Journalism Program Review
Spring 2004
March 4, 2004
Program Review Committee
Mr. Robb Lightfoot, Instructor in Speech Communication and Journalism, Chair
Mr. Craig Harrington, Adjunct Instructor in Journalism; Publisher, The Intermountain News, Burney, CA.
Dr. Ron Johnson, Dean, Center for Fine Arts and Communication.
Second Level Review Team
Mr. Greg Clark, Managing Editor, Record Searchlight, Redding, CA. , Community Representative
Ms. Maghan Hunt, Journalism major, Student Representative
Mr. Nick Cittadino, ShastaCollege Counselor, Student Services Representative
Mr. Dave Waddell, Journalism Advisor, The Orion (the student newspaper of CaliforniaStateUniversity, Chico.
Journalism Program Review2004
Table Of Contents
[On your computer screen, click on any section to go to that section directly. Click on the blue back arrow in your tool-bar to return to the Table of Contents.]
Program Description and Staffing
Program
Staffing
Quantitative Data
Class Enrollments and Average Class Size
Student FTES and Contact Hours
Sections Offered and Sections Cancelled
Enrollment Management Statistics
Costs per FTES
Program Mission
Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum Update
Curriculum Articulation
Curriculum Diversity
Text Analysis
Course scheduling and sequencing
Instructional Methodology
Program Support......
Facilities
Equipment
Support Services
Advisory Committee
Self-assessment
Program Success and Performance
Recommendations
Journalism Program Review 2004
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Program Description and Staffing
Program
This program review will cover the discipline of Journalism as taught at ShastaCollege. The following courses are currently listed in the Shasta College Catalogue:
- JOUR 21 Introduction to Mass Communications; 3 units, lecture.
- JOUR 24 Newspaper Production; 2 units; 18 lecture hours/54 lab hours.
- JOUR 27 Newswriting and Reporting; 3 units, lecture.
- JOUR 29 Photojournalism; 2 Units, 18 lecture/54 lab.
Journalism offers a certificate program and an AA degree. Required classes for the certificate in Journalism are:
- JOUR 21 – 3 units
- JOUR 24 – 6 units
- JOUR 27 – 3 units
- JOUR 29 – 2 units
- MKTG 70 (Sales) – 3 units or MKTG 72 (Advertising) – 3 units
- SPCH 10 (Interpersonal Communication) – 3 units
The Associate of Arts degree in Journalism requires all of the certificate courses, plus 33-39 units of the CSU or IGETC general education pattern.
Staffing
There is currently no single full-time instructor assigned to the Journalism program. The adjunct faculty of the Journalism program are:
Mr. Craig Harrington
Publisher, The Intermountain News, Burney, CA. Mr. Harrington teaches JOUR 24, 27, and 29, and is the primary Journalism instructor and Lance newspaper advisor.
Mr. Greg Clark
General Manager, The Record Searchlight, Redding, CA. Mr. Clark teaches JOUR 27 and 29, evening offerings.
Mr. Robb Lightfoot
Full-time Instructor, Speech Communication, ShastaCollege. Mr. Lightfoot has FSA’s in Speech Communication, Communication Design, and Journalism. He has been a professional journalist and teaches JOUR 21.
Mr. Dave Waddell
Adjunct instructor in Journalism at CSU Chico; advisor of The Orion, the student newspaper of CaliforniaStateUniversity at Chico, and a professional journalist. Mr. Waddell has taught JOUR 27 through ShastaCollege’s Extended Education Department.
Journalism Program Review 2004
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Mr. Peter Berkow
Full-time English Instructor. Mr. Berkow has taught Journalism classes in previous years at ShastaCollege and has recently presented ITV offerings of JOUR 21 through the Extended Education department.
The quality of our teaching staff is obviously very high and is enhanced dramatically by the professional distinctions of all our instructors.
Quantitative Data
Class Enrollments and Average Class Size
Based on the data provided to us by the Research Department, we observe a substantial increase in enrollments (56%) accompanied by an 18% surge in average class size between 00-01 and 01-02 school years. In reviewing the class offerings and instructors assigned (there were significant personnel changes in this school year) we are not able to determine the cause of this increase. It is possible that class enrollments increased as a result of a directive from the Dean in 2001 that all students must be enrolled in order to participate as staff members of the Lance, but it seems unlikely to have caused such a large increase. Based on preliminary back checks by the Center for Fine Arts and Communication it is also possible that the data are simply flawed. Our enrollment printouts from 02-03 show 87 enrollments v. the 103 reported by the Research Department report. Firm enrollment numbers from this year (03-04) show 80 enrollments and an average of 13.3 per section. This would seem to indicate steady enrollments and average students/class since 2000-2001, contrary to indications on the Research Department report.
Enrollment figures for 03-04 seem to indicate stable enrollment while the number of sections/offerings remains constant.
From 2000 through 2003 we have had three different Lance advisors and principal Journalism instructors. This appears to have occurred without any significant disruption in enrollments and also without significant growth in numbers.
Student FTES and Contact Hours
Student Full Time Equivalencies reflect the same trends as seen in the class enrollments and average class size data quoted above. FTES went from 1.2 to 1.69 over the reporting period (00-01 through 02-03) with an increase in number of sections offered from 7 to 8.
Sections Offered and Sections Cancelled
By far most sections offered were offered on the Redding Campus in this reporting period. Those sections that were cancelled were primarily offerings at the Red Bluff campus or through Extended Education, ITV.
Enrollment Management Statistics
Departmental GPA has risen steadily since 00-01(2.731 to 2.852) In contrast to student persistence rates which have declined. The retention rate has declined 9 percentage points. Success rate has dropped from 74% to 65%.
Assuming that the numbers are correct, we can interpret this data to indicate that through three consecutive changes of advisor/instructor:
- Accountability for students who had been participating in the Lance production class and the Newswriting and Reporting classes without being officially enrolled has improved considerably (this shows up in the increased enrollment numbers after 00-01).
- Better teaching has tended to separate “the sheep from the goats” in terms of demanding better quality work and attention to detail from Journalism students.
- Enrollments seem to be stabilized at this point, reflecting the need to increase recruiting time and resources.
An additional factor contributing to the flat status of the enrollments is the lack of updated technical equipment in a field that is largely driven by technology. The tools used by the Lance, Newswriting, and Photojournalism classes (computers, cameras, darkroom equipment) have not been actively maintained or replaced in several years. This means their usefulness has declined more than their mere age would seem to indicate, since the technology has advanced so far, so rapidly. Students wanting to pursue the careers in journalism tend to be discouraged upon finding that the teaching tools are inferior and out of date.
Costs per FTES
Though this is a critical measure of a major aspect of program success/viability, comparing the supply budget figures does not provide any usable data. For instance, our supply budgets have exceeded our supply expenditures consistently in the Journalism program. This was cause for a budget reduction this year. Hence the budget/FTES ratio based on supply budget amounts is basically irrelevant.
(Note: One would hope that our frugality would have resulted in rewards, not reductions; the college’s budget reductions have been taken seriously in this Center. Supply budget allocations v. expenditures for the last two years, Center-wide, have reflected significant contributions by our faculty and management back to the General Fund of the college. We have faith that we will see our budgets restored to their 2000 level as soon as possible, and that the growth potential our programs have sacrificed during these years will be recognized by the senior administrators and rewarded commensurately)
We believe that a ratio based on total program costs is a much better indicator of the true costs of the program per FTES. On that basis (and with the caveat that the actual figures from previous years are not considered to be completely reliable) the Journalism program costs during this reporting period have been:
Program Costs per FTES00-01 (Budget) / 01-02 (Actual) / 02-03 (Actual)
$30,833 / $20,906 / $20,502
This represents a decrease in General Fund program costs (and a corresponding increase of the program’s fiscal efficiency) of 44%. Note that this increase in productivity is achieved while maintaining stable enrollments and numbers of course offerings.
Also note that these figures do not represent the true costs associated with the student newspaper, TheLance, which contributes revenues generated by advertising to assist in financing the costs of printing, ad sales, and distribution of the paper. Printing costs alone are rising so fast each year that the Lance revenues soon will not be able to sufficiently cover those expenses. Without increased support from the General Fund, fewer editions of the Lance will be published in order to baLance the costs, resulting in a serious reduction of the Lance’s contribution to the education of our Journalism students, and our ability to provide news, commentary, and the student perspective to our student body and the communities of our District.
Program Mission
The Journalism program supports the mission of Shasta College by “offering comprehensive…programs (that) enable students to achieve personal as well as academic potential…”.
The goals of the Journalism certification program are to provide student outcomes of instruction such that students who complete a Journalism Certificate program will be able to:
- Demonstrate basic knowledge of the print media and its relationship to other media of mass communications.
- Functionally and ethically practice the fundamentals of good reporting and news writing.
- Perform the fundamental skills associated with graphic set-up, layout, editing, advertising, printing and distribution processes associated with newspaper production.
- Shoot and process news photos of events, people, places and activities that inform and entertain readers, either standing alone with captions or in conjunction with stories.
- Be capable of integrating and implementing all these skills to a level of professional competence that meet the entry level qualifications for work in weekly, or smaller daily newspapers.
The goals of the Journalism Associate Of Arts Degree program are virtually the same as those of the Certification program with the addition of meeting C.S.U. or U.C. transfer requirements for smooth and efficient transfer into Upper Division college work in a baccalaureate program in Journalism.
The functional focus of the Journalism program is to teach skills that are fundamentally necessary to work in the print media. We recognize that broader skill sets are needed for success in other journalistic media, such as TV, Radio, and multi-media based communication; however, current facilities and funding prohibit our expansion into those teaching and learning areas at this time (see Recommendations).
In addition to the learning outcomes designed into Journalism courses, the Journalism teaching staff and facilities support the publication of the Lance, the student-run newspaper of Shasta College. The Lance helps to support itself through the revenues generated by advertising in the paper. Students sell the ads, design them, and publish them along with stories, photos, columns and editorials that are written and edited by the students themselves. The Lance covers topics of interest to students, related to campus, local, state, and national events. The Lance is distributed bi-weekly across campus and to a large network of distribution points in Shasta, Tehama, and Trinity counties.
The Lance maintains membership in the J.A.C.C. (Journalism Association of Community Colleges) and the C.N.P.A. (California Newspaper Publishers Association). Lance student staff members have consistently been active in participating in Journalism competitions in the Northstate that are sponsored annually by these organizations. Shasta College sends a student contingent each year to the J.A.C.C. State Convention, where they have increasingly won awards in a number of competitions. Additionally, the Lance last year sponsored a full-day regional workshop which featured a cross-section of Northstate journalists, advertising managers, and publishers working with students from four-year, community college, and high school journalism students from Sacramento to the Oregon border who attended. The workshop was underwritten by news organizations in Redding, Chico, Red Bluff, Anderson, etc. Taking leadership in the student and professional organizations existing in the Northstate is a key building-block in the re-emergence of the Shasta College journalism program.
The Lance serves a vital function, as well, for the college’s board, faculty, staff, and administration. The newspaper should reflect the pulse of the student community—it’s opinions, successes, difficulties and desires. If the Lance were lost, the key window it provides for us into the student body, its needs, opinions, and concerns, would disappear; and the college’s ability to respond to student needs would be severely crippled.
Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum Update
Journalism faculty reviewed the curriculum this year and are currently establishing a rotating schedule for ongoing evaluation of curriculum such that every year a different 20% of the curriculum will be evaluated and updated. This will allow us to keep course outlines up to date, add courses as current practice and technologies change, and drop courses that become obsolete over time.
The curriculum for Journalism at Shasta College has remained unchanged since our last program review in 1998 with two exceptions. JOUR 23 Publication, Editing and Design on the Macintosh has not been taught in more than four years and neither has JOUR 28AD Advertising Workshop . Updates of these courses would undoubtedly be beneficial to journalism students, however, without a full-time instructor assigned to the Journalism program we cannot support them.
Student feedback indicates that the current curriculum lacks diversity in that only print journalism is currently offered. Students are also interested in seeing courses offered in broadcast journalism. Faculty and students both have a desire to add courses that involve students with the opportunities for writing, editing and creating for journalistic outlets on the World Wide Web. Faculty suggest courses that integrate learning in web site development, news gathering on the web, content preparation and wireless delivery, and the convergence and integration of newspaper, broadcast and internet newsgathering. Curriculum might be developed in Publication Design that would incorporate many of these items. These are the newest and probably most promising opportunities for students we serve. Course-work in this area would undoubtedly increase our students’ ability to land a job in the new-media area with just a two-year certificate.
Students in our Journalism Program frequently are able to find internships at local newspapers, radio and television stations. However, we currently have no Work Site Learning classes in this discipline. The addition of a Work Site Learning class would enable students to get credit for work they are already finding for themselves.
Curriculum Articulation
There are no articulations with area high schools for journalism. JOUR 21 and JOUR 27 are C.A.N. articulated (C.A.N. Jour 2 and Jour 4) to C.S.U. and U.C., but other journalism courses transfer only as unrestricted electives[1].
Curriculum Diversity
Anticipated populations trends do not indicate that any curriculum adjustments are necessary to address the educational needs of special populations, except as discussed in the Curriculum Update section above.
Text Analysis
Texts are selected as appropriate by the individual faculty members who are teaching each course each year. Alignment of text selection throughout the discipline would be more consistent with a full-time faculty member assigned to Journalism.
Course scheduling and sequencing
Course offerings are scheduled and sequenced through a collaborative process that takes the form of discussion between the dean of the Center and the faculty of the discipline. Because no full-time instructor is available, student demand for class times and offerings is not ideally met, due to the need to schedule classes based upon the availability of our adjunct faculty. Therefore Photojournalism and Newswriting and Reporting are alternated between being offered during the day and in the evening, and are rotated between Mr. Clark and Mr. Harrington. (See Recommendations .)
Instructional Methodology
The basis of most Journalism courses is lecture augmented with lab work. However, much of the lab work (and all the work of the Lance advisor) is done utilizing the cognitive apprenticeship methodology. This methodology is commonly utilized in Multi-media programs, and has a long historical tradition in many arts courses such as studio music, music performance classes, theater studio and performance classes, and studio art courses. In this method the teacher supplies guidance and counsel while each student engages in largely self-directed experiential projects which must function in “real-world” parameters. The research on cognitive apprenticeships show it to be among the most effective methods of teaching/learning, but courses taught through this methodology are not pervasive because of the limited enrollments that are required in order to produce quality instructional experiences.