This document provides an overview of Professor Eric Luther's COMM 106: Multimedia Journalism course. It outlines the professor's background and experience in media production and teaching. It then details the course structure, including assignments, grading, policies and an overview of multimedia journalism projects. Students will investigate topics to create audio-based multimedia projects involving text, audio and interactivity, which they will present at the end of the semester. The first assignment is to submit an email address to be added to the class blog.

1. COMM 106: MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM
Professor Eric Luther
• TX Community College transfer student
• SMU: Dallas, TX – Bachelors of Humanities
• NYU: New York, NY – Masters in Arts & Humanities
Education
• 10 years in media production (mainly TV news)
• Taught communications and media courses as adjunct at
other community colleges, but came full-time to WCC as
of Fall 2010
• Curriculum Chair; Communications & Media Arts

2. Students:
• Who are you and what brings you to
this class?
• What do you hope/expect to get out
of this class?
COMM 106: MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM

3. TODAY’S OVERVIEW:
• Go over Class Outline
• Discuss Journalism Basics
• Class Materials are posted on
Blackboard prior to class meeting
• GO TO THIS COURSE SECTION ON
BLACKBOARD NOW
COMM 106: MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM

4. COMM 109:
USING BLACKBOARD
• All assigned class work and materials can be found in the
corresponding CLASS MATERIAL & ASSIGNMENTS area of the
course blackboard shell:

5. COMM 109:
USING BLACKBOARD
• Click into the appropriate week of class meeting

6. COMM 109:
USING BLACKBOARD
• There you will see all the assigned work & material for that week

7. COURSE OUTLINE OVERVIEW
•CONTACT INFO
•COURSE DETAILS
• This course is an introduction to the basic elements and
tools of multimedia journalistic storytelling including
audio, video, slideshows and online journalism
platforms with the goal of giving every student a
rudimentary knowledge of how to produce and publish
new stories using multimedia. The class will expose
students to both practical skills and a broader
understanding of multimedia journalism issues.

8. COURSE OUTLINE OVERVIEW
• REQUIRED TEXTBOOK
• Advancing the Story-Quality Journalism
in a Digital World, Fourth Edition –
Wenger & Potter, SAGE Publishing
• Multimedia Journalism is a dynamic field
and, in addition to the textbook, we will
also be using real-world current
examples, instructor-supplied
information, and practical lab experience
as our course source materials.
• Course Materials/Supplies:
• Smart Phone (Recording Devices are
available for checkout; any lost or
damaged WCC equipment is the sole
responsibility of the student)
Audacity (or comparable video editing
software)

9. COURSE OUTLINE OVERVIEW
•GRADING DETAILS
• GRADING - This course has three distinct graded/credit
parts:
• COURSE ASSIGNMENTS & QUIZZES (In-Class, Blog &
Blackboard) = 35% (lowest score dropped)
• PRODUCTION EXERCISES = 35% (lowest score dropped)
• SEMESTER PROJECT= 30%
• TOTAL = 100%
***
• Your current grade should always be available in
BLACKBOARD: MY GRADES: CURRENT GRADE

10. COURSE OUTLINE OVERVIEW
•CLASS POLICIES: No Food/Drink in
the classroom: Students are NOT allowed
to have refreshments of any kind in
computer labs. You may leave bottled
water/liquids at the front of the
classroom but no refreshments of any
kind are allowed at the computer
stations due to risk of spillage and in the
interest of general cleanliness.

11. COURSE OUTLINE OVERVIEW
•CLASS POLICIES: Journalism is all about
deadlines so, typically, NO LATE WORK IS ACCEPTED FOR
FULL CREDIT (50% maximum)! Material covered in class
will always be posted in the appropriate area/weekly
class module of Blackboard so physical absences are not
an excuse for falling behind when completing work. You
are held responsible for the material whether you are
physically present or not. There will plenty of time
allowed for any and all work and Blackboard will be
consistently updated.
• In addition, there will be in-class work that is not
available beyond the day/time of assignment and,
therefore, unavailable for later completion.

12. BASIC COURSE SECTIONS:
•LECTURES/COVERAGE OF CLASS MATERIAL
•CLASS BLOG POSTINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
•BLACKBOARD QUIZZES AND/OR
ASSIGNMENTS
•IN-CLASS & OUTSIDE-CLASS LAB TIME TO
WORK ON EXERCISES AND MULTIMEDIA
PROJECTS

13. OUTLINE OVERVIEW
•Course Outline is subject to change
•Discussion is encouraged but please
be polite not only when talking, but
listening – communication is a two-
way street
•Questions?

14. What is “COMM 106: MULTIMEDIA
JOURNALISM”?
•Multimedia (dictionary)
•Using or involving several forms of
communication or expression
•For our purposes, we’re going to focus on
AUDIO and VIDEO as our primary media
forms along with text, interactive, and
photo elements

15. •Journalism (dictionary)
•the activity or job of collecting, writing,
and editing news stories for newspapers,
magazines, television, radio, and/or the
web
What is “COMM 106: MULTIMEDIA
JOURNALISM”?

16. BASICS OF JOURNALISM
•Journalists should always perform two basic
function (the 2 “I’s”):
•INVESTIGATE & INFORM
•And they should always perform them:
•As ACCURATELY & FAIRLY as they possibly
can

17. MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM PROJECTS
•You will pick Journalistic Topics to Investigate
& Inform as Accurately & Fairly as you can
•You will build a basic AUDIO multimedia
project around your topic (text + audio +
interactivity)
•You will present your project to the class at
the end of the semester

18. Past Student Project Work
•PERSONAL PROFILE (the man who knew
nothing about race)
•SCHOOL RELATED (exchange student)
•PERSONAL PROFILE (Jamaica)
•CULTURAL TREND (health fads)
•COVERED IN CONCRETE DUST (personal
experience)

19. BLOG EMAIL SUBMISSION
•You have one assignment this week – simply
submit an email address so I can add you to
our class blog as an author
•It can be ANY email address, personal or your
WCC address
•You will receive info at this address that you
will need to post on our class blog – SAVE
THIS EMAIL!
•You will find this assignment in WEEK #1
•Due by end of class/day today