Syllabus

Computer Methods for Journalists

Read: Letter from the dean
Read: Contract

What is J100?

This course is about how to identify and understand an audience and how to provide online content for that audience. The course requires students to practice the skills they learn in the class. The course also includes:

What will you do?

Books

During this course you will have access to the online version of the Associated Press Manual of Style.

Students will not have to purchase a textbook but will be assigned required reading from the web. Students will be required to learn Excel and Access through independent study or UITS training sessions or both or through other means. If you fail to learn Excel and Access before mid-March when you will be asked to do working using the software, you will not be able to complete the course.

How will this work?

Students will construct blogs by the assigned time in the course. During the building process, the blogs will be kept private for the students to work on. All blogs must be published and maintained in a real-time publication by the assigned deadline.

J100 students will work with student editors from JagBytes for the semester. These editors will edit the content for the blogs before publication and make the final decision on what is published in the blogs.

The School of Journalism at IUPUI believes that student media should be independent public forums for student expression. To preserve that freedom for student journalists, instructors will not see nor grade the blogs before publication. If you have questions or want to ask advice of your instructors, feel free to do so. But, remember, you have to seek that input before publication. The final decision on content publication will be a decision between you and the student editors you work with. Each week your instructors will evaluate content of your blogs and provide feedback but only after publication.

Each student will be required to complete a research project. This project will include information-gathering through interviews and data-mining. Students will submit proposals for the research project including explanations of the methods they will use to gather information. The research topic must be approved by the instructor.

Week 1 Introductions

Week 2 Internet searches / Data Mining

Week 3 Present assigned topic research

Week 4 AP Edit Marks

Week 5 Review AP Edit Marks & Peer Edit sample stories

Week 6 Style Tests

Week 7 Share Blog Idea & Excel Project (PowerPoint items)

Week 8 Peer Edit Blog #2 & post on JagBytes

Week 9 Present Research Proposals

Week 10 Peer Edit Blog #3

Week 11 Fieldtrip

Week 12 Convergence On-Campus Activity

Week 13 Peer Edit Stories, Convert stories to blogs

Week 14 TBA (overflow day)

Week 15 In-Depth AP Style Test

Week 16 Research Project Presentations

Final grades are based on a 100-point scale. Within that scale, 94 to 100 will receive an A, 85 to 93 a B, 76 to 84 a C. Less than 76 is not worth acknowledgment if you plan to major in journalism.

The grades will be determined in this way:

Students are expected to attend all classes. Any absence from class unless through prior arrangement with the instructor will result in an automatic deduction of a point from the attendance points.

Communication

E-mail will be the primary communication method outside of class. You must activate and use your IUPUI e-mail. If you do not, you may not receive file attachments from your instructors and the university online security could send your e-mails into junk mail folders. IUPUI assigned e-mail is the official method of communication between students and instructors.

Your instructors will use regular e-mail instead of Oncourse for this class. Do not try to e-mail your instructors through Oncourse. All of your instructors are available for meetings but you must set appointments.