We're in the process of changing the curriculum -- and have been for years! We recently voted to get rid of three of our four sequences -- online, magazine and news/editorial (we're keeping the photojournalism sequence) to allow students more choice and opportunities to take a greater variety of courses. However, we still haven't settled on our core curriculum, which many of us think is too large. Currently, all students have to take 40 journalism units and have little choice within that. We currently require all majors to take: Journalism and the Mass Media Digital Skills for News Newswriting Reporting History of Journalism Mass Comm Law Ethics Editing Cultural Diversity & News Two semesters of publication lab (newspaper, magazine, online, news bureau for a professional newspaper group)
Then they choose one of four visual communication courses (Photo I, Intro to Online Journalism, Visual Storytelling and Pub Design & Graphics).
Magazine students have to take two magazine courses -- Contemporary Magazine and Magazine Writing -- no choice.
News/editorial students have to take two of about half a dozen advanced writing classes.
Online students have to take Intro to Online and one advanced writing course.
It's too prescriptive.
I'm hoping the new curriculum, which will be phased in beginning in the fall, will give them more to choose from.
We recently added an Advanced Multimedia Journalism course and a video course, two things we've been talking about for years. But it's difficult to add courses to our current curriculum because students really don't have room in their schedules.
