Proposed AVU COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Community Journalism

Instructor: Stanford Mukasa

1. Description

The course will introduce journalists to specialized reporting and writing in the areas of community, health, nutrition, environment, education and local government. Particular emphasis will be focused on proper and professional methods of gathering information; interviewing experts, community and local government leaders and representatives; and writing informative and interesting stories for the public. This course is important in that it gives reporters specialized journalistic skills in covering issues of public interest, relevance and concern.

The course will focus on three critical issues;

a

identifying issues of public interest, relevance and concern

b

identifying both human and material resources for information

c

writing a story in a way that is easy to read and understand as well as informative

2. General Objectives

This course falls within the Third World concept of journalism, namely developmental journalism, whose focus is to inform and educate people on a variety of issues of human socioeconomic developmental significance.

3. Organization.

The course will consist of two sections.

Section One

Will be an overview of community journalism focusing on basic techniques of newsgathering and reporting

Section Two

Will consist of modules. Each module will focus on each of the following themes: Health, Nutrition, Agriculture, Local Government, Public Affairs, Environment, and Education. During each module participants will learn specialized reporting and writing

4. Requirements

The course is designed for working print and broadcast journalists both at entry and advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers, researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development, etc. The course is interactive and developed in modular formats, which help participants to progressively understand community journalism.

5. Objectives

At the end of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge in the following areas;

a

Participants will have a professional, intellectual understanding as well as enhanced awareness of the role of community journalism in society;

b

Participants will be able to identify community journalism issues that are of interest, relevance and concern to the people;

c

Participants will be able to identify the proper human and material resources for information related to a particular field

d

Participants will be able to write stories in a way that relates to the people’s information needs.

6. Course Summary

Community Journalism will be offered over ten weeks. Time period is flexible. Course delivery will be a combination of videotapes; web based online instruction, and email and radio and TV broadcasts. Prior to the delivery of lectures a course outline and major points will be put on the website and participants will be required to familiarize themselves with the course.  

Proposed AVU COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Introduction to Journalism Skills

Instructor: Stanford Mukasa

1. Description

The course will introduce beginning journalists to basic writing skills in journalism. The focus will be on identifying newsworthy information and writing stories in a way that helps the reader understand the story.  This course is important in that it gives reporters basic journalistic writing skills, paying particular attention to basic rules of style, grammar, punctuation, spelling, factual and libel-free writing.

The course will focus on (a) defining and identifying news; (b) taking notes and interviews; (c) writing the lead – the first paragraph and most important part of the story; (d) developing the story in a logical and coherent form; and (e) use of quotes, style and avoiding potential libel.

The course emphasizes the importance of good writing and story organization as fundamental prerequisites to good journalism.

2. General Objectives

This course gives practical and professional skills in newswriting and reporting.

3. Organization.

The course will use textbook examples where students will be given notes and taught how to develop a story. The key aspect here is to be able to separate newsworthy and non-newsworthy information as well as identifying the most important parts of a story and writing them in a declining order of importance. Participants will learn various forms of developing a lead as well as different techniques of writing stories, namely hard news and soft news. Participants will also learn how to listen to a speech, a panel discussion and take notes. Participants will also learn the art of interviewing and will be given an assignment to interview a newsworthy individual.

4. Requirements

The course is designed for working print and broadcast journalists both at entry and advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers, researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development, etc..

5. Objectives

At the end of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge;

a

Participants will have skills to identify newsworthy people, places and events.

b

Participants will have skills to interview newsmakers.

c

Participants will have skills to write stories, paying attention to the lead, style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, fairness, objectivity, and avoiding potential libel

6. Course Summary

Introduction to Journalism Skills will be offered over ten weeks. Time period is flexible. Course delivery will be a combination of videotapes; web based online instruction and email, and radio and TV broadcasts. Prior to the delivery of lecturers a course outline and major points will be put on the website and participants will be required to familiarize themselves with the course.  

Proposed AVU COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Communication Research Methods

Instructor: Stanford Mukasa

1. Description

The course will introduce journalists to the use of the Internet and spreadsheets in searching, retrieving and analyzing data. Social science methods in gathering news, information and knowledge are very important in today’s journalism especially in developing countries. Participants will learn how to identify key databases or websites on the Internet that can be used in developing a story or a feature. This purposive use of a computer towards defined journalistic objectives is sometimes known as computer assisted reporting, or CAR, a key element of research methods in journalism

            The course will answer some basic problems journalists are usually confronted with, namely;

a

Where can I get more insightful information, knowledge or data about this topic?

b

I cannot get the information and data I need from local agencies or organizations, where else can I go to get the information I need. (investigative reporting)

c

What has been written about this topic before that can help me develop a fresh angle to my story?

d

How do I analyze statistical information and other data in a way that will help me write a meaningful news story?

e

How do I break down complex statistical information and complex language into a simple news story that can be read and understood by the reader?

f

How do I relate data and information from the websites to my country’s or community’s situation and information needs so that it becomes relevant and interesting to my readers?

2. Requirements

The course is designed for working print and broadcast journalists both at entry and advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers, researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development, etc..

3. Objectives

At the end of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge in the following areas;

a

identifying issues of public interest, relevance and concern

b

identifying both human and material resources for information

c

writing a story in a way that is easy to read and understand as well as informative

4. Organization

The course will consist of three sections.

Section One

Will give an overview of social science methods in journalism, the Internet and journalism in the 21^st Century focusing on what the public expects from journalists. This section will be both practical and theoretical. There will be quizzes for this section and practical assignments.

Section Two

Will focus on collecting data and inputting into a spreadsheet. This will help the reporter to make a comparative analysis of trends. There will be two practical assignments.

Section Three

Will consist of putting together information, knowledge and data into simple interesting and understandable stories. The focus here will be to develop a local angle in order to make the entire story relevant to the needs of the readers.

5. Requirements

The course is designed for working print and broadcast journalists both at entry and advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers, researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development, etc. The course is interactive and developed in modular formats, which will help participants to progressively understand CAR as well as relate what they have learned in the previous modules to the successive modules.

6. Objectives

At the end of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge:

a

Participants will have a better grasp and understanding of their communities’ information needs in the 21^st Century.

b

Participants will be able to use networked computers to search, access, retrieve and analyze information, knowledge, and data

c

Participants will be able to use the spreadsheet to analyze statistical data

d

Participants will be able to use information, knowledge and data to write stories in a way that relates, and is of interest and relevance, to their communities. This will be achieved through a symbiotic integration of technical and researched information, on one hand, and indigenous knowledge, on the other hand.

e

Participants will develop a more professional, objective and scientific approach to truth and factual telling in journalism and other writing endeavors.

7. General summary

Communication Research Methods will be offered over ten weeks. Time period is flexible. Course delivery will be a combination of videotapes, web based online instruction and email and radio and TV broadcasts. Prior to the delivery of lectures a course outline and major points will be put on the website and participants will be required to familiarize themselves with the course outline and objectives

Proposed AVU COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Public Opinion Polling in Journalism

Instructor: Stanford Mukasa

1. Description

The course will introduce journalists to the use of public opinion polling to develop news stories that reflect public opinion on a variety of issues affecting the public This course is important in that it gives a voice to members of the public on important local, community and national issues.

            The course will focus on two critical issues (a) understanding public opinion and (b) measuring public opinion. It will address the following questions.

a

What is public opinion? Why is it important?

b

What are the historical origins of public opinion?

c

Why is public opinion important in a   democracy?

d

What is the role of public opinion in a democracy?

e

What is the ideal relationship between public opinion and public policy?

f

What are some of the theoretical frameworks that can help us understand the role of public opinion in democratic governance, participatory democracy and community and national development?

g

How do we measure public opinion?

h

What are the various models or instruments for measuring public opinion?

i

What is a research instrument design, and how does one go about selecting a sample, constructing a questionnaire and analyzing the results?

j

How does one write a poll-based story?

2. General Objectives

This course falls within the Third World concept of journalism, namely developmental journalism, whose focus is to inform and educate people on a variety of issues of human socioeconomic developmental significance.

3. Organization.

The course will consist of two sections and a project

Section One

will focus on understanding public opinion.

Section Two

will deal with measuring public opinion.

The project will involve a research instrument design and an actual polling of a population sample and writing a poll-based story. To develop ideas for public opinion polling participants will identify major issues in their countries or communities. These issues will be a basis for developing a research instrument design and an opinion poll.

4. Requirements

The course is designed for working print and broadcast journalists both at entry and advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers, researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development, etc. The course is interactive and developed in modular formats, which help participants to progressively understand public opinion polling as well as relate what they have learned in the previous modules to the successive modules..

5. Objectives

At the end of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge:

a

Participants will have a professional, intellectual understanding as well as enhanced awareness of the role of public opinion in society;

b

Participants will be able to identify  issues, which potentially lend themselves to opinion polling;

c

Participants will be able to design a research instrument including a questionnaire;

d

Participants will be able to conduct an opinion survey at a scientific  and objective level;

e

Participants will be able to  code responses and enter data into the SPSS program;

f

Participants will be able to interpret   the results of the survey;

g

Participants will be able to write a poll-based story using the survey results.

6. Course Summary

Public Opinion Polling in Journalism will be offered over ten weeks. Time period is flexible. Course delivery will be a combination of videotapes, web based online instruction and email and radio and TV broadcasts. Prior to the delivery of lecturers a course outline and major point will be put on the website and participants will be required to familiarize themselves with the course.  

Proposed AVU COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The Editorial process: (Editing, Layout and Design)

Instructor: Stanford Mukasa

1. Description

The course will introduce journalists and information practitioners  to the editorial process: editing, layout and design. Particular emphasis will be focused on the editorial process, which includes: (1) story selection (2) editing for grammar, punctuation, spelling and style (3) basic principles of layout and designing a publication. This course is important in that it gives reporters and editors professional skills in information management, packaging and production.

            Participants will also learn how to use some design software like PageMaker.

2. General Objectives

This course gives both journalists and individuals in editorial positions basic skills in the art and science of the editorial process and all that it entails, namely the ability to select relevant stories, edit them properly and package the information in a way that is attractive to readers.

3. Organization

The course will consist of three sections.

Section One

Will be an overview of editing in the 21^st Century as well as the management structure of a newspaper and the roles of editors and copy editors. The section will also focus on understanding readers and readership habits, and selecting stories that are relevant and of interest to readers. The section will stress the importance of editorial independence, objectivity, fairness in story selection and editing

Section Two

Will focus on editing for grammar, style, punctuation, spelling and content. Here the editor will pay particular attention to not only the organization of a story but also ensure that the story is error free in grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and that the story adheres to a journalistic style in terms of consistency in use of titles, abbreviations, dates, places and names.  

Section Three

Will deal with principles of layout and design and how to manipulate ART, that is, graphics, photos and charts.

4. Requirements

The course is designed for working print and broadcast journalists preferably at advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers, researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development, etc.

5. Objectives

At the end of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge:

a

The tasks and challenges of editing in the 21^st Century information age;

b

Participants will be able to identify community information needs and select stories that are consistent with those needs;

c

Participants will learn and develop practical knowledge in the various roles of editors, e.g. news editor, layout and design editor, headline editor, rewrite editor, copy editor, etc.

d

Participants will be proficient in the editorial process that involves selecting stories, copyediting and determining page placement, doing layout and computer- aided design-using software such as PageMaker.

6. General summary

The editorial process will be offered over ten weeks. Time period is flexible. Course delivery will be a combination of videotapes; web based online instruction, and email and radio and TV broadcasts. Prior to the delivery of lecturers a course outline and major points will be put on the website and participants will be required to familiarize themselves with the course.