New Curriculum

This page provides an overview of our new curriculum being implemented in Fall 2011.

Why is the curriculum changing?

As you are probably aware, the media industry has changed rapidly and profoundly in the last decade. New technologies, such as the Internet, World Wide Web, mobile devices and low-cost, highly portable, professional quality production equipment have changed the ways that people consume and create journalistic content.

These changes make it more important than ever that prospective journalists receive broad-based training in a variety of media types. While the BGSU Journalism and Public Relations curriculum has always encouraged students to explore areas other than their chosen sequences, the new curriculum broadens this exposure even further. Through changes made at both the course level and the curriculum level, students in all sequences (broadcast, print and public relations) can leave BGSU with a wide-ranging skill set that includes multimedia proficiency, basic web authoring skills, and a broad understanding of how content is created for mobile devices, social media and other technologies.

How did you decide to make these changes?

The Department of Journalism and Public Relations has continually examined its curriculum and adapted course content to changing technologies and practices. In the 1997, ours was among the first programs in the country to offer a dedicated online journalism course; that course became a permanent offering in 2003.

Beginning in 2008, the faculty held a series of retreats to discuss changes to our existing curriculum. In 2009, we hosted a daylong seminar sponsored by the American Press Institute, “The New Newsroom,” at which media professionals discussed how they were changing in response to new technologies. Faculty also held a series of training sessions with news professionals to build their skills and understanding of new media. Several faculty members have also attended off-site training to supplement their new media expertise. 

Faculty discussed many options, ranging from minor tweaking to a complete overhaul including abolishing sequences altogether. We examined what other programs had done, and continued to consult with professionals and alumni about the kinds of changes that would not only respond to existing industry needs but also prepare our students to be the leaders of future changes.  It was important that we not sacrifice the basic journalistic skills instruction our program has done so well for so long simply to add “bells and whistles” to our coursework. We were also constrained by accreditation standards, which limit the number of journalism-specific courses students may take, and by the finite resources supplied by the university. We couldn’t simply “add on” additional courses to teach the new skills.

Ultimately, faculty concluded that the basic structure of our curriculum was sound: sequences still had value and would continue to be valuable for the foreseeable future. Our core curriculum, taken by all students, was also judged to be effective. Thus, we decided to adopt a two-stage strategy to update our curriculum: first, we would adapt existing courses to include new media content wherever possible, then we would implement curriculum-level changes. The first stage of the plan was implemented immediately, while the second stage required securing approval through the university’s curriculum committee, a process that took several months. Thus, the new curriculum became active beginning with Fall semester 2011.

What are the changes?

Changes have been made to all existing classes to include developing technologies. You can view the revised course ouMDIAes here. Each student still selects one of three sequences (broadcast, print or public relations), and all students complete the core courses and journalism electives. Note that this document is designed primarily to address changes to the curriculum; for a complete overview of requirements, consult the Student Handbook.

At the curriculum level, one course has been added as a requirement in the core (taken by all sequences) and one course has been added to each sequence. The new core class is Multimedia Reporting Skills (JOUR 2550), which is a one-hour course designed to teach basic skills in web authoring, digital audio, still photography and video. It is intended to be taken at the same time as Reporting (JOUR 2500) but it doesn’t have to be. Thus, the core includes the following courses:

JOUR 1000

JOUR 2000

JOUR 2500

JOUR 2550

JOUR 4000

JOUR 4500

For the print and broadcast sequences, Online Journalism (JOUR 3550) is now a requirement. This course addresses specific skills for creating online journalism content. For the public relations sequence, Media Publication and Design (JOUR 3450) has been added. This course teaches design and content creation skills for print- and web-based media. Thus, the sequences now consist of the following courses:

BROADCAST

JOUR 3150

JOUR 3300

JOUR 3550

JOUR 4300

PRINT

JOUR 3200

JOUR 3250

JOUR 3550

JOUR 4200

PUBLIC RELATIONS

JOUR 3400

JOUR 3440

JOUR 3450

JOUR 4400

MKT 3000

MGMT 3050

Finally, each student must take two journalism electives: one must be an issues course, while the other may be either an issues course or a skills course from another sequence. See the Student Handbook for more information about these courses.

Who do these changes affect?

All students entering the program beginning with Fall 2011 are required to follow the new curriculum requirements.

Students who were in the program before Fall 2011 may either follow the old curriculum or the new one. If you were in the program before Fall 2011 and want to continue under the old curriculum, you don’t need to do anything. However, if you wish to follow the new curriculum--and we highly encourage you to do so--you should meet with your adviser to discuss what you need to do.

What about course number changes?

As part of our new curriculum implementation, we also changed two course numbers and one course title. The new course numbers are:

JOUR 2550: Multimedia Reporting Skills (formerly JOUR 1500)
JOUR 3550: Online Journalism (formerly JOUR 4600)

It is important to note that if you took these courses under the old numbers, they will still count toward the new curriculum. However, you should NOT take a course under the new number if you have already taken it under the old number.

In addition, the title of JOUR 1000 has been changed to “Journalism in a Democratic Society” from “Introduction to Mass Communication.”

Can I see a comparison of the new and the old?

This section provides a comparison of the three sequences' new and old curricula side-by-side. 

BROADCAST JOURNALISM DEGREE

PRINT SEQUENCE DEGREE

PUBLIC RELATIONS DEGREE

What's next?

This will certainly not be the last change made to the Department of Journalism and Public Relations curriculum. We will continue to keep an eye on the industry and news consumers, and we will adapt our curriculum to ensure that our graduates remain leaders in the industry. We welcome comments from current students, alumni and others.