Fisher Middle School Journalists Break the News at TCNJ Institute
As news coverage and analysis expands into new technological realms, an alliance of TCNJ professors and Ewing public school teachers has teamed up to educate the youngest of up-and-coming journalists in the ways of modern multimedia. Their work received special recognition from former President Bill Clinton.
As news coverage and analysis expands into new technological realms, an alliance of TCNJ professors and Ewing public school teachers is educating the youngest of up-and-coming journalists in the ways of modern multimedia.
The College of New Jersey’s Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers (IJIMS) hosted 26 rising 6th- and 7th-graders from Fisher Middle School for its second annual, weeklong Summer Interactive Journalism Institute, which took place in July. The students, guided by a volunteer team of educators and undergraduates, participated in a score of team-based activities including interviews, video editing, news writing and editing, and computer programming.
The Institute launched in 2008 at the hands of three TCNJ professors: Ursula Wolz, associate professor of computer science; Kim Pearson, associate professor of English; and Monisha Pulimood, assistant professor of computer science. Mary Switzer, gender equity specialist at TCNJ, joined as program manager. The group has since received over $750, 000 as part of a three-year competitive grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The program grew out of a conversation about 21st-century media and concerns about the “misperception…that computing sciences are not creative disciplines as compared to the arts and creative writing,” according to the IJIMS web site.
“By directly engaging students who do not necessarily view themselves as ‘computing types,’ we anticipated changing their prospective career options in the expanding computing disciplines” including journalism, the professors wrote on their project Web site.
The teacher-nominated participants from Fisher worked in six groups, each with its own ‘beat’ (for example, politics, entertainment, or sports). Their activities—many of which were based on Scratch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s intuitive programming software for young people—ran the gamut of video, audio, and verbal presentation.
Each team completed a group interview with an individual in their field. The Institute contacted a lobbyist and representatives of ESPN and Nickelodeon, among others.
After retrieving valuable information, students went to work on a multimedia presentation—a news article, accompanied by video or an interactive game designed to illuminate their topic. All of this geared toward the final product: an online news magazine, posted for friends and family to enjoy.
Late in the week, Holman Hall’s computer labs buzzed with activity. Students checked and rechecked writings, recorded narrative overdubs, and shared their work with one another. One student demoed his Scratch handiwork—a “lobbyist game,” the objective of which was to maneuver one’s way through the barriers of Washington government (represented by floating obstacles). At the end of the line, the character met President Obama and persuaded him to sign the “Purple Shoes Act.”
One needed little indication that these kids were bright. Laura Fay, an eighth grade reading teacher at Fisher, said they represent a “cross-section of what Fisher looks like.”
Everyone at the Institute agreed that something special happens when students are given this kind of intellectual responsibility. “They’re doing real work, they’re not being lectured to,” Wolz, the principal designer of the program, said.
Additionally, the Institute operates on a strong affiliation between the Fisher Middle School teachers and professors at the College. It was the Fisher teachers that suggested the Institute become a regular, in-class experience. Fisher students and TCNJ professors now collaborate during the school year through after-school workshops and online participation. Their work even received special recognition from former President Bill Clinton. Click here to watch his video message to the group.
The Institute has become a full-fledged learning partnership the likes of which Wolz has not seen in a while. “I was doing this kind of stuff 30 years ago in the MIT Logo lab and you saw the magic…and it sort of faded and died, it was really hard to do it for a while,” she said.
“Last year it was pretty cool to see it in action, and this year I have to kind of look over my shoulder and realize that I shouldn’t be taking for granted how powerful this is.”
For more information on the Institute, visit www.tcnj.edu/~ijims.
Posted on October 29, 2009