PLN -Multimedia Reporting
This month has restored my faith in the potential of the NMJMA program at Full Sail. Since the section allows some much-needed flexibility, I’m going to be a little more comprehensive in my post.
This course has been the most useful in the program thus far. It is the first course that really seems to acknowledge the role of a graduate student in such a program.
Excellent and Honest Feedback - This course offers excellent feedback and insight for students. I really appreciate this because until now the feedback has been decent but very boilerplate. It’s obvious the instructor is invested in his job and the program.
Flexibility - This is the first course where we have been allowed to use and hone our best judgment. Editors want writers who are able to pitch and think on their own; this course encourages such behaviors.
Social Media & Real World Application - It’s hard to balance multiple tasks, but I think it’s really imperative for journalism faculty to actually walk the walk. Dr. Thomas is the first person in this program that really leverages social media to his advantage and is actively writing and researching. As a working writer/editor, the last thing I want to do is keep up multiple social media accounts under different names and write but I know it’s necessary.
Texts - This is the only thing I see that could use improvement in the course even though I think it is leaps and bounds beyond the other courses. The materials are a little outdated; I found myself really taking advantage of Dr. Thomas’ Pinterest sources more than the assigned texts.
Additionally, some of the assigned texts were no longer available online or the course materials offered conflicting information (syllabus, weekly assignments) with the site. I honestly think they attachments on the weekly assignments are not even useful (the project description) as it’s already discussed in the actual post.
Courses - The courses have been hit or miss in the program. I think they’re a little too rigidly structured. Working journalists have to be able to follow guidelines but also have the ability to think critically about a situation and determine the best way to adapt and respond to get the best material for a client.
Course Parity - I think this is a HUGE issue in the program. The amount of coursework varies significantly from class to class. It would be nice to have an expectation of the amount of time required for classes across the program.
Materials - Some of the materials in the program are outdated and there doesn’t seem to be secondary source materials.
Faculty - I think most of the faculty has been excellent but distant. It’s very easy to determine the full-time program faculty as opposed to lecturers or adjuncts.
The only faculty member I have encountered who needs significant coaching/guidance is Christy Foley. She seems to be unable to admit when she has made a mistake and gave me an F on a story because she stated there was a factual error. When I pointed out that a Google search was a poor choice for a research methodology professor to use and that she was, in fact, mistaken, she took the criticism as a personal affront and never updated the grade. When I asked for the grade to be reviewed by the program director, she never followed through on the request.
Embrace Social Media- This program should have a HUGE social media presence. Students should have the opportunity to become part of an online community and share and exchange ideas. Also faculty should be involved in this community; I understand the desire to have some separation between faculty and students, but it isn’t hard to set up professional social media profiles.
Web Presence - I think it would be amazing to have a web magazine where students can pitch and submit their best works. If the program created a partnership with other programs it would really create an environment for students to network and work together on much bigger projects and create a more diverse portfolio. Imagine a partnership between PR and NMJ students!
Materials - Full Sail has a great program for instructional design. It would be amazing for students in this program to partner up with NMJ faculty and students and create a living curriculum that is regularly updated and strategically embraces new media. It would be awesome to see things like an online library of resources that is curated by a students and faculty, Snapchat tips and reminders, Periscope feeds. It would definitely involve some legwork, but having students participate in these communities as opposed to a weekly writing assignment and discussion posting would really demonstrate Full Sail’s commitment to new media.
PLN Transition - I think transitioning the PLN posts from Tumblr to Medium would be a great idea as it allows more people to see these posts and lets prospective students easily learn more about this. I know Columbia is teaching a course entirely on Medium this semester. Tumblr was mean to be a micro-blogging site and these posts really acknowledge the desires and limitations of the platform.
This semester has been the first time where I’ve felt free to do the work I want to do and that has been both a welcome change and a huge surprise. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Professional - I am finally slowing down on freelance projects and am going to stop accepting large assignments until I finish my thesis. I am also working to integrate my professional identity with Steven Winkelman; this has been a much slower process than anticipated.
Personal - I’m working on my site and developing two other sites currently. The first site is focusing on artists and I am going to travel around the country over the next few months to interview more artists to create the final thesis project.
I am also working on a site about living/working with ADHD. As a therapist and writer, I have unique insight about living and working with the illness. When I started writing professionally in 1996 I didn’t know I had ADHD and it was very difficult to meet goals. When I moved to New York in the early 2000′s and worked in media Adderall was a part of life because it was an era of PPC and incentivized writing so it felt perfectly normal to take medication. Now that I’m nearing 40, I am finally learning to take my own advice about self-care I provided for clients and creating strategies to help me continue to thrive.
The ADHD project came out of a need and huge hole in the market. This year I finally transitioned off of Adderall to a different medication and did so at a time when I had dozens of freelance projects going on (two of which were huge); I was drowning and procrastinating with Google searches. Every search led to ADDitude Magazine, an absolutely dreadful website. The stories were dated (suggestions included using a Palm Pilot) and really stigmatized people with ADHD as being people who are incapable of thriving. If anything, we think too quickly and become too engrossed in our work!
A site that is up-to-date and offers actual insight from people who live well with ADHD is sorely needed! There is an entire generation of people who have been diagnosed with ADHD who are struggling and can’t find decent resources that doesn’t make them feel like absolute failures!
This may sound incredibly dumb, but I’ve learned just how powerful Pinterest is in this course! Even though I’ve been told numerous times about Pinterest by clients and others, seeing the way in which Dr. Thomas used the platform was amazing and made me really embrace the platform for all its potential.
The other thing I learned, like Pinterest, was not really an objective in the course. This lesson came from one of Dr. Thomas’ comments. When I submitted a discussion post about Anne Coulter by Mitchell Sunderland, Dr. Thomas stated that Sunderland’s presence in the videos really did a disservice to the story. I did not agree with this statement whatsoever initially.
However, as I began to watch the story over and over (I was obsessing) I noticed he wasn’t necessary for the story to progress. As a person who loves literary and new journalism, I thought about writers like Joan Didion and Renata Adler; they would put themselves into the narrative when necessary, but it was a definitely a conscious choice with the express goal of progressing the narrative or providing some sort of insight otherwise unavailable.
Over the next few months, I want to focus on building my online reputation as Steven Winkelman and creating quality content that is published under my name on my site.
After the Program - After completing the program I want to continue writing and really embracing social media tools in my work! I also want to teach and work as a mentor to younger students and journalists. I’m thinking I may seek out an adjunct position while continuing to freelance.
Thank you for an excellent class and being an excellent instructor. I have gained a great deal from the course.