COMS 304

COMS 304: Multimedia Journalism

Prerequisite: COMS 104 and COMS 130 (completed with a “C” or better), or permission of instructor.

Credit Hours: (3)

Instruction and practice in news reporting for electronic media (for example, television, radio, cable, web). Introduction to various formats and professional standards. Includes newsgathering from participants, experts, libraries and online sources. Emphasis placed on campus news and beat coverage. Discussion of national and international issues when reporting in the different media.

Note(s): Applied Learning designated course.

 

Detailed Description of Content of Course

Students develop digital platforms that present diverse stories, using slideshows, videos, photos, hyperlinks, and more. Students learn what content to create for different mediums and how to be an effective digital storyteller/journalist. The course assignments serve the students’ needs as an emerging digital storyteller/journalist, a responsible global citizen, and an ethical digital content creator. The course explore issues such as how to cultivate one’s digital identity and best practices for designing digital platforms and producing live broadcasts. Course assignments require the students to work with new technologies and practice new digital writing and production skills. This course’s approach to digital production values experimentation and problem-based learning. Students do not need to have any previous experience or technical skills in digital production. However, they may find it difficult if they do not have basic computer knowledge and if they are not willing to spend time online and take the initiative to experiment with and learn programs that are new to them.

 

Detailed Description of the Conduct of Course

In addition to an instructor providing lectures based on the course materials, students work individually as a digital content creator. They create different kinds of content for different platforms and mediums. In addition, students work as a team of reporters to create a news broadcast, possibly collaborating with other media studies classes. Each student is required to produce several production reports for multimedia platforms.

 

Goals and Objectives of the Course

It is the aim of this course that by the end of the semester, students:

1. become communicators to approach digital storytelling from a multimedia, multi-modal, and interactive perspective.
2. have learned the basic skill sets of the digital producer and editor, skill sets that transfer across all media and most communication and media industries, and to do so in creative contexts.
3. have experimented with and learned digital programs that are new to you.
4. become comfortable with producing digital content.
5. know how to effectively produce digital content, whether crafting a story for a website or using social media to facilitate conversation.
6. learn not only to create digital content, but also to become careful creator of those content.

 

Assessment Measures

Appropriate levels of skills and understanding will be measured through observation and grading during the daily and weekly process of news writing, production reports, and content creation. Final and midterm exams may or may not be given depending on the instructor.

 

Other Course Information

None

 

Review and Approval

DATE ACTION REVIEWED BY
October 2005 Approved Dr. Clayland Waite

May, 2011

March 01, 2021

November 19, 2025