Fourth in a series on entrepreneurial journalism programs at universities and media organizations.
The Poynter Institute’s online training center, NewsU, is building out its offerings in entrepreneurial journalism with the goal of creating a certificate program. It is one of the few organizations doing this kind of training mainly online.
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| Howard Finberg Poynter Institute, NewsU |
NewsU already has eight courses, webinars and training videos that fit under the entrepreneurial umbrella and plans on developing more. These training modules are focused on helping journalists and news organizations stay competitive as digital media change the nature of their work, says NewsU’s founder, Howard Finberg.
“We’re training people along two tracks. We’re reshaping the traditional mass media business model to be more entrepreneurial and independent of major corporations. We’re also training journalists to be more self-sufficient. We’re giving them the skills to work across disciplines in ways they didn’t have to when we were in school. We’re changing the organizational and economic approach to training the people who do journalism.”
Many of the courses in this curriculum were developed for NewsU by Mark Briggs, author of the books Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What’s Next for News and Journalism Next: A Practical Guide to Digital Reporting and Publishing. “We’re very grateful to Mark. His work is the seed to all of this,” Finberg says.
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| Mark Briggs, author Entrepreneurial Journalism |
Finberg recommends that the first course people take is the free self-directed Innovation at Work: Helping New Ideas Succeed, which could be useful to journalists working in big media or startups. From that course there are natural spinoffs:
However, the topics they cover are the same as university programs in entrepreneurial journalism. For many professionals, online courses offer an appealing alternative: convenience of working from home or office, ease of registration, content designed to build specific skills relevant to their work, and low cost, from free to about $125 for a package of several courses.
“From a teaching perspective, the most valuable thing we can provide is mentoring and truth-telling to the individuals who are trying to reshape their lives. It could be done in an online group seminar or with webinars or chats or even just scheduled phone calls. But you have to have instructor feedback. You can provide valuable feedback just by saying, ‘I don’t understand that.’ The best teachers don’t give you the answer. You’ve got to get them to think about where they can get the information to get the answer.”
I have taken several of the courses in the NewsU entrepreneurial series and participated virtually in the two-day Revenue Camp. These courses are effective at getting participants to take the first action steps toward realizing an entrepreneurial venture.
Online disruption
Online dropout rate
The massive reach is the courses’ greatest strength. The dropout rate is high. In the first data visualization course, about 40 percent of the course participants stayed active for the full six weeks, according to Alves and Cairo. About 10 to 15 percent completed all the assignments and 7 percent received a certificate, for which they had to pay $30.
Some of the falloff occurred because the participants were working professionals who had to fit their studies around the long work days expected of journalists in Latin America. Partly it was the fault of poor Internet connections in some countries. Some may have found the course was not what they expected. Those who stayed till the end consistently rated the courses at 5 and above on a 6-point scale.
Finberg adds:
“If you understand the strengths and limitations of online teaching, the results can be as good as or better than the results of teaching in the classroom. Better only in the sense that the people you have in your online program should be people who are truly interested in doing this and who are truly invested in this process of learning and self-discovery and are willing to invest the time and energy into developing their skills.”
He believes the key factor in online teaching is designing activities that reinforce the teaching goals. “The most effective training is getting people to do something. Activity-based teaching has the highest retention rate.”
The Poynter Institute and NewsU believe online training in entrepreneurial journalism can help shape the future of journalism, Finberg says. They will also continue to offer training in the fundamental principles of excellence in journalism for which they have international recognition: high ethical and professional standards, holding public officials accountable, and storytelling that informs and engages the public.
Duration: Several hours per training module
Schedule: At student’s option
Students: Mostly working journalists
Cost: Free to $125
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