| *COURSE OUTCOMES |
OUTCOMES ACTIVITIES |
ASSESSMENT TOOLS |
| Upon successful completion of this course, students should |
To achieve these outcomes, students may engage in the following activities: |
Student learning may be assessed by |
| 1. To understand what news is. |
Read textual materials and participate in class discussions concerning what goes into the news and why. (OC)
Application in class discussions of current events and news coverage in relation to ideas about newsworthiness.
Write sample news stories that reflect awareness of newsworthiness.
Use of internet web sites to understand issues and discussions in journalism. (CS) |
Quizzes
Final exams
Reading logs
Class discussion of news
Research projects on how news stories are handled. |
| 2. To comprehend legal and ethical issues in journalism. |
Through reading and class discussion, become familiar with journalism codes of ethics.
Review ethical discussions on web sites (i.e. Poynter.org).(CS)
Through reading and lecture, become familiar with cases and legal practice involving libel.
Through reading, lecture, and research, understand the relationship between American history and legal issues in journalism, including protection of sources and shield laws. |
Quizzes
Final exam
Written reflections on ethical and legal issues. |
| 3. To write news stories in newspaper style effectively. |
Understand special issues in reporting daily breaking news stories; that is, how writing journalism is distinct from academic writing.
Become familiar with issues of terminology and style, including the use of a stylebook.
Understanding and application of newspaper vocabulary including traditional ledes, focus ledes, nut grafs, attribution, appropriate use of quotation, etc.
Actively read news story as models.
Work in groups to edit and write news stories. |
Quizzes on terminology and style(CT, R, W)
Exercises
News stories
Computer simulations of news stories
In class story writing |
| 4. To research and report college news stories |
Become familiar with and practice interviewing techniques (OC)
Become familiar with the Massasoit campus as a “beat.”
Apply understanding of ethical and legal issues to authentic news writing. |
Write authentic campus news stories.
Submit news stories for publication.
Class discussion of issues of reporting. |
| 5. To become an active and aware consumer of news. |
Participate in class discussions on news activity (OC)
Identify media views and biases on a topic and evaluate its presentation (OC)
Write reader responses to news in a reading log or journal
Discuss role of media in shaping news coverage. |
Current events quizzes
Application of reading news to writing news, as evaluated in news story assignments. |
8. To strengthen Core Competencies** in order to increase success in this
and other courses and in the workplace. |
All above activities involve reading, writing, and critical thinking. |
All above activities involve reading, writing, and critical thinking. |
