This continues my series on advice for a new adjunct journalism professor. This guest post is from Norm Lewis of the University of Florida:
It matters not what you teach; it only matters what they learn.
You can best focus on what they learn by identifying – in writing – the outcomes you want for your students. (These belong in the syllabus, by the way.) And an outcome must be observable and tangible. For example:
Bad outcomes:
- Know the material
- Understand how to use Twitter as a journalist
- Become familiar with elementary coding
Good outcomes:
- Persuasively argue both sides of the evolving debate over Internet privacy
- Create a Twitter feed that results in two crowd-sourced stories
- Customize an attractive and customized WordPress blog by editing HTML and CSS codes
The key is that what a professor tells the class is just breath. The only thing that matters is what the student can do: analyze, evaluate, compare, create, etc. So we start by identifying what we want the students to do. Then we focus everything in the class – every exercise, reading, homework assignment and test – to produce or measure those outcomes.
Earlier advice for a new journalism professor
Advice for a new journalism prof: Teach lessons a variety of ways
7 types of content to include in journalism classes
Curt Chandler’s advice to a new J-prof: Don’t assume, show examples
J-prof’s challenge: Use experience to teach specific lessons, not to bore
Teaching advice from Kathleen Woodruff Wickham: Learn how academia works
Chris Snider’s teaching advice: Students learn from presentations
Journalism teaching advice from Pam Fine: Get ready for grading
[…] Teaching advice from Norm Lewis: What students learn is most important […]
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[…] Teaching advice from Norm Lewis: What students learn is most important […]
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[…] Teaching advice from Norm Lewis: What students learn is most important […]
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[…] Teaching advice from Norm Lewis: What students learn is most important […]
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[…] Pam Fine, Tim McGuire, Steve Klein, Curt Chandler, Chris Snider, Kathleen Woodruff Wickham and Norm Lewis contributed to that series on advice for a new journalism professor. Chuck Offenburger and Buffy […]
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