Principle Practice Exposed
pICT Project for J300 Principles of Journalism
by Heather J. Ward
Principle Practice Project Place in the Class
Principles of Journalism is a large lecture class that proceeds through four distinct
phases of learning. The phases of learning are layered to provide context of journalism
practice, then the principles of journalism, then case studies of journalism principles in
practice context, and lastly, principles practically applied in new contexts.
This layered order provides students with a sufficient background understanding
and appreciation of the principles of journalism such that they can make progressively
logical and supported arguments regarding the use of the principles of journalism; that
they progressively understand the decision-making processes that encompass journalistic
endeavors.
The first phase of learning covers the context in which journalism is practiced and
consumed in America. This first phase emphasizes the role of the history of journalism,
the First Amendment, the responsibility of journalism in a democratic society, the present
day view of journalism among the public, the role of media conglomeration in journalism
practice, and the effects of journalistic decision-making on society.
Student understanding of the first phase of the class is assessed on a midterm
exam before the class plunges into the second phase of the class, the principles definition
phase. From this second phase, students should not only learn the premise, logic, and
necessity of each of nine journalism principles, but also in this phase, students should
appreciate how the principles are assisted or hampered by the context in which
journalism and its decision-making processes are necessarily practiced. Views on how
context affects the application of journalistic principles vary, sometimes widely.
History and Content of the Principle Practice Project
To help students appreciate the ways in which context affects the practice of each
principle, that their views on the principles are valid, that their views on the principles
could be logically supported and logically questioned by other views, and to attain two of
the class goals: “Learning the perspectives and values of this subject” and “Develop
analytic skills,” I developed the Principles Practice Paper project.
The Principle Practice Paper project required the assignment of students to
principle groups, i.e., a group of five students were assigned to cover Principle One, The
Obligation to Truth; the next group of five students were assigned to cover Principle
Two, Loyalty to Citizens; and so on for approximately 70 students covering all nine
principles. (Simple math reveals that at least two groups covered the same principle,
which logically was okay because there are so many different views on each principle.)
According to the original Principle Practice Project, each individual in a principle
group was first supposed to write an essay that connected that principle to one or more
practice issues raised in the first phase of the class. For instance, an individual in the first
principle group one might write about how the Obligation to Truth is affected by media
conglomeration; another individual in that group might write about how the Obligation to
Truth has shifted over the history of journalism, etc. Then, the individuals in a principle
group were supposed to share their essays with each other and come up with one logical
presentation of their interesting, diverse, in-depth appreciation of that principle with the
class on presentation day.
Problems with the Principle Practice Project of the Past
The principle practice essays students turned in to me were truly fascinating and
relevant; their arguments on the page were passionately launched and logically supported.
On the other hand, their group presentations were beyond disastrous as far as achieving
the class goal of “Learning perspectives and values of this subject” for the class as a
whole and for the principle-specific groups as well.
Their presentations were either muddled, disjointed recitations of their lecture
notes, their long-winded and dull introductions to their otherwise brilliant papers, or
poorly-rehearsed skits that were entertaining though truly obtuse at worst and sparsely
connected at best to the point of the project and its intended presentation goals. Since
even I could not glean, nor believe any of the new perspectives on these principles from
these presentations, I doubt students could either.
While on an individual level, the project was achieving its goal of “Developing
analytic skills;” on the small group level, this project was not achieving this goal as
evidenced by the small groups’ disjointed, incoherent presentations developed to present
to the rest of the class. It seemed that working together in a group (even with finished
individually-written papers in hand) was beyond either the skill set or the effort level
interest of these students.
Possible Solutions to Problems Considered
1. Change input, extra time and energy With approximately 18 groups at work in
this class, more attention from me was not something I had time or energy to give. If
I had extra time and energy, certainly I could mediate small group discussions and
help them create a presentation of their wonderful, though apparently secret, views on
these principles as they are affected by practice issues.
2. Change output, change grading emphasis
I tried putting more emphasis on the
grading of the presentations such that the small groups felt more pressure to put in the
necessary effort to create coherent presentations. This has the same problem as item
3.
3. Change output, change audience emphasis And, I tried letting the classmates
critique the small group presentations and use that as part of the presentation grade.
Both item 2 and this technique added to my workload and had only deleterious effects
on their grades and little effect on achieving class goals or attaining the goals of the
project itself.
4. Remove emphasis of group work, incorporate technology Learning to work in a
small group is a great life skill and a skill I emphasize throughout the class in other
ways, yet it isn’t a primary goal of the class. Given the problematic nature of the
presentation phase of this project that otherwise has the potential to be valuable for
achieving actual class goals of “Learning perspectives and values of this subject” and
“Developing analytic skills,” I have decided to remove the emphasis of small group
work from the project and implement technology to better achieve the goals of the
class and project goals of the presentation phase. (The remainder of this proposal
outlines how this item will work.)
Technology Solution Better Addresses Goals of Project, of Class
The New Principle Practice Project
Rather than requesting the small groups to synthesize a coherent presentation,
each person in the small group will be asked to choose one of five necessary practice
topics to cover in relation to that group’s assigned principle. All practice topics must be
addressed by the group, so five people cannot write about the effect of media
conglomeration on the application of that principle. For example, an individual in the
“Obligation to Truth” small group will have a choice (insofar as is negotiated with other
group members) of five practice-related (first phase of the class) topics on which to write
his/her essay that connects the principle to practice. This will be decided by the small
group members and documented for me at least one week prior to the due date of the
essay.
The essays will be turned in to me in hard copy and in electronic form. I will read
and grade the hard copy form. And, I will take paste together the electronic form of the
five essays into one long essay with headings (from here on referred to as: amalgamated
essay). This removes the small group burden of creating a dazzling presentation from
five separate points of view and increases the coverage of the principle practice issues.
Grading the hard copy form of the individual essays lets me assess progress
toward “Developing analytic skills” as the essay requires an analytical eye to create the
connection between the definition of the principle on the textbook pages and the reality of
how a practice issue may affect the implementation of that principle.
The electronic form of the amalgamated essay will be stored on the class
Blackboard cite. All students, including those who wrote individual essays for that
principle, will be required to read that principle practice amalgamated essay and respond
to a 10-15 question mini-test about its content, on Blackboard.
Perks of Technology Solution for the Principle Practice Project
By minimizing the importance of the “create a presentation based on your essays”
goal and by taking over the amalgamating and distribution facets of the project, I
alleviate the small group level burdens and increase class focus and efforts toward
achieving the project’s goals, which directly support the class goals.
Individuals who write the essays delve deeper into their grasp of that principle
and forge a connection to what they learned in the first phase of the class. And, develop
analytic skills (class goal) to do so. The class, all of whom will read each entire
amalgamated essay are learning the diverse perspectives and values of the subject (class
goal).
Technology solves the previous problems with this project not only from a
distribution standpoint, but also from an assessment standpoint. Electronic distribution
on Blackboard saves class time, class time that would have otherwise been used for
ineffective student presentations. Electronic distribution guarantees delivery of diverse
perspectives and views to students who may have missed a class presentation or may
have drifted to daydream mode during a class presentation or who may have been too
baffled by an incoherent, poor quality class presentation.
Assessing the “Learning of diverse perspectives and values of this subject” is
present for the first time in this assignment. Previous assessment measures were largely
absent, judged by whether a student was present for the presentation given to the class or
not. Whether one student or two students or the group as a whole or the class as a whole
learned diverse perspectives from the presentation phase of the old project was in doubt,
though unknown. Using Blackboard to ask 10-15 questions regarding the content of each
amalgamated essay simplifies assessment of progress toward the project and class goal of
"Learning diverse perspectives and values of the subject".
Assessing the progress toward “Learning diverse perspectives and values of this
subject” is simplified by its electronic format. Class time is saved, photocopying is
saved, paperchase of grading and entering grades is saved, and all students (regardless of
family, work, and other life tragedies that prevent class attendance) have the opportunity
to be assessed without an added burden to my time and energy.
On the one hand, this creates more work for me as I have to create and post the
questions for each amalgamated essay. On the other hand, distributing the questions on
Blackboard rather than attempting to do so in class, saves me in class and out of class
time and energy in the long run, helps student grades more accurately reflect progress
toward class goals, and spares me responding to endless emails and confrontations with
students who for one reason or another will not or could not be in class that day.
The 10-15 questions makes the assessment of student progress predictable and
transparent to students. That is, you lost points because you did not demonstrate you
understood diverse perspectives and values of this subject.
Stepwise Procedure of the New Principle Practice Project
1. Students are assigned to principle project groups.
2. Practice-delineated portions of the essay are decided among the group members and
documented for me.
3. According to the syllabus, a principle project group member writes his/her principle
practice essay (developing his/her analytic skills) and turns in a hard copy and
electronic copy to me.
4. I create one document (the amalgamated essay) from the group’s individual essays. I
grade the individual essays. I create a list of 10-15 questions regarding the content of
the large essay. I post the large essay and the questions on Blackboard.
5. Students log onto Blackboard (at their leisure between Wednesdays and Sundays
instead of attending class on Fridays for weeks 5-10 of the class) and download the
large, practice-delineated essay and read it to appreciate diverse perspectives and
values of this subject. Then, students take the 10-15 question quiz over the content of
the essay.
6. Scores on the quiz serve as assessment of how well students learned diverse
perspectives and values of the subject. Scores on the essay parts serve as assessment
of student progress developing analytic skills.
Foreseeable Pitfalls
The potential problems I anticipate are technological in nature, for both students
and myself. I anticipate some students being unfamiliar with Blackboard and/or have
technology at home that makes this project difficult or impossible for them. To help
potentially alleviate these technological difficulties for students, the first four weeks of
the class will also rely on Blackboard-driven activities and assessments. These first four
weeks’ projects will be worth fewer points than the Principle Practice Project, yet will be
worth enough points to encourage students to try the technology and let me know of bugs
and problems they are having so we can correct them before the fifth week. As for my
technological challenges, I cannot foresee what might go wrong except that I will be
using the first four weeks as practice as well.