News literacy is an important part of journalism and liberal arts education. Adapting a tool called the Frayer Model, the activity guides students in developing a conceptual understanding of news by creating a definition, listing essential characteristics, and coming up with examples and non-examples. This activity is intended to set the stage for…

Apart from classroom presentations to their instructors and peer groups, STEM students have limited opportunities or encouragement to engage in guided communication of scientific concepts to others (family, friends, or the general public). A critical need exists for accurate, comprehensible science to be disseminated to these groups. To develop…

Objectivity has long been contentious in American journalism. Many practitioners call it essential to a news organization's credibility. Critics, however, hold objectivity is impossible and urge reporters simply to reveal their biases. For educators, teaching objectivity is challenging. Some, seeking a middle ground, instead urge fairness and…

Published in a 2008 issue of "Journal of Basic Writing" ("JBW"), "Journalism, Poetry, Stand-Up Comedy, and Academic Writing: Mapping the Interplay of Curricular and Extracurricular Literate Activities" was Kevin Roozen's first single-authored publication. Drawn from data collected for the first case study from…

This study examined introductory journalism writing courses and compared hybrid (part online/part classroom) versus online grammar instruction. The hybrid structure allowed for grammar topics to be taught online, with a pretest following, and then reviewing missed/difficult pretest concepts in class prior to a posttest. The quasi-experimental…

Journalism professors are concerned with how effectively students understand current news events and engage with mainstream news sources. This essay is based on a survey administered to students in a newswriting course and analyzed the kinds of current news that students followed in weekly assignments designed with a digital, interactive approach.…

Shows why the "screw model" of news story organization helps journalism students to visualize the way stories should and should not be structured. (RL)

Describes a strategy to increase students' awareness of journalistic ethics through making ethics the topic of news stories. (KS)

Describes characteristics of the University of Missouri at Columbia's feature-writing course: heavy assignment loads, strict grading, absolute deadlines, and emphasis on publication. (KS)

Given the increasing influence of public journalism on the daily routines of newspapers across the United States, students need to be taught how to find a workable balance between consulting and reporting on conventional information sources and consulting and reporting on the perspectives provided by ordinary citizens. This paper discusses ways in…

Suggests a technique for helping journalism students learn writing style and become familiar with a stylebook without taking large amounts of class time. (TJ)

Shows how a teaching technique raises questions about how to get, interpret, and report the important facts of a news story. (RL)

Provides suggestions for giving potential investigative reporters a general overview of the topic in first-year reporting and writing classes. (KS)

The author develops students' appreciation for accuracy in reporting by having them write correction notices for stories in which they made mistakes in the facts, and by withholding assignment grades until corrections have been submitted. (RL)

The author gives journalism students practice in "finding" news by requiring them to write a "hard news" story for a self-imposed deadline during each week of the course, thus creating the atmosphere of actual on-the-job news reporting. (RL)