Apart from a lack of faculty cohesion, I see other problems:
I think we talk a good multimedia talk with our students, especially our undergraduates, but we don't act on it. I wish the undergraduates had the opportunity to work on the Observer, or create their own magazine in its likeness. I feel our university focuses a great deal of effort on teaching the graduate students about convergence and multimedia.
As a BJ instructor, I struggle against a growing tide (in our own department) to do away with anything that resembles the traditional TV news product in favor of online media. (Those people like to tell me that what I'm teaching is increasingly irrelevant, but they offer no suggestions on what to teach in its place). I am not of that camp. Rather I want my students to learn both the 5 o'clock news model AND the online news model.
We run into licensing issues, however, with the video we're fed by CNN for our in-class production efforts and not being able to rebroadcast it (i.e., create a podcast or something like that)... at least, that's how it's been explained to me.
Also, from a student attitude point, I find my students be either "all in" or "all out" when it comes to multimedia - they either totally embrace the technology and eschew core communication skills (HOW TO WRITE A SENTENCE!), or they despise the technology and aspire only to write for mainstream media. How can I convince both sides to add a little of the other's yin to their yang?
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Stephanie Blake
Assistant Professor
School of Communication
American University
