JOURNALISM FOR SOCIAL CHANGE, ONLINE COURSE, 5 ECTS
Learning goals and contents:
Journalism for Social Change (5 ECTS) is an online course initiated by Vikes (The Finnish Foundation for Media, Communication and Development) and IPS Finland (Inter Press Service News Agency Finland) as an integral part of their project called Kulmakivi (cornerstone, referring to the role of journalism in democracy).
Student will learn to understand and appreciate the importance of mass communication, especially of journalism, for freedom of expression, human rights, global and social justice and responsibility, democracy and social changes.
Online course is directed at journalism and communication students in higher education institutions in Finland and in Southern partner countries. In spring 2010 the partner institution will be Ghana Institute of Journalis. In autumn 2010 the partner institution will be University of Dar Es Salaam.
Online course includes five thematic learning modules:
- Freedom of expression and democracy
- Global and social responsibility
- Journalism for development
- Media and civil society
- Revisiting the functions of journalism
Online course is strongly based on the pedagogical idea of collaborative learning. Therefore interaction and dialogue among the international and multicultural student group is emphasized in learning assignments.
Implementation:
Online course will be carried out twice during the year 2001. Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak) will be in charge of the implementation in spring 2010, starting on March 8th and ending on June 2nd. University of Helsinki will be responsible of the online course in autumn 2010, starting September 6th and ending November 19th.
The course will be carried out entirely online, with no classroom meetings. The course will start with an orientation week, after which students will have two weeks for completing each learning module. Altogether the duration of the online course will be 12 weeks.
Each learning module includes an orientation discussion on an online discussion forum, learning materials (introductory texts to each module and the actual learning materials such as audio and video lectures and online articles and reports) and learning assignments.
During the online course students will carry out also one more extensive learning assignment in small groups. In spring 2010 it will be a community-based journalistic production. Student will reflect on their journalistic working process in a blog regularly.
Participants:
The online course in spring 2010 will be open for students of
- Department of Communication in University of Jyväskylä (5 students)
- Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in University of Tampere (5 students)
- journalism-oriented communication and media programmes in universities of applied sciences (10 students)
Also exchange students in these institutions can participate in the course if there are places available. There will be 20 journalism student from Ghana participating in the course.
Students and exchange students in Universities of Jyväskylä and Tampere will enroll in the course by contacting the coordinator in their own department. Students and exchange students in Universities of Applied Sciences (other than Diak) can enroll through the Finnish Online University of Applied Sciences http://www.amk.fi/en/index.html. The deadline for enrollment in the spring 2010 course is 28.2.
University students can enroll in the online course of autumn 2010 through the University Network for Communication Sciences http://viesverk.uta.fi/index.php?lang=en.
In 2010 the two implementations of the online course will be financed by the Kulmakivi project. Therefore participating in the course is free of charge for the students and the sending institutions.
Teachers in charge:
Spring 2010: Dr. Pirita Juppi, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (pirita.juppi@diak.fi) and Jonas Boateng, Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Autumn 2010: Pauliina Shilongo, University of Helsinki (pauliina.shilongo@helsinki.fi) and Dr. Masoud Nassor, University of Dar es Salaam.
