MCOM 402 – Online Journalism
Meeting time: T, TH, 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Room: ACC 116
Professor: Dr. Stan Diel
Phone: 843-661-1532 (office)
Office: CEMC 111C
Email:
[email protected]Office hours:
• Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:30-3 p.m.
• Tuesdays, 1-3 p.m.
• Thursdays, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• By chance and by appointment
Required text and reference books:
The Digital Journalist’s Handbook, 2012, by Mark S. Luckie. ISBN-13: 978-1450565608,
ISBN-10: 1450565603 Available in the FMU bookstore and online.
Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, hardcopy or online/e-book version. By
The Associated Press. ISBN-13: 978-0465093045, ISBN-10: 0465093043. The online version,
accessible via smartphone, can be purchased at store.apstylebook.com. Note: The 2019 print
edition, should you already have one, is acceptable.
Required equipment:
Students must have access to a PC or Mac, a digital camera, photo editing software and a
broadband internet connection. Computers with high-speed internet access are available for
student use on campus, and Nikon cameras and lenses may be checked out from the media center
in CEMC.
Course description:
This course provides instruction and guidelines in the basics of reporting, writing, producing and
editing for online journalism. Students will create and post interactive, multimedia content on
news blogs and social media platforms, mastering relevant software and skills. By the end of the
semester each student should have mastered at least six software tools and have a website that
can be used to demonstrate the student’s skill set to potential employers.
Blackboard:
Assignments and supporting material may be posted on Blackboard, and it is the student’s
responsibility to regularly check the class Blackboard page.
Ethics:
Do your own work, and do not plagiarize. Students who are determined to have plagiarized the
work of another, in whole or in part, will be dropped from the class and receive a failing grade.
Etiquette:
Students’ cell phones, laptops, tablets and other devices must be silenced and put away. Arrive in
class before the start time. No food or drinks.
Attendance policy:
Students are expected to attend class, and absences will be reflected in participation grades.
Missed assignments may be made up only in the event of excused absences, which may include
absence due to illness (doctor’s note required), the death of an immediate family member or
absence for university-related and approved activities.
Coursework:
You are expected to participate in discussion, read the assigned material and be prepared.
Assignments must be turned in, uploaded or posted by the assigned deadline. Late assignments
will be docked one letter grade (10% of the possible number of total points) for every day they
are late. Unless otherwise instructed, assignments will be due by 11:59 p.m. on the due date, and
will be considered one day late at midnight.
Important note: The time that assignments are considered to be posted or turned in is
determined by the time stamp on blog posts or the time that assignments were received by the
instructor, not the time that they were posted or sent by the student. It is the student’s
responsibility to post or turn in assignments far enough in advance of deadlines to ensure that
they are received before deadline.
Grades*:
• Blog assignments: (50% of total grade) Up to 10 assignments for which students will
report, write and produce legitimate, real-world news and feature stories using interactive
tools including photo galleries, interactive graphics, interactive maps, interactive
timelines, virtual reality and document embeds. These assignments will be published on
individual news websites students will design and manage.
• Quizzes and exams: (50% of total grade) Students will take two major exams and a
final exam, collectively worth 80% of the quizzes and exams grade component. An
undetermined number of unscheduled AP style and news quizzes will collectively be
worth 20% of the quizzes and exams grade component.
*Grades are based on weighted averages. This means that one point on a scheduled exam does
not equal one point on a blog assignment or one point on a news quiz in total grade calculations.
Course grade breakdown:
A = 90 or greater
B+ = 88-89
B = 80-87
C+ = 78-79
C = 70-77
D+ = 68-69
D = 60-67
F = 59 or below
Grades will be posted in Blackboard throughout the semester.
ASSIGNMENTS
All stories, captions and other content, when applicable, must be consistent with Associated
Press style. Assignment details will be provided in class.
1. Create a news website. Students will design and build a basic news blog, which will be
used to host subsequent assignments throughout the semester.
2. Photo gallery for the web. Students will shoot, edit, produce and post a gallery of at
least seven photos ordered in narrative fashion and with unique captions written in AP
style.
3. Video for the web. Students will shoot, edit, produce and post a 30-second news video
for the web.
4. Storymap for the web. Students will produce and post an interactive storymap using
Knight Lab or equivalent software.
5. Interactive graphic for the web. Students will produce and post an interactive chart or
graphic using Datawrapper or similar software.
6. Slider images. Students will shoot, produce and post a juxtaposition image using Knight
Lab or similar software.
7. Timeline for the web. Students will produce and post an interactive timeline for the web
using Knight Lab or similar software.
8. Final story package. Students will report, write, produce and post a multimedia story
using Adobe Spark.
*CLASS SCHEDULE – FALL 2020
*Schedule is tentative. Changes will be announced in class
Date Topic Assignment
Aug. 18 Introduction/Syllabus Get textbook, AP Stylebook
Aug. 20 Set up news blogs/flags Read Chs. 1, 2
Aug. 25 Basic news writing; Read Ch. 3
Flag lab
Aug. 27 Blog design/content; Read Ch. 4
Sept. 1 Basic news photography Find gallery topic
Sept. 3 Photo galleries; Work on gallery
Doc embeds lab
Sept. 8 Ethics and law for visuals Gallery deadline
Sept. 10 Intro to video Study for exam
Sept. 15 EXAM No. 1 (Ch. 1-4, law, Read Ch. 7
basic photo skills and practices,
basic newswriting)
Sept. 17 Lab: Using Videolicious;
Sept. 22 Repurposing content for the Video deadline
web;
Intro to story mapping
Sept. 24 SEO practices Find content for story map
Sept. 29 Story mapping lab day Read Ch. 10 (Data visualization)
Oct. 1 Story mapping lab time; Story map deadline
Interactive graphics
Oct. 6 Interactive graphics lab time; Find data for interactive graphic
Oct. 8 Document embeds; Interactive graphic deadline
Graphic lab time
Oct. 13 Slider images Find subject for slider image
Oct. 15 Alternative storytelling
Oct. 20 Review for exam Study for exam
Oct. 22 EXAM No. 2 (SEO practices,
video production standards,
document embeds)
Oct. 27 Interactive timeline intro Find timeline topic
Oct. 29 Social media and the news Final story idea submission
deadline;
Timeline topic submission
deadline
Nov. 3 FALL BREAK – NO CLASS
Nov. 5 Slider lab day Slider image deadline
Timeline lab day
Nov. 10 TBD
Nov. 12 Adobe Spark lab day Timeline deadline
Nov. 17 Final story lab day
Nov. 19 Final story lab day Final story deadline
Nov. 24 Review for final Study for final
Nov. 26 FINAL EXAM TBD
Rubric for blog posts
Not at all (D or F) Somewhat (B or C) Clearly (A)
Content (40 points) A significant amount of Includes all content Includes more than the
required content is not required by the minimum amount of
present (Fewer than 28 assignment (28-35 points) content required by the
points) assignment (36-40 points)
Score:
Functionality (30 points) A majority of interactive A large majority of All interactive content
content does not function interactive content functions as designed (27-
as designed (Fewer than functions as designed (21- 30)
21) 26)
Score:
Aesthetics (20 points) A majority of content is Most content is presented Presentation is consistent
not presented in a manner in a manner consistent with principles of
consistent with principles with principles of design aesthetic design (18-20)
of design (Fewer than 14) (14-17)
Score:
SEO (10 points) A majority of content is Some content is A significant majority of
not constructed in service constructed in service of content is constructed in
of SEO principles (Fewer SEO principles (7-8) service of SEO principles
than 7) (9-10)
Score:
Subtotals:
Total score:
