Overview:
An online multimedia journalism course designed specifically for the iPad. MMJ 301 reflects the translation of a traditionally taught college course that I helped design. Also check out my course overview video below discussing MMJ 301’s pedagogy.
Work description:
End to end planning and design of an online course including: project planning, course administration (development of syllabus, grading policies, netiquette, rubrics, etc.), module design (resources, activities, assessments), content creation (both instructional and sample journalistic artifacts), information management (Google+ community creation, Pearltrees resource organization, LMS implementation) and course design oriented formative assessment.
Learner target:
High school or college level students with an interest in journalism
Technology employed:
Core technologies leveraged in course delivery were iTunes Course Manager, Pearltrees, a private Google+ community and Typeform (surveying). Many other free, web 2.0 apps were integrated into the course relative to the creation of journalistic artifacts.
Theoretical foundations:
A connectivist pedagogy was particularly appropriate for a course on modern journalism as it is a subject that has been completely reshaped by the emergence of the Internet and web 2.0 technologies. Connectivism believes that the Internet democratized knowledge and that all educational resources should be available 24-7-365 and not behind traditional closed LMS walls. The combination of these facts led me to design MMJ 301 as an iPad course.
As the course overview video details, MMJ 301 reflects a modified brand of connectivism, seeking to balance network based learning with the structure and support of small groups. This modified approach was shaped by my academic oriented research into connectivist course design.
