Two-Week Online Course: Framing through Digital Narrative

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Course Content
Students sitting at a table as a teacher wearing a blue shirt and holding papers stands over them
Faith Sidlow, an assistant professor of broadcast journalism at California State University-Fresno, directs students during the Global News Relay.

In this course, taught by Holly Wise at Texas State University - San Marcos, students were introduced to the concepts of solutions journalism and then worked with a partner to produce a 90-second video on an assigned story. Most of the learning was completed remotely, with one in-person meeting on campus after the students had completed their reporting, to work together on editing their videos. The first week of this two-week course focused on learning the essentials of solutions journalism, while the second week consisted primarily of researching, reporting and producing the short video.

FRAMING SOLUTIONS STORYTELLING THROUGH DIGITAL NARRATIVE (HOLLY WISE, TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY-SAN MARCOS)
Syllabus, April 2016

Students created 90-second digital stories

The class was divided into two groups and received their story assignments [Topic 1]

The class was divided into two groups and received their story assignments [Topic 2]

Students participated in group discussions on the class Facebook page

Students took quizzes based on the day's reading

“There’s a lot of journalism that is not glamorous and is not fun. Solutions journalism can give a different perspective to how we tell that same story, and it’s really refreshing because our audiences are often fatigued by ‘bad news,’ but journalists are also fatigued in telling that same story over and over again.”

Holly Wise headshot
Holly Wise
Professor, Texas State University - San Marcos

“As a journalist I often find or hear about issues and then I research, investigate, and report. Applying Solutions Journalism to that technique adds the extra task of investigating solutions and I believe that’s going to change how I work in my career.”

Katie Burrell headshot
Katie Burrell
Student, Texas State University - San Marcos

IN-CLASS LECTURE AND DISCUSSION

Instructional videos on the essentials of solutions journalism were posted and viewed via a student resources folder, and students were required to respond to daily discussion questions in the class Facebook group.

IN-CLASS EXERCISE

Students completed regularly scheduled quizzes.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

For the first week, assignments revolved around reading materials about solutions journalism and beginning reporting. For the second week, assignments revolved around researching, reporting, and producing the short video.

SYLLABUS
Framing Solutions Storytelling through Digital Narrative - Holly Wise

Texas State University - San Marcos