Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Online News University Says 14,000 Served And I think I have a lot of homework to grade! The Poynter Institute for journalism education says its NewsU online education project has enrolled 14,000 students from 157 countries. That optimistic article doesn't say how many of those folks registered for a free sample course, looked around, and never came back. However, with a high-bandwidth net connection and a big monitor you might find useful information there -- and have fun exploring what the e-buzzword users call "e-learning." Alas, I haven't  had the bandwidth, time or the patience to look at much of the free "education module" I signed up for some time ago. What I did see was all good advice from a teacher I admire, Poynter's Chip Scanlan. However, I'd rather read his online column or his on-paper books. (Disclosure: Chip sent me a nice e-mail about this blog some time ago, but I don't think he's ever linked here, and no money is changing hands. I do envy his being able to teach without having to put letter-grades on things.) My aging small-screen iBook and dial-up home Internet connection aren't a friendly environment for the NewsU class I tried. (The heavily graphical  Flash-required pages are even uncomfortably slow on my coffeeshop WiFi connection, which makes me wonder about the project's goals of reaching journalists in developing countries. Maybe there's a "low-bandwidth" version that I didn't stumble on.) Poynter's main goal appears to be to provide in-service refresher courses for working reporters with its more than 25 "diverse education modules." (What we used to call "courses"?) For already-working professionals looking for some tips on writing better leads or the other course topics, a newsroom's high speed connection and 17-inch monitor should give better results. For bloggers who haven't heard of it, the Poynter Institute is a non-profit St. Petersburg, Fla., school that also sponsors conferences and workshops across the country. It keeps a wonderful online collection of news, expert-advice columns, reference pages and resources at http://Poynter.org, including  Jim Romenesko's newsroom blog full of industry insider stuff and an online news mailing list I've been on for a dozen years. 7:42:39 PM    comment []

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