Technological and Pedagogical Practices in Convergence Education

The Path Already Taken

Jeremy SarachanAssistant Professor in Communication/JournalismSt. John Fisher CollegeAEJMC/August 2009

Convergence in the curriculum

What should we teach?What tools do we need?

Target audience: departments wishing to expand implementation of convergence topics.

Adapting Convergence

Proper strategic planning (Konsky).

Static, supplementary, or realigned curriculum (Lowrey, Daniels, and Becker).

Focus on the integration of technology with the current curriculum, without creating new topics of study (Kraeplin and Criado).

Method

Surveyed 401 department chairs (or appropriate faculty) affiliated with AEJMC.

110 Responses received (8% margin of error.)

Insight into choices made at different schools may prove useful to individual departments.

Courses currently offeredWeb Design 79%Convergent Journalism 69%Web 2.0 Tools (blogs, wikis, podcasting)

56%

Digital Storytelling 54%New Media Theory 46%Cyberculture 42%Animation/multimedia 39%Virtual Worlds 14%

Variety of courses

Web Design (and variants) Multimedia Newsgathering Producing Web Stories and Content Digital Reporting Digital Sound Cultures Communicating in the Virtual World Human-Computer Interaction Multimedia Design Critical Approaches in Digital Media Studies Ethnography of MMORPHS

Topics offered in multiple classesWeb Design 66%Convergent Journalism 48%Digital Storytelling 43%Web 2.0 Tools (blogs, wikis, podcasting)

31%

Animation/multimedia 28%New Media Theory 25%Cyberculture 21%Virtual Worlds 5%

Topics offered outside communication department

Web Design 82%Animation/multimedia 63%Web 2.0 Tools (blogs, wikis, podcasting)

32%

Cyberculture 20%

New Media Theory 17%Digital Storytelling 16%Virtual Worlds 14%Convergent Journalism 5%

Who enrolls? Who teaches? 52% require a hands-on course. 43% require a theory course.

69% of new media classes combine hands-on and theory.

79% of theory courses taught by full-time faculty.

64% of hands-on courses taught by full-time faculty.

Software used across curriculum

Photoshop 88%Dreamweaver 84%Flash 69%HTML 52%iPhoto 20%Fireworks 17%iWeb 13%Front Page/Expression Web 11%

Software for digital storytelling

Powerpoint 66%Flash 65%iMovie 52%Adobe Acrobat 35%Garageband 35%Keynote 13%Director 10%

Software for convergent journalism

Photoshop 79%Final Cut Pro 70%Dreamweaver 65%Flash 48%iMovie 37%Avid 27%iPhoto 17%

Software for animation/multimedia

Flash 98%Maya 13%Director 11%

Web 2.0 tools taught

Blogs 90%Podcasts 67%Social Networking (Facebook, LinkedIn)

54%

Wikis 42%Vodcasts 30%Enhanced Podcasts 28%Virtual Worlds 16%

Number of labs for digital media

1 31%2 29%3 15%4+ 15%0 10%

Size of Lab Classes (top two choices)

10-19 76%

20-39 15%

Platform (operating system)

Macintosh 62%

Both Macintosh & PC

21%

PC 17%

Who takes new media courses?

Primarily junior and seniors, with much fewer first-year.

Primarily communication majors. Also: Digital Media, Media Studies,

Film Studies, New Media, Information Technology, Computer Science, English, American Studies (each less than <20%).

Final thoughts

Emphasis on Digital Storytelling/Convergent Journalism.

Could these courses be offered to first-year students?

Opportunities for interdepartmental collaboration?

Are we teaching concepts surrounding virtual worlds adequately?

Contact information

Thank you.Any questions?

Jeremy SarachanAssistant ProfessorSt. John Fisher College jsarachan@sjfc.edu Jeremy Sarachan on Facebook or

LinkedInhttp://www.slideshare.net/

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