Course
Grading
Course Requirements:
In addition to assignments, you are required to:
• Attend and fully participate in class.
• Complete all assignments on deadline. (If you cannot attend class, the assignment for that class is still due at that time. You must e-mail your homework by start of class to receive full credit, and you must show the instructors that you have completed the day's technology assignment by the end of that day to receive full credit.)
Grading:
A total of 100 points is possible in C&J 475: Multimedia Journalism. All
work must be completed on time to receive full credit. The emphasis is on
online reporting and digital skills. Details about each assignment's requirement
will be provided in class.
An important part of a capstone course as a journalism
major is to experience, to the extent possible, a real-life news environment.
There are no midterms, finals or academic papers required in this course.
Therefore, most of the grade you earn will be based on your contribution
to the final online product.
To earn an A or B, you must successfully complete all
assignments (just as in real-life) and on time.
Just as will be the case with a supervisor in a professional
situation, I won't be able to know the full extent of your efforts and
contributions on a day-to-day basis. So, at the start of every Tuesday
class, you are required to submit a work log detailing your prior week's contributions to the online product. I will
react to memos and award points based on results.
You are required to:
• Personally create, produce, and post three
major articles to the class online news site.
• Participate in blogging exercises, with the following minimums by the end of the semester:
> A minimum of five postings to the class blog on five different issues during the time the subject is posted.
> Creation of a personal blog by Feb. 3.
• Create a résumé or personal page
by Feb. 10 and upload it to the Internet in class on that day.
• Create and publish three multimedia journalism
articles to the class news site after its creation.
It is a given that all content assignments must meet
deadline. In the professional world, there are no excuses. An editor needs
the story by deadline or it is useless. Therefore, assignments not turned
in by deadline will receive no credit.
Grades:
Work deemed to be of professional and publishable quality will receive
an A.
If the assignment does not quite measure up to publishable
or professional standards, yet is very good student work, it will earn
a B.
If an assignment meets the minimal requirements, is accurate,
and on deadline, it will earn a C.
There will be a D for sub-quality work even if completed
on deadline.
A missed assignment or deadline will earn zero credit.
Attendance and full participation at every session is
essential, just as it will be in your job, for which this class is preparing
you. EVERY ABSENCE will be noted and could result in an individual receiving
a lowered final grade or being dropped from the course.
Final grades will be derived from these categories and
with the following points distribution:
| 5 points |
Creating a personal blog by Feb. 3 with at least one entry discussing a journalism issue |
| 5 points |
Creating an online résumé or
other personal Web site in class on Feb. 10. The final version is due
Feb. 12. |
| 60 points |
Reporting and producing four
stories, with three of them online news packages for the class news
site (First story is worth 5 points; second and third are worth 15
each; and the final story is worth 25 points.) The grade received
in writing each story will be dropped one letter grade if the story
is not posted to the Web in the time allowed. The grade will be dropped
two or three letter grades if it is posted after that period or not
posted at all. |
| 5 points |
Publishing a minimum of five postings to the
class blog site (on five different questions) |
| 10 points |
Attending presentations of speakers, completing
special assignments, weekly work log reports, story proposals, misc. |
| 5 points |
Creating a portfolio of your work, with printouts
of Web stories and print clippings. It is due March 31, and it also
will be presented at the mock job interview near the end of the course. |
| 10 points |
Interviewing for a job. Present your portfolio,
online résumé and blog, and demonstrate your knowledge
of multimedia journalism in general. A mock job interview with the
instructor will be scheduled with each student during the next-to-last
final week of class. Only those ready for full-time hire will earn
the full 10 points. |
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