Author Archives: Julie Dodd
Former student and Keep Alachua County Beautiful intern steps up to be class guest speaker
When you plan for a guest speaker in class, you always have in the back of your mind the fact that the speaker may not be in class. That’s especially true of guest speakers who work in the media and may have a change in their schedules from when they initially said “yes” to speaking […]
“Video Storytelling on the Web” on NewsU provides free online training for those interested in learning video shooting and editing skills
“Video Storytelling for the Web” just launched on the Poynter Institute’s News University (NewsU) site. I was delighted to receive that e-mail announcement from NewsU manager Vicki Krueger because I was one of the three who developed the content for the course. The idea of having online courses, those that would be connected to tuition […]
Join the celebration of National Grammar Day
National Grammar Day. How exciting! Wait, that may not be grammatically correct. Are those sentence fragments? Should I avoid using an exclamation point? Let me try again. Isn’t it exciting that today is National Grammar Day? I almost missed the big event, and my students would have, too. Thank goodness that Sandy Woodcock, director of […]
In-lecture interview helps students prepare for writing assignment and think about their own financial future
One of the most important goals in Writing for Mass Communication is helping students learn how to conduct effective interviews. Almost three-fourths of the students have never conducted an interview. They may have been interviewed themselves — for a job or for a scholarship — but they haven’t conducted interviews. Most of the students are […]
Important initials for educational decisions
One of the major topics of discussion in today’s faculty meeting was our college budget and the university’s new budget model. Lots of important initials when you consider university finances. SCH – Student Credit Hours The credits tied to classes students take. The college gets one amount of money for students in our college and […]
Faculty gets to see Center for Media Innovation and Research
The faculty finally got through the locked doors and into the CMIR this afternoon for a faculty meeting. Dean John Wright is talking about the Center, saying he wants to hear how faculty could use it for teaching and research. “This is your Center.” Wright says he thinks the Center’s grand opening will be this […]
Writing assignment requires students to be alert to possible story ideas
Story ideas. They’re all around us. That’s one of my messages for tomorrow’s lecture when we talk about an upcoming assignment that requires the students to find their own story ideas. For this assignment, we are asking the students to select a story that has an environmental, health, science or technology angle. And those stories […]
Job description for The Alligator Online’s multimedia editor reminds class of the technology skills required in many of today’s media positions — and they’re learning some of those skills in MMC 2100
I try to start every lecture with the announcement of a “professional opportunity” – a professional organization’s meeting, a special guest speaker on campus, an update on the College’s Job and Internship Fair, etc. Today, I included The Alligator Online’s announcement recruiting a Multimedia Editor. Alligator.org is expanding and needs a Multimedia Editor to coordinate […]
Tips on blogging from Gainesville Sun reporter Nathan Crabbe help students get ready to start their own blogs
This week the students in Writing for Mass Communication set up their own blogs. The assignment is to post at least once a week for the next seven weeks. Some students have said they are excited about this requirement. “I’ve wanted to start a blog but just haven’t done it. So this assignment will make […]
Field trip to bookstores makes students aware of competition and strategy for magazines
“What did your Magazine Management students learn from the trip to the bookstore?” I asked Linda Hallam the week after she and her students toured the magazine stands at Borders and Books-A-Million. The importance of placement on the newsstand. Sometimes just the location of a magazine on the newsstand can make it hard to find. […]
Julie Dodd 