New courses to be offered this year on coverage of civic institutions, extended reality journalism, photography and reporting in Indigenous communities

Four exciting new courses are on offer in the coming academic year for senior students in Carleton’s Journalism program as well as Media Production and Design, exploring the role of journalism in covering civic institutions, extended reality journalism, photography and reporting in Indigenous communities.

A seminar course Journalism & Civic Institutions (JOUR 4300/5300/MPAD 4300) will be delivered by Kate Porter, who is joining Carleton on a one-year contract after covering Ottawa City Hall for the CBC for close to a decade. This crossover course, open to fourth-year journalism students, Master of Journalism students and students in the Media Production and Design program, will examine the role of journalism in covering civic institutions. It will be offered on Wednesdays in the fall term and will include a range of guest speakers. This course will examine head on the contention that media coverage of our civic institutions has been compromised by changes in the journalism industry. Students will explore the current state of media coverage of major civic institutions through discussion and assignments that identify best practises, gaps or deficiencies in coverage and ideas for how best to foster more comprehensive coverage.

Another new course offering for fourth-year students in Journalism and Media Production and Design will delve into the burgeoning field of Extended Reality Journalism. The course (JOUR4400B/MPAD4300A) will be offered on Mondays in the fall term and will be delivered by a contract instructor. This course is being offered with support from Carleton’s Teaching and Learning Services unit. In this course, students will delve into Extended Reality (XR), fostering an understanding of its applications in journalism and its impacts on consumers. The course highlights the practical steps to execute innovative projects, such as XR stories, in a newsroom, rather than focusing on specific software skill sets. Critical evaluation of current XR technologies, idea pitching, user experience, newsroom business models, and ethical implications will be covered. The course aims to equip students with the mindset to transform the future of journalism and pioneer immersive storytelling experiences within dynamic newsroom environments.

Another new offering this fall will be Professional Skills: Photography, to be delivered on Wednesdays by Katie Graham, an instructor in the Media Production and Design program and will be open to students in the fourth year in Journalism and upper years of Media Production and Design. The course (listed as JOUR 4400A/MPAD 4500B) will focus on storytelling through photographs in a workshop environment. Through hands-on tutorials, demonstrations, and lectures, students will learn the fundamentals of photography using a DSLR camera. Basic camera techniques and functions – such as depth of field, aperture, and shutter speed – will be covered to show students how to take great photographs using manual settings.

In the winter term, Reporting in Indigenous Communities (JOUR 4503/MPAD 4503) will be offered on Mondays by Duncan McCue, the former CBC broadcaster, who joined Carleton on July 1 as a full-time, tenure-track faculty member. The Reporting in Indigenous Communities (RIIC) course replaces Journalism, Indigenous Peoples and Canada and will provide students with vital opportunities for experiential learning in Indigenous communities.

To improve how the journalists of tomorrow approach Indigenous issues, it is essential to introduce journalism students to the Indigenous territory they inhabit while studying in Ottawa and guide them in building productive journalistic relationships with Indigenous communities.

Students will be assigned in teams of two or three to cover Indigenous communities (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) in the city of Ottawa and Ottawa Valley region. All student teams will explore one theme (i.e. health, Elders) and will be responsible for researching and producing an enterprise news story with multimedia elements. Students will gain valuable skills in planning and carrying out reporting field trips by managing their own budgets and off-campus travel arrangements.

Thursday, July 6, 2023 in Journalism News
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