JRN 400: That's All, Folks!

Everything is in. Nothing left to do. I'll finish posting your latest stories in the next few days, do the math on your base grades, make any adjustments necessary, and that's that. Your grades will be locked in, and soon you'll be finding out exactly what you got.

The only thing left for you to do (if you haven't done it already) is evaluate this class via the SIRS online teacher evaluation site, for which you should have received a link via email. Please take a few minutes to let us know how this online version of JRN 400 went, what we should keep doing, and what could be better.

Plus, there's only one thing for me to do, and that's to thank each of you for spending a semester with me. I enjoyed working with each and every one of you. I really did.

Everyone comes into JRN 400 at a different starting point. Some have significant journalistic experience by now; others don't have much. A few people have a natural talent; others need to keep cultivating that talent a bit more before it becomes apparent.

No matter where and how you started, I got to see improvement. Growth. Little everyday victories. Some defeats, but also renewed efforts to overcome those losses.

No matter if you did great in this class or just eked by, remember that for many of you who are graduating, you're about to get a clean slate. That's the good news. The challenge now is, your margin of error will be zero. Real life is demanding like that. You have to get it right, and get it right each and every time from here on out. The time for practice is over.

Still, if you passed this class you should be ready, as long as you recognize that what you learned in this class -- and what you learned in EVERY class at MSU -- wasn't just for that class. The lessons are ones that were intended for you to keep and use every day for the rest of your professional lives.

So, please recall the lessons learned, and use them to build a path to success. If there's anything I can do to help along the way, please don't hesitate to ask. (All because our class is done doesn't mean I'm not willing to help!)

Good luck to everyone going forward, and one last time, thank you.

JRN 400: Weekly Stories, Week Two

Here's a roundup of some of the ones I liked best. Take a look at each; see what you think and what good ideas you can get that you can then apply to your last round of stories that is coming up:

JRN 400: First Weekly Stories Assignment

Our first round of weekly stories are edited, graded and posted to the Spartan Newsroom web site. I think it's a good time for us to look at some of the work of our peers to see what ideas we can glean from them on how we can do our next round of stories

Like digital story package examples from last week, he best stories tis week shared some important traits:

JRN 400: Digital Story Package Assignment

So, our first stories are now done. Whether we did great or we think we can do better, it's important that we learn from this first assignment and keep building our skills in the little but busy time we have left.  

The best stories shared some important traits:

JRN 400: Deadlines

This is a journalism class. That means you are being evaluated on more than just creating content; meeting deadlines are just as critical.

JRN 400: How To Turn In Your Story Assignments

For your stories -- whether digital story package or weekly story -- you will be turning in your stories by filing your work directly to WordPress, following directions offered in an earlier blog post.

JRN 400: The Journalstic Method

One of you guys sent me a digital story package draft to review, along with this note:

I have attached a Word document with my ideas for the Digital Story Package. My thoughts are still all over the place with research and writing because I haven't gotten all of my interviews yet, but the one I did get is really good, so I may use that interview as my main piece in the story. My other interviews are coming soon. The rest of the information, like data, charts, ASF, and stand alone pictures, will be in the written section of my package below my video.

The draft had a nice range of named, listed direct sources hitting all sorts of source categories as described in an earlier blog post: involved sources, subject drivers, neutral experts, documentary sources and such. Here is what I wrote back:

Portfolio Review: An Assignment

Please to go our class's Facebook page, click on the links for ALL portfolios from this class, and review each and every portfolio.

Then, offer your critique of at least three different portfolios in the comments section of each portfolio you choose to comment upon. Don't just say you liked or hated it; say what you liked or hated, exactly; and why; and offer ideas on other ways to do it.

Your deadline to add comments will be no later than 9 a.m. Thursday, June 7. 

JRN 400: Our Weekly Story Assignment Calendar

So we're about to start our weekly out-of-class story cycles, where you will have about 1-2 weeks per story to go from approved idea to to final version, with two stories due every week.

Your Stories: A Reminder

Please keep in mind all reporting on our stories must be ORIGINAL reporting. That means we don't cite articles from other media (according to CNN; The New York Times reported ... ) or other things we found online (MSU's Web site said; according to Wikipedia ... ). Instead, we talk to researchers and participants and people in charge of the issue directly ourselves, and we look at studies and research papers and documents directly ourselves.

So, if you're doing a story about the proposed U.S.-North Korea summit, you should NOT cite reporting from CNN and The New York Times; you should reach out to a political science prof who is expert on the issue and interview him or her; you should try to get a hold of government officials or in lieu of that, get press releases directly from their Web sites, and so on.

That's the difference between doing a term paper and a new story: for a term paper we cite the work of others, but for a news story we do the work ourselves.

Now, how do we find people to talk to? One way is to look at news stories done by others. See who they interviewed and what documents they cited, and then try to get a hold of those people directly yourself and get those documents yourself for your own review.

No matter how we do this, the heart of journalism is doing interviews directly with people involved in your issue. We need to make sure we are doing that.

Digital Story Package: The Next Step

By now, you should have your digital story package idea approved. Now, it's time to start working on your actual story package.

Digital Story Package: Narrative Rubric

Digital Story Package: Video Rubric

Digital Story Package: Video Rubric

Digital Story Package: ASF Rubric

JRN 400: Meet Your Team Leaders!

The Spartan Newsroom trends and issues team (that's us!) for the summer of 2018 now has leadership. Let's meet them!

JRN 400: Our Topics!

We're doing something a bit different this semester. In past semesters, we had one overarching class issue that we all worked to write about, using different angles and mediums. This term, we're letting each of you pick your own trend or issue. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but honestly, I'm really impressed with what you all came up with. Here are the ideas; please take a look at all of them and the details of each to see if it can give you ideas and inspiration for how to best do your topic:

Portfolios: Your Assignment

There's a reason we did assignments on personal branding, work samples, resume creation and such: now, we will bring all that together and (if you don't already have one) create a portfolio site.

Portfolios: Site Host Comparisons

Portfolios: Site Tips