6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL
Undergraduate - Unit
Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.
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Synopsis
This unit provides a comprehensive introduction to current newsroom practice. Students will bring basic skills learned in other practical journalism subjects and develop a more sophisticated understanding of the role of a working journalist. The unit will prepare students to pitch stories, to work with editors, to produce material to deadline and to work across a variety of platforms in the process of producing stories and story packages for publication. Students will be expected to produce multi-media packages across a mix of text, image, video and audio, with some collaboration required. The aim is to build skills that are essential in a modern commercial newsroom and that are expected of young reporters. Journalists are expected to be able to come up with ideas of their own, expressed as a developed idea with an angle and a clear course of implementation. They should also be able to pick up an editor's idea and follow it through to completion - making sure the finished work has images and other supportive material to make it publishable. They should be able to work with a more experienced editor to turn their story into something publishable, if necessary.
Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
- recognise how a modern newsroom works;
- pitch a coherent story idea to an editor;
- design and construct a multi-media story package based on an assigned story idea;
- work collaboratively to produce a multi-media story package;
- recognise how to work with an editor to improve work and make it publishable;
- present a portfolio containing a number of solid, professional story packages.
Assessment
Within semester assessment: 100%
Workload requirements
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
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