apply others’ insights, critiques, edits and influence to their own design.
The problems different students might have learning this content is the time in which they must learn it or become relatively proficient, and more specifically, the need for modeling along with their own practice, instead of simple demonstration. With no projector, students have to help students. Although partnering can be helpful at times, this not only stunts the growth of returning members who will still need InDesign and Photoshop work time, but without very specific parameters, more often than not, those returning members will more likely show the new staffer how to do something in one of the programs instead of really teaching. The biggest challenge is that these programs, for all of my new students, and even those who did not take on an editor position the prior year, are completely, 100% foreign. They may have seen the person sitting next to them use InDesign/Photoshop but they have absolutely no prior knowledge to associate with design. When a staff member who has not yet held an editor position but knows how the paper runs, takes on an editor position, it is as if they are seemingly starting from scratch. The big picture is that I need all staff members much further along in their design proficiency by the time the first issue begins. I think a large part of the understanding of this content is time as well as the inability for strong tutorials to occur efficiently and meaningfully, and thus confidence in themselves and knowledge of the programs and their uses is lacking. Certain technological additions to our newsroom would make for a much more cohesive and effective production.
The problems different students might have learning this content is the time in which they must learn it or become relatively proficient, and more specifically, the need for modeling along with their own practice, instead of simple demonstration. With no projector, students have to help students. Although partnering can be helpful at times, this not only stunts the growth of returning members who will still need InDesign and Photoshop work time, but without very specific parameters, more often than not, those returning members will more likely show the new staffer how to do something in one of the programs instead of really teaching. The biggest challenge is that these programs, for all of my new students, and even those who did not take on an editor position the prior year, are completely, 100% foreign. They may have seen the person sitting next to them use InDesign/Photoshop but they have absolutely no prior knowledge to associate with design. When a staff member who has not yet held an editor position but knows how the paper runs, takes on an editor position, it is as if they are seemingly starting from scratch. The big picture is that I need all staff members much further along in their design proficiency by the time the first issue begins. I think a large part of the understanding of this content is time as well as the inability for strong tutorials to occur efficiently and meaningfully, and thus confidence in themselves and knowledge of the programs and their uses is lacking. Certain technological additions to our newsroom would make for a much more cohesive and effective production.