Digital Immersion Spectrum

Instructor: Cindy Royal

June 6-10

Zoom June 10, 1-5pm CT

Description
In this module, we’ll discuss the role of digital products and platforms in media and issues associated with developing a curriculum based on these concepts.

Objectives

  • Understand the ways that technology is affecting media
  • Describe how digital platforms and products can influence curriculum
  • Become introduced to design thinking techniques that will be explored in the in-person workshop
  • Analyze your own teaching competencies and the curriculum in your program

Please watch the videos and review the links. I know there’s a lot of material to digest here, so peruse as much as you can and bookmark as a resource for the future.

Read and Watch Before our Zoom Meeting

Instructor Videos

The following videos are a presentation entitled Is Your Curriculum Digital Enough? This presentation introduces the range of concepts in the digital environment and provides a means for assessment.

Jobs for Digital Media Grads

Products and Platforms

Curriculum Issues

Design Thinking

Just FYI, here are some articles I have written about the new DMI degree at TXST.

Slack Discussion Before Zoom Session
I’ve introduced you to a lot of resources that are meant to generate new ways of thinking about media and how we teach it. Look at the Digital Curriculum Inventory. What areas do you feel proficient? Which of these areas would you like to move into? How is your program (where you are getting your phd or where you now work) doing in these areas? To answer these questions, review and comment on at least two (or more) of the #facultyjobs and #curriculumissues Slack posts from last week. Use the Reply in Thread icon to reply to a post.

Zoom Session, June 10, 1-5pm CT

We have spent a lot of time describing and justifying the need for product management in journalism and product-focused curriculum. But what might that look like in your program? In this module, you will get a chance to confer with other fellows on your priorities, needs and desires for curriculum innovation.

  • Review of Product Management and Design Thinking Concepts
  • Design Thinking About Curriculum Exercise
  • Guest Speaker – Sean Smith, Associate Product Manager, Gannett
  • What is User Experience Design and How Does It Relate to Product and Design Thinking?
  • Final Curriculum Project Assignment

Curriculum Prototype Exercise – one person post pdf of the design thinking exercise to the #curriculumprototype Slack channel and discuss. Comment in thread on your own group’s curriculum, but feel free to review and comment on others.

  • How is this different than curriculum that you are familiar with?
  • What needs to change, what needs to go? What would prevent this from happening? What are risks if it doesn’t?

After each module, you will be asked to do an evaluation. Go to the link for the PhDigital 2022 Zoom Modules Evaluation and select the module you are reviewing. Please do this as soon as you can after the Zoom session.

Moving Ahead: next week’s topic is Data Journalism with Kelly Kaufhold and Amber Hinsley.

Final Curriculum Project Assignment

This will be submitted at the end of the program: What is your dream course, program or degree? Create an outline for a proposed course, program or degree, including mission, objectives and topics outline. This can be for an undergraduate or graduate program (or even a new doctoral program!), a minor or concentration, whatever you think is necessary in your current environment, future employment home or the discipline at large. As you go through the workshop, consider the elements that you will include in this course or program. You will post in a final Slack channel during the final week of the program.

Additional Resources

If you would like to learn about the Figma prototyping tool, here is a tutorial I did for my DMI Capstone students. Figma is a web-based tool that allows for interactive prototyping across platforms with collaboration. It is free for students and educators.

Able, Allowed, Should: Navigating Modern Ethics, Medium, 2018 – this article addresses some of what we have discussed about infusing engineering and product management with journalistic ethics and sensibilities, as it relates to Facebook’s privacy issues.

Product Teams Have Taken National News Organizations by Storm. What’s Happening Locally? Nieman Journalism Lab, 2019

Product Management for Journalists, chapter in Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Why Product Management is the New Pivotal Role at Publishers, Digiday, 2018

The Difference Between UX and UI Design – A Beginner’s Guide – Career Foundry

What Does a UX Designer Actually Do? – Career Foundry

What is UX Design? – UserTesting