Poynter Announces First Two Partners for Journalism 101 Pilot Program

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Poynter Institute's e-learning project, News University, today announced that it will partner with Florida Atlantic University and Missouri State University as part of the Journalism 101 pilot program.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110323/MM70721LOGO )

Florida Atlantic and Missouri State are the first schools that will participate in the pilot program. As partners, they will provide guidance on the development of the online teaching and work with Poynter NewsU to ensure the content meets the needs of the schools and students.  Poynter hopes to partner with more schools for this pilot semester.

Funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Journalism 101 is a 16-week online course that teaches the basics of skills and values and is designed to satisfy graduation requirements for a core journalism class for the program's partner schools. Poynter NewsU will work with its partner schools to provide data about student performance.

"Universities and students seek innovative teaching. Journalism 101 brings Poynter faculty and university educators together in creative, digital approaches to teaching journalism," said Dr. Karen B. Dunlap, Poynter's president. "Our goal is to prepare students for the whirlwind of news, information and rapidly changing delivery devices, by helping them understand how values-based journalism serves democracy."

"Florida Atlantic University is very excited about its partnership with The Poynter Institute," said Susan Reilly, director of the School of Communication & Multimedia Studies. "Poynter brings together the best of the old and new. It has led the way with online programs, Webinars and other new approaches to teaching. We look to our pilot project with Poynter NewsU to use new methods to teach sound fundamental journalism skills to FAU students."

"Missouri State University is excited to be one of Poynter's initial partners in the delivery of the new online class, Introduction to Journalism," said Mark Biggs, head of the Media, Journalism & Film Department. "We are thrilled to be working with the premiere journalism training institute in the country and anticipate that this partnership will result in a fantastic learning experience for our journalism students."

Journalism 101 will draw upon the expertise of Poynter's faculty and the Institute's e-learning program. It will feature live and video teaching by Poynter faculty and adjuncts and lessons drawn from more than two dozen self-directed modules on NewsU. Upon completion of the pilot course on journalism basics, Poynter and the school's partners will evaluate the program's success with an eye toward expanding this program and developing similar courses in other topics.  

NewsU is currently seeking additional partners for this pilot program. University officials interested in learning more about the JRN 101 program should contact Howard Finberg, Poynter's Interactive Learning Director, at [email protected] or 727-821-9494.

About Poynter's News University

Poynter's News University (http://www.newsu.org) offers training to journalists, journalism students, teachers and the public through more than 200 interactive e-learning modules and other forms of training. It has more than 180,000 registered users in 225 countries.

The Poynter Institute trains journalism practitioners, media leaders, educators and citizens in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism. Poynter's website, (http://www.poynter.org) is the dominant provider of journalism news, with a focus on business analysis and the opportunities and implications of technology.

CONTACT

Howard Finberg, Director of Interactive Learning
[email protected]

Jessica Sandler, Director of Marketing
[email protected]

SOURCE The Poynter Institute/News University