Trevor Cullen

Data Journalism Classes in Australian Universities: Educators Describe Progress to Date

This article examines the extent to which data journalism (DJ) is being taught in Australian universities. It presents the results of interviews with 35 journalism academics about how they are incorporating data journalism into their courses. It includes details about the types of data journalism skills they are teaching, the resources they are using and the hindrances that have met or are making it difficult to teach data journalism. These hindrances include low and varied levels of quantitative literacy and math aversion among students, lack of time for upskilling and limited room in their courses for new material. The study found that at least nine Australian universities have semester-long units dedicated to data journalism and that at least a further nine are teaching it via some lectures and activities. Almost all respondents thought more should be done to incorporate data journalism into the curricula. This article lays a foundation for future exploration of how data journalism could be incorporated into journalism programmes where the staff requires upskilling.

News Editors Evaluate Journalism Courses and Graduate Employability

This research project used face-to-face interviews with news editors in Perth, Western Australia, to evaluate journalism courses and student employability in five Perth-based universities that teach journalism. The editors work in print, online, broadcast and television. All of them employ journalism graduates. The project aims to assess whether the journalism programmes provide graduates with the skill set prospective employers seek. Editors are uniquely placed as they employ journalism graduates as interns, or as full-time employees when they complete their studies, and they know what attributes and skills will help journalism graduates to succeed. The editors, for the most part, agreed that there was a key role for universities in Western Australia to provide both an educational background and skills-based training for graduates contemplating a career in journalism and early career journalists. There was, however, some disagreement as to the precise content of an ideal university-based journalism programme.

Teaching Journalism students how to tell indigenous stories in an informed way: a work integrated learning approach

Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are illequipped to redress this imbalance as the large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterise the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This paper will explore three different courses in three Australian Tertiary Journalism Education Institutions who use Work Integrated Learning approaches to instil the cultural competencies necessary to encourage a more informed reporting of Indigenous issues. The findings from the three projects illustrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach between the industry, the Indigenous community and educators to ensure a significant impact on the students’ commitment to quality journalism practices when covering Indigenous issues.Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island person and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are ill-equipped to redress this imbalance as a large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues or knowledge of Indigenous affairs. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterize the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This article will explore three different courses in three Australian tertiary journalism education institutions, which use Work-Integrated Learning Approaches to instil the cultural competencies necessary to encourage a more informed reporting of Indigenous issues. The findings from the three projects illustrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach by industry, the Indigenous community and educators to encourage students’ commitment to quality journalism practices when covering Indigenous issues.

Indigenous Voice Closing the Gap and Putting Communication for Social Change into Practice

Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are illequipped to redress this imbalance as the large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterise the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This paper will explore three different courses in three Australian Tertiary Journalism Education Institutions who use Work Integrated Learning approaches to instil the cultural competencies necessary to encourage a more informed reporting of Indigenous issues. The findings from the three projects illustrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach between the industry, the Indigenous community and educators to ensure a significant impact on the students’ commitment to quality journalism practices when covering Indigenous issues.Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island person and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are ill-equipped to redress this imbalance as a large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues or knowledge of Indigenous affairs. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterize the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This article will explore three different courses in three Australian tertiary journalism education institutions, which use Work-Integrated Learning Approaches to instil the cultural competencies necessary to encourage a more informed reporting of Indigenous issues. The findings from the three projects illustrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach by industry, the Indigenous community and educators to encourage students’ commitment to quality journalism practices when covering Indigenous issues.

Designing Journalism Capstone Units That Demonstrate Student Skills.

There are considerable differences in the structure, content, and delivery of tertiary journalism degrees in Australia as identified in a 2014 Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Innovation and Development Project report on graduate qualities and journalism curriculum renewal. To address this situation, the author argues for journalism capstone units, designed by both journalism educators and news editors, to include a series of agreed criteria and standards to guide journalism educators, and for journalism students to demonstrate not only a broad knowledge base together with research and communication skills but also entrepreneurial skills to help them adapt to new media markets and jobs.

A Capstone Unit for Tertiary Journalism Programmes That Aims to Facilitate the Demonstration of Graduate Capabilities

There is still a lack of agreement about what skills journalism graduates need for employment in the industry and how these can be demonstrated and assured. The variability in courses has contributed to significant differences in standards and difficulties in measuring graduate capabilities. In response to this situation, this article outlines the case for the development of a new journalism capstone unit for journalism educators that demonstrates graduate capabilities more accurately and consistently. This final-year capstone unit aims to provide, for the first time, a series of agreed criteria and standards to guide journalism educators in the design and implementation of a unit that effectively demonstrates and measures the required graduate capabilities. While no one is proposing a unified tertiary journalism curriculum, there must be a way to identify the minimum standards and test capabilities to be met by a graduate from a bachelor-level degree or enrolled in a major in the field of journalism. There is much to be gained from collaboration to develop consistent assessment criteria and standards.

Teaching Journalism Students How to Tell Indigenous Stories in an Informed Way

Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are illequipped to redress this imbalance as the large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterise the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This paper will explore three different courses in three Australian Tertiary Journalism Education Institutions who use Work Integrated Learning approaches to instil the cultural competencies necessary to encourage a more informed reporting of Indigenous issues. The findings from the three projects illustrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach between the industry, the Indigenous community and educators to ensure a significant impact on the students’ commitment to quality journalism practices when covering Indigenous issues.Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island person and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are ill-equipped to redress this imbalance as a large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues or knowledge of Indigenous affairs. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterize the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This article will explore three different courses in three Australian tertiary journalism education institutions, which use Work-Integrated Learning Approaches to instil the cultural competencies necessary to encourage a more informed reporting of Indigenous issues. The findings from the three projects illustrate the importance of adopting a collaborative approach by industry, the Indigenous community and educators to encourage students’ commitment to quality journalism practices when covering Indigenous issues.