Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Amir "Flid2" Lehrer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:16:52 -0000

Journalists should be able to keep up and be fluent with any technology or tool that will help them get their job done. There are a lot more journalists out there these days and there is a lot of competition. If they don't like twitter, let them cut out half of their sources and leads.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

NetAntwerp — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:04:42 -0000

It's all about spamming the twitterverse with news headlines, James. I hardly follow people who spam links all the time - excess baggage.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

NetAntwerp — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:55:04 -0000

> Twitter symbolizes so much more than that if you really know anything about it

So, "Pam", in your *opinion*, what does Twitter symbolize? Journalistic Dynamite? A place to spam annoying news headlines?

> There's a boatload of low-quality journalism out there in all the "traditional" media markets that you are by inference touting.

"low-quality journalism", e.g personal blogs, often carries more useful information than the dry, boring type of journalism.

Journalists can't kill off bloggers, and visa versa. So-called "pro" journalists have to live with it, like everybody else.

Besides, "pro" journalists AND bloggers have their uses in today's society.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

wikiworld — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:25:19 -0000

totally awesome find by a totally awesome person

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Moose — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:03:29 -0000

what a load...

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

cd sieker — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:37:59 -0000

James - Dr. Ewart's student. As a journalist, I would respect that you have a right to your own opinion. The topic Twitter and the classroom environment, instructional material and the social media useage in the professional workforce.
Social Media Networking has become an acceptable and marketable way to communicate with the global marketplace as well as a personal way to get your message delivered in a secure website, blog or app environment.
Instead of being negative, learn to use the tools on how to use this network in a positive, profitable manner. You'll be surprised. It is an excellent source and it cost you nothing.
I look at educational material and classes as an opportunity. This is the 21st Century and I am fascinated everyday on the new technology available to US. Good Luck,

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

James — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:25:49 -0000

I am one of Dr Ewart's journalist students at Griffith University. I am bitterly dissapointed by the distortion of facts outlined in the story and the attacks on Dr Ewart's character on some sites. I expect better from professionals!

Firstly, the class in not on Twitter - I have no idea how you came to this idea? Maybe if you did some research this would have been apparent. Also, I was one of the very few students who was unfamiliar with Twitter but NONE of us said we did not know what Twitter was. I also raised concerns about using it as 'a self reflection tool' in the manner proposed in class suggesting this was a waste of time. I am a social worker with a psychology degree. It was my opinion that most students would learn more from a self reflective essay than tweets.

One more comment....your article does not seem to contain many facts. Why not do some research and think before you write. I may not have known about Twitter but, thanks to you, I certainly have a great example of bad journalism to learn from. Maybe Twitter was not a waste of time after all?

All I can write (with imputation) is MEDIA LAW, DEFAMATION and AJA CODE OF ETHICS. Shame on you!
s# 1745016

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Dr. Thomas Ho — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:57:16 -0000

More motivation for this move:

Study Shows Increased Usage of Online and Social Media Resources by Journalists

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

amandarmoore — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:39:52 -0000

It's also a component of our capstone journalism class, Converged Journalism, at the University of Central Florida. Account signup was mandatory since we had to tweet live from an event for a grade.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Pam — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:29:33 -0000

Twitter symbolizes so much more than that if you really know anything about it. You can say the same thing about television and magazines & newspapers... all are used in a variety of ways for a variety of messages, none of which are solely inherent for that media alone. There's a boatload of low-quality journalism out there in all the "traditional" media markets that you are by inference touting. Twitter is neither all good nor all bad like any media outlet. It's up to readers to pick and choose where they get info. People used to say that television was a stupid fad that would never last... you see how that turned out.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Pam — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:21:36 -0000

You forget that of that 140 characters you can place links to longer articles. So you can get more bang for you buck, so to speak. It can be a very effective tool to spread news quickly. It may sound far fetched, but Twitter is a main news source for me, I follow many of the mainstream news outlets on Twitter and find out much quicker about breaking news that way when I'm at my computer and NOT near a tv or newspaper or magazine. Some news, like earthquakes and storms I find out about from people I follow around the world even before the news is able to report it. You can get an awful lot out of 140 characters... Geez

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Greg Watts — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:16:07 -0000

I have to admit that I'm still struggling to understand this fascination with Twitter among journalists. I can't help but feel it's simply that latest novelty. At the same time, I think journalism students need to be aware of the role it seems to be playing in media, but I think they need to be told to keep it in perspective.

I watched an interview recently on Fora TV with the CEO of Twitter. While I was still left baffled by its popularity with some journalists (and it is only some), I could see Twitter's potential in business. For example, restaurants and theatres sending out Twitters on quiet nights and offering discounts to those who turn up. To me, this is a practical application of Twitter. Most of the stuff journalists Twitter about seems trivial.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Jacqui Ewart — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:11:34 -0000

Jens you may have overlooked by response about this issue - Twitter is not an entire class and never was - the story was a victim of re-reporting errors.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

bueller — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:44:35 -0000

Everything you need to know about writing for Twitter was covered in your first day of learning about ledes.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Dr. Manuel Flores — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:42:18 -0000

At Texas A&M Kingsville in deep South Texas twitter is used a "communications/information" tool by students in "Publications Lab" who work on the university student print and online newspaper. It has become very effective, allowing us to inform students about occurences on campus and alert them to our website for more info. During a recent campus lockdown with an escaped prisoner near campus, our tweets were picked up by regular media to keep ther "viewers" and "readers" up to date.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Dr. Manuel Flores — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:40:08 -0000

Twitter, while not making inroads with coming generation of teenagers, it making an impact with the current college crowd. Knowing how to use it is important for the coming generation of leaders in our country.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Jacqui Ewart — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:53:04 -0000

Tks Blitzwing, love the Simpsons but it's nothing like that for me - being misreported and mis-blogged around the world. It is like a nightmare where someone decides you are guilty without checking the facts -wish journalists and bloggers would do so before ranting! 'Victims' of poor reporting rarely get redress, as per this exercise.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Integrity in journalism — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:48:53 -0000

Gosh I do hope you are not a journalism student -check the responses and the original story before commenting!

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Alfred Hermida — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:53:53 -0000

Good point Stephanie. At the UBC journalism school this past week, we asked students to file their story leads via Twitter. The character limit means students have to be concise and succinct, and receive feedback from fellow students via Twitter, as well as faculty.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

cd sieker — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:53:46 -0000

Mark you are correct. To be able to format writing in 140 char. and to give a argument is a skill worth pursuing. Also the info. you gain from the writers and their blogs is up to date and gives opinions that open up other avenues to pursue

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Angelica — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:09:07 -0000

Um... technically speaking, there's hardly any way to get more "in-depth" without using more than 140 characters. So frankly, these people are wasting their money and time trying. As a Communication student myself, I think social networking sites are a vital part of the field. But this is kind of pushing it.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Jacqui Ewart — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:32:48 -0000

I'm heartened to see one of my students getting it right. Those who erred in the re-reporting of this story should take a leaf out of elshbesh's post and get it right.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Jacqui Ewart — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:29:49 -0000

Further corrections to claims in some posts on this site from the lecturer involved in this story. The course is not solely about Twitter and I have never claimed that. Somewhere along the line in the course of the re-reporting of this story, somebody got it very very wrong! An excellent example (although one that has created me additional work in corecting other people's errors) of how journalists and bloggers get it wrong and one that I will use in future courses. I introduced Twitter as one of several assessment tools in an existing journalism course which focuses on reporting news and politics. It was introduced because media employers are increasingly requiring their staff to use tools such as Twitter, it helps build headline writing skills, it helps students hone their writing skills and to Keep it Short and Simple, and it is being used as a tool for self-reflection. One of the criticisms of journalism is that journalists rarely have time to reflect on their own practices. Our use of Twitter in this course is one way of getting students into the practice of thinking about and reflecting on their practices.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

Jacqui Ewart — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:22:02 -0000

Thank you for your post on the story about the introduction of Twitter into an existing journalism course at Griffith University. As the senior journalism lecturer who introduced the Twitter component into an existing course I feel I must correct a small but significant error in your post. The students did not feel the class was a waste of time, in my original interviews about the story with journalists, I said some students did not like the inclusion of Twitter as one of several assessment tools in the course. They were, as they have the right to be, critical of its inclusion in the course. And they will have the opportunity next week to assess the inclusion of Twitter as one of several assessment tools in the course which teachs basic news gathering and writing skills. Please point me to the original source of the erroneous claim so that I can contact the claimant and correct it.

Re: University Makes Twitter a Required Class for Journalism Students

jessicabrogley — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:19:13 -0000

I would think it's just a one credit class. There's no way it could be fluffed into a 3 credit full blown course all by itself.