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1. May 22,
2020
8 great online learning resources for journalists and
journalism educators
medium.com/damian-radcliffe/8-great-online-learning-resources-for-journalists-and-journalism-educators-
6b9895db4eba
Damian Radcliffe
These interactive and video resources mean you don’t have to
reinvent the wheel due to COVID-19
Damian Radcliffe
May 22 · 11 min read
Image via Digital Marketing Institute
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2. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself — like many journalism educators —
having to quickly move to online teaching.
Although you can teach an old dog new tricks, I rapidly realized that I did not need to do it
all; this was an opportunity to expose my students to a range of valuable, high quality,
existing, online learning resources. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, especially when
others often had more valuable things to say — and often produced to a higher standard —
than I do.
I am sure others have had a similar revelation. Yet, surprisingly, perhaps, when I was
planning my syllabi, I found very little discussion about what tools and materials were
already “out there.” Instead, most conversations were focussed on how to teach online,
rather than what you teach.
There are a plethora of great online materials to harness. I am a big fan of the tipsheets and
research summaries provided by Journalist’s Resource, the case studies provided by
Storybench, Gather and LenFest, and many many others. I also encourage my students to
sign-up for many of the terrific newsletters that are produced covering developments in
media, journalism, and tech.
I will say more about those resources in future weeks, but for now, I wanted to focus on
interactive and online video resources that I have found especially useful in the
classroom.
These resources are also useful for career journalists looking to develop their skills and
knowledge, especially at a time of furloughs and lay-offs. Staying sharp, and adding new
competencies to your skillset may make all the difference in helping you to keep your job,
or gain the next one.
With that in mind, here are eight resources — listed in no particular order — that I have
found especially useful in my journalism teaching.
1. Google News Initiative
As you might expect, Google offers a wide range of training resources, allowing you to get to
grips with tools like Google Earth, Search and Maps.
Most of these modules are very short, which works well for students. As does the fact that
individual sessions are packed into Courses, which come with a certificate of completion.
Their Introduction to Machine Learning, for example, consists of 8 lessons which are
estimated to take 54 minutes to complete. Materials are also typically available via a
downloadable PDF too.
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3. A lesser know, but valuable, resource, are the videos produced by the Google News
Initiative, including sessions from recent editions of the Google News Initiative Innovation
Forum, and 2019’s Global Media Literacy Summit.
Many of these videos are super short — ideal for the attention span of students and busy
journalists — and offer a great introduction to topics and news media organizations.
Lisa Gibbs of the Associated Press speaks about the future of news and artificial intelligence at the
first Google News Initiative Innovation Forum in London in December 2018.
2. Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism
Based in New York, these videos — shot at the Newmark J-School’s broadcast studio —
cover topics such as People-Powered Journalism, TV News and Local Politics,
Often tapping into their location by working with NYC based journalists (but not exclusively
so,) courses can take anywhere between 30–90 minutes, but are broken into a series of
short videos (typically 4–12 mins), so you can pursue your learning in bite-sized chunks. You
don’t have to it all at once.
This term, I’ve had students take courses on City Bureau’s approach to The Public
Newsroom, as well as units on Product Thinking, Crowdsourcing and Community, and
Investigative Journalism. This last class, led by the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold is a
great example of students being able to use online resources to learn from someone at the
top of their game. As you can see, they loved it:
After hearing David speak I feel motivated to be as smart as him one day. I gained a lot of
insights on how to be a strong journalist by having a “reporting filter” and a “routine.”
Fahrenthold is a hero of modern journalism!
Bravo for having us do his course.
The Investigative reporting Module was by far my favorite section this term. Investigative
work was my initial interest upon coming to the UO and while my focuses have changed, I do
still feel the urge to get into it. At its core, all journalism is investigative though. Its research
and digging into stories and really sinking your teeth into a topic to find the nut of a story; the
facts and ways that individuals are affected under the grand scheme of things. Fahrenthold
even made being a Congress beat reporter sound exciting to me!
Investigative Journalism in the Open
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4. taught by David Fahrenthold Enroll for free
online.journalism.cuny.edu
3. First Draft
Another NYC based organization — their US office is in the same building as the Newmark
Grad School — First Draft offers a wide range of resources and training focussed on
disinformation.
I had students in one of my classes take their new online course on Covering Coronvarius.
Again, students found this work valuable and relevant.
There was a lot of context about how information spreads and different types of
misinformation when it comes to the news and storytelling, which I felt like I hadn’t really
learned in depth before.
Going through the online course from First Draft made me realize that I need to be paying
more attention to the information that I’m taking in about the coronavirus.
…I kept thinking about the concepts in regards to the COVID-19 reporting. I wanted to share
some of the things with my family on Facebook, lol. I found it particularly helpful to be
thinking about keywords and what people would actually be saying including racist and slang
terms, as well as, swear words to find people who are particularly angry.
“This course gives journalists the practical tools, techniques and advice they need to tackle the
infodemic and produce credible coverage on coronavirus.” via First Draft
4. Poynter
This isn’t a new resource, but it is an extensive one.
As Barbara Allen, director of college programming at Poynter, shared in March 2020, in
response to the move to COVID-19 triggered online learning, “Poynter announced it is giving
away many beginner classes that previously cost $19.99 and up (as well as some advanced
classes).”
I’ve used a number of their courses over the years, this term using their five-part module on
Writing for the Ear in my Audio Storytelling class.
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5. The Writing for the Ear module from Poynter was really informative. I was able to see why
audio is written the way it is and hear some great examples from journalists. Also I liked the
QA section with the reporters to see how they did their stories.
I learned SO much from the Poynter Writing exercise. I took four pages of notes! I learned
more about everything from the technical terms, to how to go out and report an audio story,
to how to format an audio script.
There were tons of great examples in this Poynter module, I might go back through it again
and try to get some more information. It definitely helped me get a better understanding of
how audio stories are structured. It is great to have a resource like this at our disposal.
5. Facebook for Journalists
As you’d expect, my students are pretty au fait with using social media in their personal
lives. But, using this for journalistic purposes can require different skillsets and approaches.
With that in mind, I have had students in my Social Media classes take modules on how to
use CrowdTangle (even if they can’t necessarily get hands-on with the app itself), Facebook
Live and Instagram.
Because these come with completion certificates, this is something that students are able to
include on their resume and LinkedIn, which they like.
Introducing the Facebook for Journalists Certificate
As part of the Facebook Journalism Project, we are committed to
improving our training and tools for journalists…
www.facebook.com
6. Hearst Demystifying Media Seminar Series
This is a program I launched in January 2016, at the University of Oregon, with the goal of
bringing leading media scholars and professionals to the Pacific Northwest to talk about
their work.
Four years on, we have hosted over 40 events, covering topics such as reporting on climate
change; perspectives on data journalism; how NGO’s blur the line between PR, journalism
and advocacy; the history of Bloomberg News, changing how we see Native America, and
documenting Chicago’s persistent gun violence.
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6. We have hosted Pulitzer winners; leading academics from Stanford, CUNY, George
Washington, and UW-Madison; as well as practitioners working for the likes of the BBC,
Facebook, and National Geographic.
Where possible, we record these guest lectures, as well as podcasts and a short TV studio
interview, with speakers in the series. I’ve been assigning material from this archive to
classes over the past few terms.
Here are some thoughts from my Audio class this term, based on a discussion I had with
one previous participant, the BBC’s Will Grant. Aside from listening to my interview, the
group also heard examples of Will’s work reporting as the BBC’s Mexico, Central America
and Cuba Correspondent.
I really enjoyed the various pieces that demonstrated Grant’s work. I thought the chosen
pieces did well to exemplify his portfolio, and the discussion only helped elaborate on what
his specific career has entailed.
It was insightful to hear about how an international journalist operates in a different country.
Journalism often makes the mistake of only covering policy, which can give Westerners a
skewed perception of life in Latin America.
Will is a great speaker and I liked the part where he had to learn a different language not his
native one to do the stories. I also enjoyed him explaining the differences working in local
journalism and international ones. Great talk.
My interview with the BBC’s Will Grant, the BBC’s Mexico, Central America and Cuba Correspondent,
based in Havana and Mexico City. Recorded in May 2018.
Demystifying: Reporting in Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela
Will Grant is one of the UK's leading broadcast journalists on Latin
American.
demystifying.uoregon.edu
While the series website gets a facelift, a hyperlinked archive with 34 x talks (av. length 45
mins), 30 x podcasts (c.30 mins, 26 are transcribed) and 27 x TV studio interviews (c.10 mins)
can be found at: http://bit.ly/DemystfyingArchive
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7. I have also produced a summary here, with talk titles, the day job of our speaker(s), and an
“at a glance” list of media assets we have published (so far) for each visit. These fantastic
resources are produced in-house, by OR Media, and freely available for anyone to use.
Trailer highlighting the impact of the Hearst Demystifying Media Series, 2016–2018.
7. Webinars
With live events having moved online, a number of organizations have taken to hosting
regular webinars. These activities offer a means to demonstrate thought leadership, as well
as engagement with your stakeholders.
Webinar series which have caught my eye (and there are many others) include those
featuring the latest research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ),
and the Knight Foundation’s weekly discussion on the impact of the current crisis on the
upcoming US elections.
I mentioned in a previous post that these efforts also have plenty of potential for your
teaching. Students can be assigned to watch talks as homework. And, if you’re lucky,
sessions may coincide with your classes, allowing students to participate in them in real-
time.
This allows students access to industry conversations that they might not otherwise be able
to access (because, typically, these discussions would take place at ticketed, space limited —
and often expensive — conferences).
The COVID-19 webinar activity was not only interesting, but also beneficial. Writing on a
deadline can be tough and stressful, but the more I practice, the easier it will get. Especially
because it is something I will most likely have to do for the majority of my career.
I was most excited about the workshop with Ashley Alvarado this week and thoroughly
enjoyed attending.
The workshop was fantastic, I really enjoyed the entire discussion and felt it was a very
valuable use of our class time and I’m glad you had us attend that session.
I thought the workshop with Ashley was really helpful. Before taking it, I knew engagement
was really important for successful journalism, but I didn’t realize just how many ways there
are to go about being engaging. I thought it was really important to learn about being
engaging with non-English speaking communities.
Taking advantage of these opportunities also removes geographic barriers, enabling
students to learn about issues that go beyond their backyard.
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8. The Reuters Institute, for example, has discussed issues such as worldwide media freedoms
and the global opportunity for news podcasting (including the creation of COVID-19 based
products), allowing students to think more broadly about their trade.
Promotional image for a webinar — hosted by the Center for Health Journalism — which my reporting
class had to watch live, and were then given 30 minutes to write a summary of.
8. Conference archives
Finally, I am also appreciative of the opportunity — both personally and in the classroom —
to be able to access materials from events that I cannot attend. In a pre-coronavirus world,
barely a day would go past without my social feed being full of posts from another fantastic
conference. Folks, the FOMO is real.
So, I appreciate efforts by the International Journalism Festival, WAN-IFRA, ONA, and others,
to capture — and share — lessons and sessions — online.
My business of media class this term dived into Amy Webb’s latest Tech Trends report, while
also having the opportunity to view her previous ONA keynote. Given that many ONA
attendees often cannot even get in the room for Amy’s talk(s), online viewing is a valuable
alternative all us can benefit from.
Amy Webb’s 12th Annual Tech Trends in Journalism talkvia ONA
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9. Although we are still in the middle of a pandemic, it’s clear that teaching and learning will
not return to the way things were for a long time. If ever.
Hybrid learning is here to stay.
As educators prepare their classes for summer and look ahead to fall, it can be tempting to
think that we need to do everything. We don’t. You do not have to create all of your
classroom materials from scratch.
As these examples show, there are many great online and interactive learning resources out
there that we can use to complement and enhance our teaching.
These materials — and I have just scratched the surface of them here — are valuable and
insightful. They can add value to what we do, and — in my experience — students value
being pointed in their direction.
Using this content not only broadens the knowledge and ideas I can expose my students to,
but because I am absorbing these lessons and wider perspectives alongside them, I firmly
believe that this makes me a better — more knowledgeable — educator in the process too.
Damian Radcliffe is the Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, a Professor of Practice, and
an affiliate of the Department for Middle East and North Africa Studies (MENA), at the University
of Oregon. Alongside holding the Chambers Chair at the School of Journalism and
Communication (SOJC), he is also a Fellow of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia
University, an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and
Culture Studies, and a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures
and Commerce (RSA).
An experienced digital analyst, consultant, journalist, and researcher, Damian has worked in
editorial, research, policy, and teaching positions for the past two decades in the UK, Middle East,
and the USA. This includes roles in all media sectors (commercial, public, government, regulatory,
academic, and nonprofit/civil society) and all platforms (print, digital, TV, and radio).
Damian continues to be an active journalist, writing monthly columns for ZDNet (CBS Interactive)
and What’s New in Publishing, and frequently appearing in journalism.co.uk. He writes about
digital trends, social media, technology, the business of media, and the evolution of journalism.
His teaching is focussed on advanced reporting, podcasting and audio storytelling, social media,
and the business of media. Follow him on Twitter @damianradcliffe.
9/11

10. Written by
Damian Radcliffe
Chambers Professor in Journalism @uoregon | Fellow @TowCenter
@CardiffJomec @theRSAorg | Write @wnip @ZDNet | Host Demystifying
Media podcast https://itunes.app
Damian Radcliffe
Research, analysis, teaching materials and journalistic output by the Carolyn
S. Chambers Professor of Journalism at the University of Oregon
Written by
Damian Radcliffe
Chambers Professor in Journalism @uoregon | Fellow @TowCenter
@CardiffJomec @theRSAorg | Write @wnip @ZDNet | Host Demystifying
Media podcast https://itunes.app
Damian Radcliffe
Research, analysis, teaching materials and journalistic output by the Carolyn
S. Chambers Professor of Journalism at the University of Oregon
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