Advanced Visual Editing: Professional Development Certificate,
Ball State University
Abstract
Narrative
1 - 2: Needs to be addressed and learners served
Digital imaging is revolutionizing the world of publications photography. As more publications take the digital route to save money and time, more stress will be put on the personnel management and time management skills of picture editor/managers. As publishers increasingly expect their photographers to produce more and more work in the time freed up by digital image gathering, the picture editor’s role becomes more critical to the publication process.
We live in a visual age. Pictures are the primary entry point for publications readers. Effective image management is essential to the continued financial success in print publications. “Advanced Visual Editing” is a professional development course in visual literacy, image resource management and personnel development designed primarily for mid-career journalists seeking to make the transition from basic responsibility as a staff photographer or rim editor to increased supervisory responsibility on the picture desk.
In Indiana, there are more than 250 newspapers, any of which could benefit from the skills and principles to be taught in this program. The pool of potential students in this state alone should be sufficient to support the course. The use of online technologies for distance learning eliminates the need for proximity or even the physical presence of the student. This course has appeal to publications professionals nation-wide as a vehicle by which they might advance their skill levels and career opportunities.
A: Continuing education for journalists is valued by upper management as evidenced by the tuition reimbursement programs at most publications companies. The major obstacle to further education for most working professionals is a combination of lack of time and lack of course availability. By employing online technologies the students will be able to schedule class time conveniently. The asynchronous nature of this course will allow the student to process the information and complete the assignments at a time set by the student. Offering this course will create an educational opportunity that does not exist at present.
B: Development of non-degree programming can be accomplished in a more expedient manner than development of a new degree program. Refinements are more easily accomplished, making it possible to be more quickly responsive to the marketplace. This new course will be designed for non-credit, but it will serve as the basis for a broader future offering at the graduate level. Credit will be possible through an independent study option.
C: The fifteen unit course will be broken into three, discrete, five module segments. Dividing the material in this manner makes it possible to more easily market the course to time starved professionals. The prospect of completing a five week segment and then moving on to another is less daunting than one large fifteen unit chunk.
D: The target audience is among the most technologically savvy in the publications field. Visual journalists were the first in the newsroom to adopt online communication as a standard. The fit with this clientele and the technologies to be employed is very good.
E: Departmental Expertise: The Journalism Department already offers a non-degree Diploma in Public Relations as well as an online option to a graduate level public relations course.
F: Among the hot topics in discussion of the role of the media today is the nature of photojournalism and its intrusion upon the privacy of individuals. This course will allow professionals to examine their own role and help them chart an appropriate path to increased trust and responsibility in their community.
G: This course will serve as a gateway for professionals into a broader-based participation in the Ball State University Journalism Department’s programs.
This new course will:
• Foster the ethical treatment of photographic subjects.
• Help define how to set the standards of taste in an individual newsroom.
• Provide an advanced grounding in the principles of visual literacy.
• Increase understanding of interaction and responsibilities in publications departments.
• Teach the dynamics of the interaction of images and type in a printed medium.
• Enable students to increase their mentoring and coaching skills.
• Expand layout and design skills.
• Explore and refine the creative process.
The project is designed to create a brand new course based on the principles taught in a very successful photojournalism sequence and make it available to a professional audience with a need for the training, but without the means to enroll in an on-campus environment. Students must have access to a viable e-mail account with attachments and a computer with:
• Internet access.
• CD-ROM and enough memory to run short digital video segments.
• Adobe Photoshop® software (the industry standard for photo acquisition)
• Quark XPress® software (the industry standard for layout & design)
These resources are readily available in newsrooms across the country.
The technologies used in this course will include:
• Digitized video and/or audio interviews with nationally recognized picture editors.
• Hypertext course material in the form of lecture notes and links to enrichment material. Online, interactive test procedures.
• World Wide Web based research to generate story and picture ideas.
• Digital graphics and photography for examination and evaluation.
• Software to construct the sites needed for implementation of the course.
This is a more advanced version of an undergraduate credit course that is taught now. The basic infrastructure is in place and ready for development of specific course material. The department has adequate staff to offer the course. In fact, the photojournalism sequence sees a course of this type as key to enhancing its role in education for the professional market and fulfilling a part of the Journalism Department’s professional outreach mission.
Ball State University is prepared to provide $28,176 in matching commitment.
The new course is designed to delivered through the internet. It will be organized into three segments of five sequential modules. Course material will include topical interviews with top professionals, analysis and evaluation of national and international publications, ethical problem solving, personnel problem solving, idea generation, layout and design and photograph evaluation.
Course Objective
The purpose of this course is to develop the skills necessary to become
a publications picture editor and a visual leader in the photographic department
and the newsroom. To be such a leader a picture editor must be a person with
a vision and knowledge of photojournalistic excellence, who will set the picture
standards at the publication.
Class Outline
The course will be organized on an exercise, discussion model supplemented
with advice and opinions offered on-demand by nationally recognized experts
in the field.
Problems and exercises will be presented online and the completed assignments
will be handled interactively or, in some cases, returned via e-mail. Expert
advice and opinion will be presented either online as RealAudio® clips or
as CD-ROM based video clips. When increased band-width allows streaming video
to become universally practical this portion of the offering will move totally
online. The plan is for the developer of this course to call upon his own expertise
and to call upon extensive contacts in the publications business to bring the
industry’s top experts into the virtual classroom.Discussion will take
place in an archived list-serve format to allow current students to avail themselves
of the insights and problems of former students. Concurrent students will be
able to actively discuss possible problems and possible solutions among themselves
and with the instructor while the archives will maintain a record of all discussion.
The exercises will be designed to reinforce the concepts covered in the textual
material and to encourage the students to explore new ground on their own. To
this end lesson module topics will include:
• The Mission -- a great photographic report everyday. Discussion of where to “find” outstanding pictures for publication. Good reporting and good images are made through a conscious organized effort on the part of management and staff.
• The role of the picture editor (leader in the trenches pt. I) -- An intro- duction to the roles played by a publications picture editor in well-managed news-
rooms. Leader, disciplinarian, confessor, coach, mentor, cheerleader, protector.
• The role of the picture editor (leader in the trenches pt. II) -- A discussion of the various roles of picture editors at different levels of the publications business. Differing roles and different outlooks at different levels of publications and at differing levels within publications companies: suburban, community, metropolitan, regional, state national.
• Layout and design -- Examples of good and bad design. Discussion of various section pages with an emphasis on appropriate design for the content. Several hands on exercises.
• The Picture story -- An emphasis on social significance. In these days of diminishing news hole and increased time pressure. Organization, timeliness, anticipation and news-judgment are key to complete photographic coverage.
• Planning and assignments -- Deciding who and what to cover and how to cover. Concentration on the importance of planning, organization and news- judgment. Several hands on exercises.
• What is a good picture -- Lecture and discussion about the properties of pictures that successfully communicate. Several hands on exercises.
• Picture selection and cropping -- Lecture and discussion will emphasize various critical concerns. Several hands on exercises.
• News judgment -- The most critical skill of an effective picture editor. Lecture, discussion and several hands on exercises. (see example description below)
• The role of the picture editor (leader among management) -- Discuss in detail the roles of picture editors as they deal with managers of other departments. The politics of survival in a corporate environment demands a strong personal mission statement or outlook and the will to persevere as one champions one goals.
• Leadership in the newsroom (the big picture) -- Like the rest of the world, it’s a lot of politics. The human dynamic. Discussion and exercises to foster the ability to articulate points and the ability to gather allies.
• Leadership in the newsroom (down in the trenches) -- How to work with a mix of personalities and priorities. One of the most important challenges.
• Leadership in the newsroom (Working with photographers) -- Motivation is the key. How does a leader use motivation to raise performance levels.
• Ethics --Doing right by the public; doing right by the individual, families and groups.
• Privacy -- What’s the law? Dealing with the changing nature of publications law.
• Taste -- Ideas of taste and what is publishable are community specific. Shaping the photographic outlook of the publication to the community. This includes the problems and opportunities of working in a culturally diverse community. Practical exercises and examinations will be handled online.
• Example: An exercise in news judgment and time management asks the student to budget the time of a staff of photographers to result in the best and most appropriate coverage for the publication. The student will be given a list of possible assignments and a finite number of staffers with whom to gather the days news. After the staffers are assigned the student editor will be shown the work that the staff produced for that day. The student can immediately evaluate for results of a series of decisions on the days product. The interactive nature of online presentation makes an exercise such as this particularly valuable when the student can repeat the exercise with a different set of decisions and evaluate the different sets of results.
7: Course Evaluation and Academic
Assessment Plan
At each stage of development the materials will be reviewed and evaluated
by our photojournalism sequence advisory board which is made up of prominent
industry professionals and respected academics. After implementation of the
new course, the photojournalism sequence will rely upon our current system of
assessment review which includes: student evaluation instruments, internal peer
evaluation, external peer evaluation and external professional evaluation With
this course, we plan to begin to track students who have completed the program
with an eye toward measuring accomplishments and career advancement. The Journalism
Department is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism
and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). We will be seeking ACEJMC evaluation of this
course, its material and its results.
8: Quality and Transferability
This course is being developed as a professional development opportunity
for working journalists nation-wide. The principles and practices covered will
be valid in any market. It will be of a quality consistent with a six hour professionally
oriented graduate course.
9: How does course fit into
other efforts in Indiana
When it is implemented, this course will be unique. The material will be
of sufficient quality to have a place in any advanced or graduate level curriculum.
To that end it will fit well with any journalism programs in Indiana.
10: Marketing Plan
This course will be marketed by the Ball State University School of Continuing
Education and Public Service in the following ways: through the semester schedule,
through the distance education catalog, brochures and flyers distributed to
newspapers and professional journals, through the Indiana Collegiate Network
schedule, through profession list serves and metatags that will be embedded
in the Ball State University web page to ensure that the course will be found.
11: Project timeline for Spring
2000:
Consult with knowledgeable faculty and technology support staff on choice
of delivery methods for various parts of course offering.
• Develop organizational plan for hypertext/CD-ROM based delivery
• Begin format style designs
• Set up plans for implementation: advertising; logistics of server choices, etc.
• Line up expert guests. One of the keys to the success of this course will be the opinions and expertise shared by some of the top industry professionals working today. Travel to these busy news executives is essential.
• Begin with copyright permissions.
• Write course materials
• Initial peer review
Summer
2000:
Begin travel and interview lecturers. Finish copyright permissions. Edit
and digitize materials. Begin coding hypertext and CD-ROM materials. Polish
design. Further peer reviews.
Fall
2000:
Continue coding, editing of materials. Testing of completed modules. More
peer review.
Spring
2001:
Complete coding. Test final versions of modules. Further peer review.
Late
Spring/Summer 2001:
Full implementation of course. Continue with peer review process through
academic and professional conference presentations.
Fall 2001:
Continuing review/refinement based on student evaluations and periodic peer
review.
12: Key Course Development Personnel
Mr. Thomas A. Price, lead faculty member, is in his third year of teaching at Ball State University where he is the Coordinator for the Photojournalism Sequence in the Journalism Department.
Mr. Price came to Ball State after an award-winning 21-year newspaper career. He began his career as a staff photographer and moved up through the ranks to serve for more than ten years as a picture editor and director of photography.
Mr. Price has won first place in the print division and Grand Prize of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, a National Headliner Award, five Best of Gannett awards among many others. He has a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of South Carolina and a masters degree in communications photography from Syracuse University.
