The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) annual conference has wrapped up and one theme coming out of some of the research presentations is that journalism schools need to do a better job teaching multimedia to new journalists. I can count our school as one that is forward thinking enough that we have hired new faculty that know multimedia, have created undergraduate courses that expose students to basic and advanced concepts of multimedia production, and we have even created a new masters program with an emphasis in new media.

This doesn’t mean we have abandoned critical thinking skills, we don’t want to be a trade school, but we are emphasizing to our students that they will need these new skills if they want to be employable after graduation. One thing I always tell a room full of students is that if the hiring decision comes down to you and one other person, and you have those technical skills, your chances of being hired are greater.
Case in point. A recent article by Elizabeth Redden from Inside Higher Ed states that:

“… even the smallest commercial newspapers, with 10,000 readers or fewer, are looking for reporting candidates with experience writing for the Web and uploading stories to the Internet, according to a survey of newspaper managing editors conducted by Wendelken and Toni B. Mehling of James Madison University. Of nine respondents in the ‘large daily newspaper’ category (those with a circulation of 44,000 and above), eight required reporters to have skills in capturing audio while four required audio editing skills. Five required reporters to have skills in capturing video, while one required video editing expertise. Major newspapers, said Wendelken, ‘are looking at reporters to do these things from the start.’”

For many schools that want to teach multimedia courses it comes down to the cost of equipment to outfit students and experienced faculty. We have more than 1,800 students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University. It would be impossible for us to equip even a quarter of that population. So we have equipment sharing for certain courses, and the university has a pool of equipment that all students can checkout and use. We get by on older equipment and show students how to work around many of the technological problems they may encounter. Just like news organizations, we don’t like to invest in expensive equipment that may be obsolete in short order.

An interesting point coming out of the research as well is that students, not just some faculty, are resistant to change. Redden quotes David Wendelken, an associate professor of journalism at James Madison University, who said that, “A lot of college students select their medium in high school. When they come onto campus, they’re already a TV person or a radio person or a newspaper person. I’m a print journalist. Why do I need to learn video?”

The big misconception out there is that this generation is tech savvy and computer literate. The real truth is that many of them only know how to surf the web and send a text message. Hardly the skills necessary in today’s world. I can’t count the number of times I have heard students say, “I’m computer illiterate.” These are 18 and 19-year-olds who we thought grew up with a computer in their crib.

Journalism schools must continue to strive forward, to teach the necessary critical thinking and technological skills that journalists need to function in today’s world. We are doing our part and most journalism schools are adapting to the changes happening in media today. We want our students to succeed.