Catalog Description

Formerly known as COMM 30
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Introduction to multimedia storytelling with a journalism emphasis. Techniques explored include use of audio, video, photos, animation, and text to convey interactive news and feature stories through the Internet and other electronic media. The course also integrates skills in digital research, critical thinking, and synthesis. (C-ID JOUR 120) (CSU)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Explain how media influences your identity, focusing on how self was developed and is continually evolving.
  • CSLO #2: Apply key concepts to the analysis of communicative phenomena.
  • CSLO #3: Produce and defend artifacts to explain underlying social justice issues.

Effective Term

Fall 2024

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

1. Construct news stories through blog and social media posts.
2. Produce news feature stories using audio or video.
3. Edit audio and video.
4. Interpret and apply legal issues to works created.
5. Assess digital storytelling strategies – know when and how to use traditional print, audio, video, multimedia, other visual and social media.
6. Develop digital research strategies.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Behavioral Sciences
    • AA/AS - Literature & Language
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
      • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)

        Articulation Information

        • CSU Transferable

        Methods of Evaluation

        • Objective Examinations
          • Example: Students will be given a quiz that helps them retain and apply information about multimedia reporting techniques. An example of questions In a multiple choice quiz could include: 1. Select the answer that best defines RSS. 2. What should be cut in audio-recordings of conversational interviews in preparation for podcasts?
        • Problem Solving Examinations
          • Example: Students will collaborate in a group to assess digital storytelling strategies – know when and how to use traditional print, audio, video, multimedia, other visual and social media. First they will develop a pitch on a newsworthy story and based on the nature of the story, they will discuss which mediums will be best to tell it. They will present their choices to the class and make arguments for why audio, video, and/or writing are best for the task. They will also discuss how social media design and strategies that will be used to draw an audience to their story. Constructive criticism will be given by peers and instructor.
        • Projects
          • Example: Take a set of photos that document a newsworthy event. Caption the photos evidencing AP style. Assemble them from beginning to end with a narrative arc. Upload the photos on a carousel on a digital platform such as Google sites, then submit the link in the LMS for grading.

        Repeatable

        No

        Methods of Instruction

        • Lecture/Discussion
        • Distance Learning

        Lecture:

        1. The instructor will lecture on the techniques of creating a journalistic video using smartphones or cameras, and editing software. They will discuss ethics, copyright law and other media law relevant to student journalism that students must abide by in their reporting and productions. The instructor will introduce video and audio recording, sequence selection, and editing toward clarity, accuracy, and brevity. The instructor will illustrate how to make a storyboard. Students will work in teams to storyboard, report, and produce short video and written stories for audiences. The instructor will show students how to upload their videos and writing to a webpage and make a vlog for online audiences, and then submit their story to the LMS for grading as a URL.

        Distance Learning

        1. The instructor will give a written and/or multimedia lecture in the LMS on how to script, record, edit, and produce an audio news story through a podcasting platform. The instructor will explain speaking in a conversational tone for listening audiences, scripting, and rehearsing intros and outros, and creating quieter spaces at home to record them. Students will apply journalistic skills conducting audio interviews and recording them with phones and/or face-to-face in their locales. They will also practice documenting and reporting stories with diegetic sounds of events and overlaying them with a reportorial voice. Podcasts will be shared and critiqued with a listening audience of the class and may also be published.

        Typical Out of Class Assignments

        Reading Assignments

        1. Read the chapter on scriptwriting and create a list of the basic rules for scriptwriting.

        Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

        1. Edit audio and video for a 3-minute news segment.

        Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

        Culminating project that incorporates reporting and writing for print, broadcast and web.

        Required Materials

        • Tools for Podcasting
          • Author: Olmstead, Jill
          • Publisher: American University
          • Publication Date: 2019
          • Text Edition:
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER: CC BY-NC
        • The American Journalism Handbook
          • Author: Zamith, Rodrigo
          • Publisher: U Mass Amherst
          • Publication Date: 2022
          • Text Edition:
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER: CC-BY-NC
        • Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship
          • Author: Michelle Ferrier and Elizabeth Mays
          • Publisher: Open Textbook Library, American University
          • Publication Date: 2019
          • Text Edition:
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER: CC by 4.0
        • The Mobile Journalism Manual: The Guide for Reporters and Newsrooms
          • Author: Corrine Podger and Vivian Goetz
          • Publisher: KONRAD-ADENAUER-STIFTUNG LTD.
          • Publication Date: 2023
          • Text Edition:
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

        Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.