“News University” Items

Constant Training: New Normal or Missed Opportunity

As part of the grant to The Poynter Institute for the creation and running of News University, an online training program, the Knight Foundation asked that we conduct studies as to how effective training was and better understand the training needs of journalists. One study was called “Constant Training” and it was based on a survey of newsrooms and journalists.  Here’s what I wrote in the introduction:

These results are from an anonymous survey of staff members from 31 newsrooms around the country conducted by The Poynter Institute on behalf of the Knight Foundation.

The survey was conducted in newsrooms that ranged in size from 20 to 150 staff members. More than 1,650 staff members were possible participants for the survey, which achieved a 72.5 percent response rate. The survey was conducted online in June-July 2014.

Is the glass two-thirds full? Or, more important to ask, is it one-third empty?

A third of the journalists in the survey [34 percent] said they received no training in the past 12 months. But the numbers varied widely in different newsrooms. While in some newsrooms, nearly everyone had gotten training, in one newsroom, only 17 percent reported receiving training. In six of the newsrooms, less than half of the staff members had received training. Considering the abundance of free or low-cost training available, those numbers seem strikingly high.

One of the key findings was the hunger journalists had for training.  However, then, as in now, time or the lack of time, was a key factor as whether journalists got the training they needed or wanted.

This raises the point that everyone, especially journalists, lives in a world of constant learning. Each new technology creates new opportunities and new challenges. Which create new openings for training. To be successful in the digital world, a journalist needs to embrace the idea of “constant training” to meet the changing demands of the workplace.

Other results from our training survey are more troubling.

Actually doing the training presents a significant problem. Lack of time was cited by 62 percent of the participants as the number-one factor that prevented them from getting the training they needed or wanted. That’s twice as many responses as lack of funds, the second-place factor, which was selected by 34 percent.

One final point involved the focus of newsrooms in 2014:

The survey also provides an unsettling insight into the focus of the newsrooms surveyed. The journalists surveyed still see their newsrooms as print-centric or straddling the fence. Only one in 10 said that their newsrooms are thoroughly
“digital-first.”

Eric Newton wrote the introduction to the report.

Poynter’s News University: Site Structure

I’ve have learned that when trying to create something new, it is helpful to draw a picture. Some folks learn by reading; others by looking at a picture.

The site diagram of the 1st technology phase of Poynter’s e-learning project was helpful in working with our technology vendor, DataGlyphics [which became YourMembership], as we figured out to link various elements. We decided early in the process that to build a learning management system [LMS] would be too difficult given all of the other tasks, especially building courses.  We really didn’t know much about e-learning or a LMS, so we decided to integrate three different sites:

  1. The News University landing pages and other static pages
  2. The eCollege LMS site [with Poynter NewsU content]
  3. Poynter Online for promotion and traffic generation

This is one of the first News University documents.  Even earlier is the memo I wrote to Robin Sloan, one of the first NewsU staff members. That memo outlines the technology goals we hope to accomplish, thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation.

Sidebar: Robin is now an accomplished best selling author and olive oil entrepreneur. Wonderful olive oil.

Training Needs of Journalists: Poynter NewsU Survey

As we geared up development of Poynter’s e-learning project, the lack of information about journalists and online training was very evident.  While there were many studies about what journalists said they wanted in terms of training, there was scant evidence about how an online training program would be received.  I pushed hard to do a training needs assessment and by early 2004 we published the “Training: It Matters More Than Ever” report.

Many of the conclusions aren’t surprising, even 10 years later.

What stands between journalist and more training?

* Time
* Money
* Accessibility

What was surprising was the acceptance of e-learning as a potential for journalism training.  While only 18 percent of survey respondents had any experience with online training, more than 70 percent were interested in participating in e-learning.

“It validates our belief in e-learning,” Finberg says [in the report]. “It’s the research evidence that the concept we came up with is valid.  The real challenge will be in the execution…”

Bob Andelman wrote the report. He also wrote a story for Poynter Online.

NewsU’s First Annual Report: Infrastructure

With great sums of money comes great responsibilities to explain how the funding is used.  That’s the way it works when it comes to foundations.  So, Poynter NewsU sent along its first “annual report” to the Knight Foundation in June 2004, a little more than 15 months after receiving our first funding.

  • Conducted a survey of journalists [2,500 responded out of 12,000 sent] to better understand the potential interest in e-learning, the types of courses that would valuable and the technical capacity of those interested in online training.
  • Developed and presented the “meet NewsU” presentation to various journalism groups, including the National Council of Journalism Organizations, the Knight Foundation Chairs in journalism, and a meeting of the foundations that support journalism activities.
  • Built staff of two Interactive Learning Producers and hired a recent college graduate to fill a one year internship position.
  • Explored more than 10 learning management systems (LMS) intended to handle course development, asset management, course listings and registration, course delivery, class communications, and student testing and tracking.
  • Installed a LMS offered by eCollege on a trial basis in order to better understand NewsU’s technical needs. This trial period also provided NewsU an opportunity to beta test two faculty-led online courses offered to members of AAJA.

An interesting note in the report stated “more than 275 users have registered with NewsU, prior to the offering of any e-learning courses or any advertising or marketing effort. These are journalists who discovered NewsU on their own and have told us to keep them aware of course offerings.”

Poynter NewsU Registers 100,000 Users. First Big Milestone

When I wrote the original grant request to the Knight Foundation to create an e-learning program at The Poynter Institute, I put in estimate about how many people would take courses.  It was one of my greatest lapses in predicting success, as I thought we might have 35,000 users by the end of the five-year grant.

After four years, we passed the 100,000 registered user milestone.  In March we launched a marketing campaign thanks to the efforts of Susan Crain of LTV Marketing and Vicki Krueger, my deputy. Part of that campaign involved a press release and a paper called “NewsU Servcs Global E-Learning Audiences.”

We also ran a contest to gather stories about how NewsU change the lives of its users.  My favorite was a reporter at newspaper in the northwest:

“I credit NewsU for helping me do my job better than I could on my own, giving me courage to try new things,” says Sheila Hagar, a reporter for the Walla Walla (Wash.) Union Bulletin. “I don’t feel alone when I take a class.”

One of my goals, not yet realized, was to find a way to create a community around people who took NewsU modules.  I still have hopes that this will happen.

“The idea is to create a sense of community for those who want to share and ask questions of their fellow participants,” says Howard Finberg, director of interactive learning at The Poynter Institute. “You could call it a learning network. Your training should be much more than what’s on the screen.”

NewsU Makes the Connection to Educators at AEJMC

The initial plan for News University, the e-learning site created at The Poynter Institute and funded by the Knight Foundation, was to focus on professional.  We didn’t think there we had much of a role to play in helping educators.  That turned out to be wrong.  And by the time I presented NewsU to educators at the Association of Educators of Journalism and Mass Communications [AEJMC], we knew our e-learning would be helpful in training the next generation of journalists.  Here is a tidbit from the AEJMC Reporter, which was the convention newspaper:

hif pyramid of training reach 08_03_2006
The Pyramid of Training Reach at AEJMC 2006

“Initially, NewsU was about professionals, but we wanted to reach out to the academic community,” said NewsU director Howard Finberg during a presentation Wednesday. “We did this for two reasons. First, journalism students become journalists. We want to get them early. Secondly, teachers need help.”

This presentation was one of the first public showing of my “Pyramid of Training Reach,” a device to help explain how different training methods have different audience potential and different intensity of experience.

Poynter’s First E-Learning Course: A Test of Potentials

As Poynter’s Presidential Scholar, one of my tasks was to look at the viability of e-learning.  This fit within my portfolio of exploring the intersection of journalism, technology and training.  To help me [and Poynter] better understand the potential of online modules, I created one.  A chapter from Chip Scanlan’s textbook, “Reporting and Writing: Basics for the 21st Century” became the course material.

We adapted the text into a e-learning module that ran on the eCollege platform and asked the Poynter’s summer fellows to take the module and share their reaction.

We had three questions:
1. How does one build an effective e learning course?
2. What would be the commitment by the faculty [and others] to present the course?
3. What would be the reaction of the students to an online teaching experience?

I wrote a long memo to various Poynter folks, including Jim Naughton [president] and Karen Dunlap [dean] and included the results of a survey of the 15 summer program students who took the class.

…almost all [80%] said the course material was either effective or somewhat effective. Only one student had a negative response to the material. The effectiveness of the presentation was rated lower, with 60% of the students saying the course was effective or somewhat effective.

Of course, we didn’t have time to hire a designer, so the presentation was basic.

I believe our first online course was a success.

I believe that Poynter should quickly and confidently move to develop a series of online classes.

… I also want to acknowledge the support and enthusiasm of Chip Scanlan for this project.

 

NewsU’s First ‘Public’ Beta

Thanks to the support of the Asian American Journalism Association (AAJA), NewsU was able to create its first online group seminar (OGS).  An OGS is a e-learning module that allows for more interaction between faculty and participants and among the participants themselves. Mae Cheng, one of the more forward looking journalists at the association, saw e-learning as an opportunity to provide additional services to AAJA members.  Mae asked about the possibility of working with Poynter on e-learning even before Poynter had received the Knight grant for the NewsU project.  Here’s her October 2002 email to Paul Pohlman and other members of the faculty.  I was the Institute’s Presidential Scholar and wouldn’t join the faculty until January 2003.

—–Original Message—–
From: Mae.Cheng@newsday.com [mailto:Mae.Cheng@newsday.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 11:46 AM
To: paulp@poynter.org
Cc: Evelyn Hsu; Howard Finberg; Chip Scanlan; Al Tompkins
Subject: aaja

Hi Paul,
I hope this finds you well.
Just wanted to check back with you on two fronts:
The first is that our convention co-chairs and I have gone through your 2003 course offerings, and the following list are the sessions that most intrigue us. Do you think there’s any way we can get a couple of these sessions to San Diego for our convention in August?
1. Poynter leadership for mid-level editors
2. tough choices: doing ethics
3. advanced power reporting for reporters/photojournalists
4. collaboration conference: storytelling partnerships
5. enterprise and investigative reporting for broadcast
6. reporting on race relations.

The second thing I wanted to ask you is if there’s been any further
thought at Poynter about partnering with us to offer an online training program. [Bold added –Hif]

Thanks.

Mae

Title slide from a 2011 Poynter NewsU presentation on e-learning and journalism education, noting the partnership with the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication

E-Learning’s Impact on Journalism Education

These are the slides I used for a presentation about e-learning, given on August 8, 2011. The session was run under the NewsU banner and, as the title slide notes, was done in partnership with the journalism education association:

This session is in partnership with the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication

I wasn’t alone on the platform. The presenters slide lists:

Howard Finberg, Poynter Institute
Mark Biggs, Missouri State University
Susan Reilly, Florida Atlantic University
Tony Fellow, Cal State, Fullerton

The first half of the deck is about the J101 Project — an attempt to take NewsU‘s self-directed modules and online group seminars and build them into a semester-long introduction to journalism course taught in partnership with universities. The background slide describes the idea as leveraging self-directed modules plus online group seminars, working with schools on journalism education quality, intersecting with Carnegie Corporation interests, and running as a pilot program grant.

What made J101 different was the weekly rhythm. The “How it works” slide lays it out:

Read two essays • Self-directed course(s) and other Virtual Textbook materials • Tuesday Live Lecture or the replay • Study Group Work assignment • Study Group discussion • Thursday Live Chat • Weekly quiz

Several slides show the course itself — a 16-week virtual textbook running from “Who Is News?” and “Intro to Reporting” through interviewing, alternative story forms, dealing with diversity, style, rewriting, libel and privacy, news-gathering legality, and the business of journalism. There are pre- and post-assessments, weekly assessments drawn from a randomized pool of questions taken from the NewsU modules, the live lecture and the weekly readings, and a 50-question final exam scheduled for December.

The instructor dashboard got its own pair of slides, and for good reason. We were tracking logins and time spent in both the main course and each related self-directed module, weekly assessment scores, class participation and discussion posts, attendance at the weekly Live Lecture and Live Chat, and the final exam score. As the slide says plainly:

We are tracking lots of data

Our goals slide was less about the mechanics and more about the ambition — a unique educational experience leveraging the expertise of Poynter, closer relationships with universities, and a marriage of online group seminars, webinars and self-directed training. The second goals slide is the one I’d still stand behind:

Create lifelong learners • Increase the understanding of the role of journalism – No matter what students choose as their profession • Work more closely with universities

Partners for the pilot were Florida Atlantic University, Missouri State University and California State University, Fullerton, and we used the session to recruit partners for Spring and Fall 2012.

The second half of the deck is the NewsU stakeholders report. At our core was self-directed training, with more than 70 modules. New courses launched or launching that August included Sports Reporting: Beat Basics, Producing for TV & Web, Sourcing & Verification, Journalism Fundamentals, Introduction to Reporting and Covering Islam. We had just done our 100th webinar, ran a 10-session Writing Webinar Series in 2011, offered certificate programs in journalism basics, reporting and writing basics and multimedia basics, and were piloting a “Course Pack” with USF reporting classes — five modules with assessments worth 15% of a student’s grade. The Syllabus Exchange had drawn 200+ uploads and 900+ downloads.

And then the number, as of 6 a.m. the morning of the talk:

186,667 registered users

We were counting to 200,000, with a “Make Your Story Count” contest asking users to tell us how NewsU had helped them do better journalism. The deck closes with the next frontier: NewsU International, in partnership with ICFJ, launching in Persian and Russian, with 15% of NewsU users already outside North America.

Poynter NewsU faculty worksheet for the 100th webinar, "100 Ideas to Make Your Journalism Better," with instructions and slide guidelines

Planning the 100th NewsU Webinar

In January 2011 the Poynter NewsU team began planning a celebration of the 100th Webinar offered to journalists via News University, the project funded by the Knight Foundation. This is the worksheet faculty were given to help prepare their contributions.

The theme was a group effort, with each participant contributing a handful of ideas:

Preparation for “100 Ideas to Make Your Journalism Better”

The instructions were simple — and reassuring for busy faculty:

Come up with 5 – 10 ideas from your topic. It doesn’t have to be new material. It could be a piece of one of your seminar sessions, or lessons from a previous Webinar.

Each idea got its own slide, with a one-sentence explanation answering “Why is this important to me?” and “How will this help me as a journalist?” Ideas and images were due to Jennifer Dronkers by Friday, Jan. 21.

The event will be similar to the usual inhouse Webinars, but modified to accommodate all the speakers.

AEJMC News article page from November 2007 featuring educator testimonials on what e-learning can do through Poynter's News University

Beyond the Hype: What E-Learning Can Do for You

This is a piece that ran in the November 2007 issue of AEJMC News, built around testimonials the News University team collected from NewsU users at AEJMC’s 2007 conference. The idea was simple: rather than tell journalism educators that e-learning worked, let their peers say it.

The examples range from filling classroom gaps to sharpening the instructors’ own skills. A few that stood out:

“What I’m sensing is that they [students] want to engage with the content. That’s what makes NewsU so effective. They can be involved with it. They can interact with the content as opposed to sitting back and reading it.” —Charlotte-Anne, Assistant Professor, Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Nevada

“The NewsU module in color use and color theory has demystified this difficult to manage and often abused aspect of design. My students revel about the application of “simultaneous contrast” and other concepts that are often left unexplained in many key texts.” —Lulu Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Iowa State University

“I am, without a doubt, a 25 to 30 percent better teacher because of NewsU. In teaching about everything from Web journalism to news writing to contemporary mass media, NewsU’s lessons and examples are absolutely essential.” —Richard Craig, Associate Professor, San Jose State University

One comment came from Jun Oguro, an associate professor at Ryukoku University in Japan, who noted that “In Japan there are FEW journalism schools for many reasons,” and that he was using News University’s programs to teach writing and editing.

The sidebar captures where NewsU stood at that point:

News University (www.newsu.org) is the e-learning home for [more] than 51,000 journalists, educators and students in 157 countries around the world. NewsU offers more than 50 focused, interactive courses that appeal to journalists at all levels of experience and in all types of media. Many courses take just an hour or two to complete and most are free. NewsU is a project of The Poynter Institute funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Fifty courses and 51,000 registered users was a milestone worth bragging about in 2007. By the time I left Poynter, both numbers had grown well beyond that. What strikes me reading this now, nearly two decades later, is how much of the skepticism we were answering — can online learning really teach anything? — has simply evaporated. That argument was settled by circumstance, not persuasion.

March 2006 awards write-up page describing the News University "It's All About U" starter kit campaign, with objective, tactics and results

Silver Award for the NewsU “It’s All About U” Starter Kit

An awards write-up from March 2006 recognizing the promotional campaign built to launch News University, Poynter’s web-based e-learning site. The Silver award went to distributor Atlanta Promotional Products, LLC, with News University as the client. Credit for the campaign goes to Susan Crain, our NewsU marketing consultant.

The objective, as stated in the entry:

To help launch News University and generate awareness of the web based e-learning site.

The tactic was a request card handed out at a 2005 newspaper industry convention, with cards dropped in an on-site box or mailed back to us. Everyone who asked got a starter kit — and “kit” was not an overstatement:

Starter Kits, mailed to those requesting them, contained a cover letter and NewsU flyer, an overview brochure, a Flash movie and printable Adobe® PDFs (on CD-ROM) describing NewsU, posters for the workplace, imprinted sticky pads, polybags containing an imprinted carabineer highlighter, mini-brochures, and an imprinted magnetic memo stand. In short, the starter kit was loaded! Every piece worked nicely in concert with the others, each one supporting the theme, “NewsU: It’s All About U.”

The results section reports the campaign beat its goal:

120 starter kits were requested, representing 40% of the total conference audience. (The goal was to receive 70 requests.) 2. To date, NewsU has registered 5,175 journalists!

Reading this in 2026, the mechanics are the artifact. To market an online learning site, we mailed physical objects — a CD-ROM with a Flash movie, a poster, a magnetic memo stand — because that was how you reached working journalists in a newsroom. Today the entire funnel would be a link, an email sequence and a social post, and nobody would be counting drop-box cards at a convention.

What hasn’t aged is the underlying problem. In the early days of NewsU, the hard part was never building the courses; it was convincing journalists that online training was worth their time and that a self-paced course could be as good as sitting in a seminar room in St. Petersburg. That first 5,175 registrations was the beginning of a number that grew into the hundreds of thousands over the years that followed — but every one of them started with someone deciding to take a chance on learning at a screen.