Assignment 3 5313
Note: This is the compilation of components for Assignment 3 that includes a 3 Column Outline, the Learning Environment Situational Factors and Formatting of Significant Learning Goals with the Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

Course Goal:

Learners will identify, develop, report and publish story ideas for the University Press newspaper to publish on multimedia platforms. Learners will learn to operate individually and as part of a Maestro team concept (Ryan 1993).

Learning Outcomes:

Aligning learning outcomes and goals with UP goals and culture as they apply to course activities and assessments.

BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – Overarching Course Goal

Learners will competently produce accurate and credible content to publish for the UP in print, online and multimedia for public engagement and to produce semester WordPress e-Portfolio for assessment and personal career building.

Learning Environment & Situational Factors to Consider

1. Specific Context of the Teaching/Learning Situation

How many students are in the class? Is the course primary, secondary, undergraduate, or graduate level? How long and frequent are the class meetings? How will the course be delivered: live, online, blended, flipped or in a classroom or lab? What physical elements of the learning environment will affect the class? What technology, networking and access issues will affect the class?

2. General Context of the Learning Situation

What learning expectations are placed on this course or curriculum by: the school, district, university, college and/or department? The profession? Society?

3. Nature of the Subject

Is this subject primarily theoretical, practical, or a combination? Is the subject primarily convergent or divergent? Are there important changes or controversies occurring within the field? 4. Characteristics of the Learners

What is the life situation of the learners (e.g., socio-economic, cultural, personal, family, professional goals)? What prior knowledge, experiences, and initial feelings do students usually have about this subject? What are their learning goals and expectations?

5. Characteristics of the Teacher

What beliefs and values does the teacher have about teaching and learning? What is his/her attitude toward: The subject? Students? What level of knowledge or familiarity does s/he have with this subject? What are his/her strengths in teaching?

For this assignment, I chose the undergraduate Practicum 3130 course as my example for CSLE and the Assignment 3 component. This course is non-traditional in many ways: it does not have a set time for meeting, it is a physical class that takes place in the University Press newsroom, but is often conducted via Facebook text and video messaging, the UP intranet and Google Docs using mobile devices and desktop computers during various hours and days of the week.
The primary requirement is that students must complete a minimum of six stories per the 16-week semester class and the stories must be published in print, online or in a video package. The students range from freshmen to seniors, contributors and staffers and in size from about 10-20 students per semester. This semester I have 15 students in my section and it is the only section available for Spring 2017.

The 3 Column Table is presented as a single production week. The UP prints every Thursday, however online content is published daily. Sometimes different versions of a story may appear in print and online. For example, we may publish online a behind the scene story about the effort and resources to cover a particular story and the actual story appears in print later in the week. We do this to involve reader engagement and track to see if our audience follows the story and how they engage with it on our social media platforms

On average, most students in the practicum course publish 8-10 stories during the course of a semester. While no extra credit is given in the course, many students choose to independently hedge their grade with additional stories generally given that as the semester progresses they get better at writing and producing content. This is an example, where student-centered learning takes the lead in what students are doing. They often judge and critique their efforts more rigorously than the faculty advisers and strive to exceed their (and adviser) expectations – and generally do so.

Time management is the most significant factor affecting both students and faculty. Everyone   is busy and the news cycle never really stops until the semester ends. Students are taking multiple classes, most have jobs that require a significant amount of their time so to accommodate learners my co-adviser and I have attempted to build a flexible communication system for students to conduct discussion, research and the submission of content.

The UP has a certain culture on campus for student excellence (a culture we shamelessly promote) that can be intimidating to the uninitiated. Our students routinely excel in student and professional journalism contests. Our readership is highly engaged and the paper as a whole is well-respected as an outlet for accurate and credible information within the community as whole for sometimes covering in-depth issues not covered elsewhere in our community by the professional media.

The student editors function as peer-learning coaches to all the staffers. Veteran staffers also serve as coaches to practicum students. The editors host a weekly, informal staff meeting on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is not one continuous meeting, but a time when the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Online Editor are in the office at the same time and can meet with students or teams to discuss their story assignments.

I formally introduced Buck Ryan’s Maestro Concept (1993) beginning in the Fall 2015 semester. There were many concepts of the Maestro theory in partial use at the UP and I conferred with my co-adviser about formalizing the learning and teaching approach to UP operations. This was implemented to address gaps in the overall Communication Department curriculum as a means to enhance and create a student-centered learning environment. In addition, as part of self-determination I wanted to put in to document what the organization was doing and how it maintains its legacy of excellence (I was UP Editor-in-Chief Fall 1994 to August 1995) and to provide a transitional consistency to how our students learn.

The UP operates as an independent entity of the Communication Department administratively and editorially. Our learners come from all the Lamar colleges and a communications degree plan is not a requirement for being on staff or contributing. However, by nature of what the UP is, most of the students working or taking courses related to the paper are communication majors.

The implementation of disruptive innovation coincides with the appointment of a new dean and department chair that are seeking disruptive and innovative changes as well. Part of the reason I enrolled in DLL program is to design potential courses for the communication program with their blessing and input.

Journalism learning is a divergent process and is exposed to a variety of subjective concepts by those who practice it and those who consume it. It is an authentic learning experience because it can only be practiced by producing content for public scrutiny. Journalism is combination of many disciplines that is a convergence of practical and theoretical skills and processes. It has legal and moral implications and consequences. It has technical parameters and necessities.

The learners in course have a variety of learning experiences to draw on and their competency ranges from the novice to the advanced. My exposure to Dweck’s mindset theory, COVA and Thomas and Brown’s culture of learning has more recently shaped and sharpened what learners should be experiencing in class. Some aspects of these theories have been a part of my teaching style for decades, but I was unaware and ignorant of conditions in which they can occur or the methodology in applying them to my own efforts. The theories have helped me put into words and define what it is that I do or should be doing.

My own learning experiences are shaped by the outcomes of those experiences. I’m a kinetic learner. I like doing hands on exploration of what I’m doing. I can read a software manual and tell you all about it – it doesn’t mean I know how to use the software. That will only happen once I get my hands on it and start to use it. The manual is great for reference, but application and reflection is where my learning takes place.

I have observed over the last two decades most of my students do as well when given authentic learning experiences. I believe that I should coach and guide students to enhance their learning and my teaching should adjust to their needs more than my own. In journalism, students should know about concepts of ethics, libel along with specifics like Associated Press Style, spelling and punctuation, but they should be directing the way in which it is applied in regard to story ideas or if a story is better told as a video than a written story.

The key indicator for CSLE is to build a relationship with my students, both individually and as a group. They have to develop trust in me to guide them and I have to develop trust in them in the form of respecting what it is they want to get out of their learning experience. Teaching is a production, it is a stage of sorts and a performance. Teachers can only do that with a solid knowledge of their subject matter, planning and plenty of reflection and feedback from the learners. I think this applies in any learning environment from K-12 to higher education.

Questions for Formulating Significant Learning Goals
“The semester after this course is over, I want and hope that students will competent student journalists.”

My Big Harry Audacious Goal (BHAG) for the course is: Learners will competently produce accurate and credible content to publish for the UP in print, online and multimedia for public engagement and to produce semester WordPress e-Portfolio for assessment and personal career building.

Foundational Knowledge

• What key information (e.g., facts, terms, formulae, concepts, principles, relationships, etc.) is/are important for students to understand and remember in the future?
• What key ideas (or perspectives) are important for students to understand in this course?

Concepts introduced and explored in Media Writing 1330: basic Inverted Pyramid writing format, basic interviewing and reporting skills, knowledge of the functions of a journalists, types of news, editorial and feature stories, basic use of Associated Press Style and copyediting.

Application Goals

• What kinds of thinking are important for students to learn?
• Critical thinking, in which students analyze and evaluate
• Creative thinking, in which students imagine and create
• Practical thinking, in which students solve problems and make decisions
• What important skills do students need to gain?
• Do students need to learn how to manage complex projects?

Any journalistic story can become complex and all require critical, creative and practical thinking skills to relate a story to an audience. Learners need to gain confidence in interviewing and interacting with sources and students may be a part of a Maestro team covering a larger, more complex story and they need to manage sources, and technical resources to complete the assignment.

Integration Goals

• What connections (similarities and interactions) should students recognize and make…:
• Among ideas within this course?
• Among the information, ideas, and perspectives in this course and those in other courses or areas?
• Among material in this course and the students’ own personal, social, and/or work life?

The most important connection learners need to make is that of other students on staff at the UP and in their course. The culture of shared learning and resources is a support network for learners to meet and, hopefully, exceed expectations and course goals. It is important to make the connection between course learning and career/life skills necessary upon completing the degree program and to build a basic networking relationship with peers and professionals.

Human Dimensions Goals

• What could or should students learn about themselves?
• What could or should students learn about understanding others and/or interacting with them?

Students should learn they are they limit to their expectations and that they control their mindset for learning and potentially, their success as they measure it. Students should also learn that working with a diverse set of others is a key ingredient to working in communications. Soft skills of being able to listen and interact with others is a key skill to learn, practice and enhance in all aspects of personal and professional development.

Caring Goals

• What changes/values do you hope students will adopt?
  Feelings?
  Interests?
  Values?

A functioning journalist serves many societal values and it is an important consideration because what they say and do professionally and personally has an impact on a broad series of ethical and legal levels.

“Learning-How-to-Learn” Goals

• What would you like for students to learn about:
• how to be good students in a course like this?
• how to learn about this particular subject?
• how to become a self-directed learner of this subject, i.e., having a learning agenda of what they need/want to learn, and a plan for learning it?

I most want my students to be self-directed learners and make it a life goal for themselves. Communications is constantly changing and they should embrace change and experiment with innovation as it relates to them.