Convergence for College Educators

Transforming the journalism curriculum

• Presentation (PPS file, 3.6 MB)

Online Audio for a Non-Online Reporting Class

• Audio resources page
• Tutorial: An MP3 audio player for any Web page

Teaching with Blogs

• Free blogs for you and your students: Blogger or WordPress
• Use of FeedBurner and Site Meter enhances your understanding of your blog's audience
• Blogging Between the Lines: This AJR article summarizes newspapers' experiences wth blogging
• Mindy's semester-long blogging assignment for journalism students
• Blogs have changed how I do my job, for the better: A column by an Albuquerque Tribune reporter
• Blog Reflection Rubric: A grid to help with assessing and grading students' work on blogs
• Blog research: Lots of links in case you feel like conducting a scholarly study of blogs

Flash in Journalism

Begin understanding the ways Flash is used. What are the elements of a finished Flash package? These uses of Flash can be identified and discussed:

1. Slideshows: Gym Dreams (simple Soundslides); When the War Comes Home (7 min. long, not made with Soundslides)
2. Chaptered slideshows: My Body Myself (Soundslides Component used in Flash); these consist of multiple stand-alone slideshows bundled together
3. Animated infographics: Homicides in Boston in 2006 (simple); Visitors Guide to the USS John F. Kennedy (more complex); Sector Snapshots shows up-to-date economic data, powered by a database that is read by the Flash graphic (dynamic)
4. Big packages: Liberians in Minnesota (this has a great navigation interface); Being a Black Man
5. Interactivity: BBC Electricity Calculator
6. Interface: Folk Songs for the Five Points; the timeline segment within Churchill and the Great Republic

Often when journalists refer to "an interactive," they mean a package built with Flash. Flash is an application from Adobe (formerly Macromedia). The file type it generates for the Web is a SWF (pronounced "swiff").

Copyright © 2007 Mindy McAdams | University of Florida