Lately I’ve been talking informally with professors at several journalism schools about how they can evolve their curricula and programs to more effectively prepare journalists for a media landscape where online, mobile, and social media lead the charge — and where mainstream news organizations may become an increasingly endangered species.
I’ve written before about what I think j-schools might do in order to evolve and remain relevant. Mostly, I think j-schools need to be coordinating (even integrating) more closely with other departments — mainly business schools and departments of computer science and library science.
…But I’m not inside the academy, so it’s easy for me to blue-sky some radical ideas. Since many journalism professors follow me on Twitter, and since this topic keeps coming up, I decided to put the question to them yesterday. I tweeted: What would it take in higher ed to get j-schools to play nice with biz schools, comp. sci, library sci depts? Create real integration?
Here are the answers I got…
Canadian journalism teacher Mark Hamilton responded: “Don’t know about other higher ed, but in my cases it would take being given enough time to help bring things together.”
Kevin Koehler (who works with the Wake Forest University student press) similarly responded: “Deans to demand it and give creative, ambitious professors time to do it. Otherwise, death by a thousand committee meetings.”
I replied to them, “So how much time is enough time?”
Markham replied in a series of tweets: “It’s not so much enough as it is dedicated blocks of time (away from teaching, prep, grading, etc.) to make the connections, explore the potential, identify the possibilities, [and] write (and sell to the various deans and committees) the courses. Because ad-hoc and off-the-corner of the desk may work once, but tends to fall apart over time.”
While Koehler said, “I dunno. How ambitious will they be? I doubt it could be faculty side project on top of full class load. Needs constant advocates.”
…Which points to a general concern I have about the ability of j-schools, and academia in general, to respond to fast-changing circumstances: Institutional inertia.
Everything in academia “takes time” — and lots of it. Although educational institutions can and do make big changes, it’s rare that these happen quickly. I am doubtful whether many j-schools can overcome this inertia quickly and effectively enough so that the education they provide will continue to adequately prepare students for the real world. They’re already way out of time to sit around considering; it’s time to act.
Fellow Tidbits contributor Barbara Iverson, who teaches at Columbia College in Chicago, also chimed in about what might spur j-schools to collaborate and evolve: “Perhaps an economic crisis, but more likely, younger professors. Am writing a biz for freelance journalists course over sabbatical. But, will my colleagues approve a class like that, or tell me ‘that isn’t journalism’?”
And Michigan State journalism professor David Poulsonresponded dourly, “It would take a rationality of thought that does not as yet exist.”
Both of these comments point to another major roadblock: Silo mentality. Again, this is common throughout academia, not just in j-schools. But if journalists need to learn skills that, by and large, j-schools and journalism professors don’t yet possess, then it probably makes sense to partner with other relevant departments in a college or university.
This is where counterproductive, show-stopping turf wars typically set in — often under the rationale of somehow keeping journalism education untainted.
Also, political and bureaucratic entanglements ensue at this point: Whose budget will cover this? How will academic credit be apportioned? Who will write and approve the curriculum? All valid questions which I don’t have answers for at this point.
Which is why I’m tossing this out to Tidbits readers now: What do you think? Should j-schools be partnering more closely with other academic departments in order to impart to students a more current and relevant skill set and mindset? If so, what are the obstacles to that cooperation, and how can they be overcome? Please comment below.
