The Journalism Institute is committed to ensuring excellence across the undergraduate program, both in teaching quality and student performance. We need various ways to measure this. These include grades, course and teacher evaluations by students and by faculty, and a portfolio of writing and reporting that each student creates for evaluation, as described below.
The Institute adheres to the CAS policy that requires students to maintain a C average, but urges a stronger performance. In classes that count toward the major, students whose final grade falls below a B are urged to schedule an advising session immediately.
The student portfolios will include the very best work produced in the major that demonstrates mastery of the eleven Professional Values and Competencies established by the the journalism education accrediting council: the ACEJMC. Here is how the portfolio works:
Each declared Journalism major has access to a special Blackboard site we have set up for collecting individual student portfolios of essays and stories. After the “baseline” essay you will upload as your first assignment in Foundations, you will select the work you produce that best demonstrates your understanding and mastery of each of the 11 ACEJMC Professional Values and Competencies. As you move through the Institute's curriculum, you will have sole responsibility for keeping your portfolio up to date, often, perhaps, replacing earlier submissions with your stronger, later work. You may use the same piece of writing to show mastery of more than one competency or value. (For instance, a piece about an ethical dilemma might serve both the fourth entry below and any number of others.)
Here is the ACEJMC’s list:
- An understanding and ability to apply the principles and laws of freedom of the speech and press, including the right to dissent, to monitor and criticize power, and to assemble and petition for redress of grievances
- To demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of professionals and institutions in shaping journalism
- To demonstrate an understanding of the diversity of groups in a global society in relationship to the journalistic enterprise
- To understand concepts and apply theories in the use and presentation of images and information
- To demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity
- To think critically, creatively and independently
- To conduct research and evaluate information by methods appropriate to the profession
- To write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate to the general reader as audience
- To critically evaluate one’s own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness
- To apply basic numerical and statistical concepts
- To apply tools and technologies appropriate to the profession
Advanced Reporting Class Capstone Project
All students are required to produce a semester-long capstone reporting project in their third required skills class, Advanced Reporting. This piece will be a 3,000-5,000-word article or series of articles or a 7-10 minute broadcast piece on one major theme in investigative, narrative or explanatory form. This also belongs in the electronic portfolio. An oral presentation of the project arranged by each Advanced Reporting professor is also required.
The Portfolio and the Honors Capstone Project
Upper-level students with both a cumulative and journalism GPA of 3.65 or better are eligible to enroll in our year-long Honors Program: a two-course sequence consisting of Honors Advanced Reporting and Honors Senior Seminar.
Students enrolled in this sequence will complete a capstone project based on their particular area of interest and emerging expertise. This can be a 6,000- to 10,000-word piece of long-form journalism or a 15- to 20-minute documentary-style piece. Research and reporting for the project will begin in Honors Advanced Reporting with completion during the Honors Senior Seminar.
Honors students are encouraged though not required to dovetail this journalism project with the expertise they are gaining in their second major. Not only will students be required to defend their projects orally before two members of the faculty and a member of the profession, but these capstone projects will serve as the final, key element in their individual portfolios of work. The work is also eligible for inclusion in the Institute's undergraduate webzine, Street Level.
