Engaging first year lecturers with threshold learning outcomes and concepts in their disciplines

In this paper, we report on an investigation of what students need to learn in the first year in various discipline-based subjects to launch then on their way to meet specified discipline threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) by the time they graduate. We frame our investigation using both the threshold concepts that the students must master in first year in order to succeed in learning in the discipline and also the threshold learning outcomes that they need to achieve by third year. We describe and analyse workshops used to engage lecturers with the challenges of designing first year curriculum in their r discipline, suggest why threshold concepts are useful in focusing both lecturers and students on what is essential, and outline briefly some of the creative solutions the lecturers offered

Designing first-year sociology curricula and practice

Many countries are now specifying standards for graduates in different disciplines, including sociology. In Australia, the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) has developed Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for sociology to provide the learning outcomes that students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in sociology should achieve. These TLOs have encouraged universities to think explicitly about their sociology curriculum in a holistic way. This paper reports on a project that investigated the skills and concepts sociology students need to learn in first year to meet the TLOs by the time they graduate. The project identified the needs of students as they transition from school or work into the study of sociology in first year through a study of literature of first-year pedagogy and a student survey. A workshop was held for sociology that involved 37 academics from 14 universities. The workshop was used to promote a rethink of teaching of sociology in the light of the new TLOs as well as to collect ideas from the participants. The student surveys, workshop ideas and relevant literature were analyzed and synthesized for each TLO to determine what skills and concepts first-year students needed to learn, identify what they might find difficult and propose strategies for teaching. The paper also provides practical ideas for engaging academics with thinking holistically about the sociology curriculum and for teaching and learning sociology in the first year of an undergraduate degree

Renewing first year curricula for social sciences and humanities in the context of discipline threshold standards

[Extract] This project evolved out of the work of the Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH) network for Associate Deans Learning and Teaching (ADLT). As ADLTs, we wanted to better support and advise our colleagues on how to design first year curriculum in their own discipline. Our contexts were determined by Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) that were developed for the Humanities and Social Science disciplines initially through an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project (Hay, 2012). We wanted to identify, understand, refine and be able to advocate for teaching and assessment strategies that would set first year students on their way to achieving TLOs in their chosen discipline by the time they graduate. The original aims of the project were to: i. determine the discipline-specific skills and standards that are required to be developed at the first year in order for students to achieve the TLOs and AQF standards prescribed for graduates in the selected disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities; ii. engage first year staff with first year pedagogy and curriculum renewal in the light of threshold standards; and iii. provide a toolkit with examples of discipline-specific assessments and activities that develop those skills in first year students

Engaging first year lecturers with threshold learning outcomes and concepts in their disciplines

Abstract In this paper, we report on an investigation of what students need to learn in the first year in various discipline-based subjects to launch then on their way to meet specified discipline threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) by the time they graduate. We frame our investigation using both the threshold concepts that the students must master in first year in order to succeed in learning in the discipline and also the threshold learning outcomes that they need to achieve by third year. We describe and analyse workshops used to engage lecturers with the challenges of designing first year curriculum in their r discipline, suggest why threshold concepts are useful in focusing both lecturers and students on what is essential, and outline briefly some of the creative solutions the lecturers offered

Reporting on Indigenous Issues: some practical suggestions for improving journalistic practice in the coverage of indigenous affairs

The National Media Forum was established following the 1992 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The Forum brings together journalists, Indigenous community members and media researchers, which meets biennially to discuss the representation of Indigenous people in the Australian media. The theme of the 1998 National Media Forum in Perth, Western Australia, was 'Reporting on Indigenous Issues'. This two-day workshop aimed to move away from more common polarised debate about reporting, which is characterised by sweeping Indigenous accusations of racism and defensive accounts of 'standard journalistic practice'. This paper offers practical suggestions from delegates useful to working journalists and journalism students considering the complexity of covering Indigenous issues in the Australian media

Development of Australian journalism education

The global development of professional education for journalists, since the late nineteenth century, has been primarily driven by reaction to criticism of media practices from politicians and the media publics (Banning 1999 and others). The resulting emphasis on the content of pre-professional programs has tended to come at the expense of considering the ways in which students might also develop professional understanding. There has been long and vigorous debate about what prospective journalists should learn, and what they should not learn, but less attention has been paid to the way professional attitudes and efficacy are developed in students through learning programs. In fact, the major influence underpinning journalism education in Australia is still the political/industrial history of journalism as a profession "sui generis", or like no other (Lloyd 1985). This article considers the development of journalism teaching in Australia and argues that it is time to focus on the way journalism is taught

Understanding Journalism

This fully revised Second Edition of the hugely popular Understanding Journalism skilfully guides students through the various elements of journalistic practice. It takes into account recent changes in the field, most notably the roles of social media and media ethics

First things first : teaching data journalism as a core skill

When journalists publish work based on data, they often appear to be working with secondary sources, such as leaked internal corporate communications or information derived from publicly available Internet sources. However, they are relying on a source of information that varies greatly from other secondary sources. Among the differences is the process by which the data is verified, particularly given that datasets are often very large and unprocessed. How, for example, does a journalist determine the authenticity of data such as The Paradise Papers, the largest leak in history, where more than 13.4 million files revealed the workings of the tax haven industry? The issue of authenticity is further complicated by the processes journalists use to prepare data for delivery to a wide audience. In this article, the authors describe how the model of critical reflection (Sheridan Burns, 2002, 2013) can be used to develop data literacy in first year journalism students as the first step in developing their sense of efficacy in dealing with the complexities of data journalism. Using a scenario based on a large, easily accessible dataset, the authors provide a model through which students can come to understand working with data as a core journalism skill. The model draws on Schon’s (1983) theory of reflective practice, which posits that professionals think by doing and on what Schon calls ‘the conversations we have with ourselves’

“Post-industrial” journalism as a creative industry

The context of post-industrial journalism is one in which the material circumstances of mechanical publication have been displaced by digital technologies, increasing the distance between the orthodoxy of the newsroom and the culture of journalistic writing. Content is, with growing frequency, created for delivery via the internet, publication on web-based ‘platforms’ and consumption on screen media. In this environment, the question is not ‘who is a journalist?’ but ‘what is journalism?’ today. The changes bring into sharp relief new distinctions between journalistic work and journalistic labor, providing a key insight into the current transition between the industrial journalism of the 20th century, and the post-industrial journalism of the present. In the 20th century, the work of journalists and journalistic labor went hand-in-hand as most journalists were employees of news organizations, whilst in the 21st century evidence of a decoupling of ‘acts of journalism’ (work) and journalistic employment (labor) is beginning to appear. This 'decoupling' of the work and labor that underpins journalism practice is far reaching in its implications, not least for institutional structures. Under these conditions we are witnessing the emergence of expanded ‘entrepreneurial’ journalism, based on smaller, more independent and agile - if less stable - enterprise constructs that are a feature of creative industries. Entrepreneurial journalism is realized in a range of organizational forms from social enterprise, through to profit driven start-ups and hybrids of the two. In all instances, however, the primary motif of the organization is an ideological definition of journalism. An example is the Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism in New Zealand, which owns and operates Scoop Publishing Limited, a not for profit company and social enterprise that publishes an independent news site that claims to have over 500,000 monthly users. Our paper demonstrates that this journalistic work meets the ideological definition of journalism; conducted within the creative industries using an innovative organizational structure that offers a new, viable post-industrial future for journalism