Feedback and Feedforward as a Dialogic Communication in the Learning Environment

Feedback concept in education is broad and covers several functionalities. The aim of this essay is to open up feedback and feed-forward concept as a process of dialogic communication both on individual level and in (educational) organization. While feedback provides information retrospectively (how has it been?), feed-forward would guide the future progress. While approaching the feedback from the point of view of dialogic communication, this study proposes different aspects of the feedback addressee and feedback provider could negotiate in order to make the feedback satisfying for both sides: number of aspects, time, generalization, and—whose task is to “interpret” feedback to feed-forward. The essay opens up the complexity of feedback and feed-forward asking/giving/receiving from the point of view of interpersonal as well as organizational communication. While approaching feedback giving and receiving as interpersonal communication it might include “noise”—unintended and sometimes spontaneous messages. The essay includes illustrative examples from the daily communication practice concerning the complexity of giving analytical descriptive feedback. On organizational level, the essay suggests to consider carefully the purpose of the feedback, the data collection methods and how the organization can make use of the data

Cost effectiveness of journalism education in a small nation state

The article discusses the role of journalism as a discipline in a small nation state and provides analysis of the economic factors that influence the journalism programs. The article discusses some of the economic aspects of journalism education at the academic university and provides a case study on the basis of the two programs provided by the University of Tartu: Bachelor (BA) and Master’s (MA) programs. The curricula are held by the Institute of Journalism and Communication. Keywords: journalism curriculum, education, cost, small market. p

REPRESENTATION OF DEATH CULTURE IN THE ESTONIAN PRESS

Death is an omnipresent part of daily life, and evokes both personal and public reactions. In contemporary mediated society we might have less personal experience of grief, but we get daily information about the death from the (news) media. On the one hand, the orientation on youth, health, happiness, success, strength, and growth marks death as failure, loss or error, not as a normal ending to all that lives. This situation is described as lack of death culture as it was known before the era of antibiotics and chemical weapons. On the other hand, death actually appears regularly in a variety of forms in the mass media. However, the way journalism covers death and grief is influenced by a specific discourse of journalism: mediated information is selected, framed, and presented in a certain conventional form. The aim of the present study is to analyse the representation of death in Estonian daily newspapers in 2010. In order to map the wide spectrum of death coverage in our everyday news, a flow a seven-scale analysis model was created. The model is on the one hand based on news factors and newsworthiness, on the other hand its aim is to capture the specific nature of death: inevitable, unexpected, final, violent, etc

News Media Monitoring Capabilities in 14 European Countries: Problems and Best Practices

Social acceleration has been a catalyst for rapid changes concerning the mediascapes of European societies. Democratic societies need deliberation, but what kinds of journalism and communication cultures are supported by different stakeholders and structural possibilities? The aim of this article is to conceptualise and analyse the risks and opportunities concerning the monitoring capabilities in key domains of the media field. This includes the performance and normative regulation of news media (journalism) as well as media usage patterns and competencies of different actors, all of which influence the quality of deliberative communication across cultures. The monitoring potential is related to various stakeholders who gather data and information on media and media usage, transform the information into knowledge, and use this knowledge to create evidence-based media policy. What interests and values are served by which stakeholders and how does this actual monitoring serve the media policy in different European countries? What is the role and resources of media researchers? These questions are answered with the help of an extensive literature review and a synoptic analysis of the monitoring capabilities of 14 European countries, based on original case studies. The article will, thus, broaden the conceptual understanding of risks and opportunities for deliberative communication in democratic societies - and at the same time offer an initial inventory of typical problems and best practices for monitoring deliberative communication across Europe

Revisiting National Journalism Cultures in Post-Communist Countries: The Influence of Academic Scholarship

The aim of this exploratory study is to develop the concept of the actor approach and journalism culture by adding a factor that has been more or less overlooked: academic scholarship. The paper also proposes to use the concept “discursive institutionalism” in order to clarify what knowledge and opinions about media are formed in the interaction of media institutions and academia with other institutions in society (e.g. educational, political and judicial). The concept “discursive institutionalism” includes the role of academia in providing new knowledge by conducting and disseminating research on the national and international levels, and this deserves greater attention. Although it is a common understanding that the role of academia is to prepare young professionals, it is less discussed how national media research and journalism education, in synergy, can create and maintain a collective understanding regarding the role and performance of national journalism in turbulent times. The paper is a meta-analysis of published research, and the empirical part of the study includes a close reading of academic articles, reports and conference presentations that are available in English about media in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Examples of research from selected CEE countries provide a descriptive view of problems and tendencies concerning media performance in these countries. The proposed analytical approach aims to connect these problems and provide ideas for further research

The Curving Mirror of Time

This volume attempts to create a ‘relief map’ of temporalities in Estonian newspapers over different periods of time. The special focus is on binding the empirical analysis to the theoretical and methodological discussions of the temporality of news(paper) culture. The authors of the articles ask to what extent newspapers report on the past and present and to what extent these reports refer to the future. A diachronic analysis of newspaper texts from different periods of time demonstrates that the temporal focus of newspapers changes over time: in some periods, the past receives remarkably more attention, while in other periods the news timeframe is biased towards current events and the future. One study asks how similar, or different, is the (re)construction of the past in Estonian daily newspapers published in Estonian and Russian in 1994 and 2009. Two articles focus on analysis of the links between social remembering and anniversary journalism. Another article provides an overview of the depiction of women in Estonian newspapers and magazines from 1848 to 1940. This collection revitalizes the study of time in news discourse, suggesting new methodological perspectives and developing interdisciplinary approaches in cultural theory

The Curving Mirror of Time

This volume attempts to create a ‘relief map’ of temporalities in Estonian newspapers over different periods of time. The special focus is on binding the empirical analysis to the theoretical and methodological discussions of the temporality of news(paper) culture. The authors of the articles ask to what extent newspapers report on the past and present and to what extent these reports refer to the future. A diachronic analysis of newspaper texts from different periods of time demonstrates that the temporal focus of newspapers changes over time: in some periods, the past receives remarkably more attention, while in other periods the news timeframe is biased towards current events and the future. One study asks how similar, or different, is the (re)construction of the past in Estonian daily newspapers published in Estonian and Russian in 1994 and 2009. Two articles focus on analysis of the links between social remembering and anniversary journalism. Another article provides an overview of the depiction of women in Estonian newspapers and magazines from 1848 to 1940. This collection revitalizes the study of time in news discourse, suggesting new methodological perspectives and developing interdisciplinary approaches in cultural theory

Õpetajate arusaamad väärtustele keskenduvast dialoogilisest kommunikatsioonist mitmekultuurilises õpikeskkonnas

See uurimus analüüsib Eesti õpetaja arusaamu väärtustele keskenduvast dialoogilisest kommunikatsioonist (VKDK) mitmekultuurilises õpikeskkonnas, keskendudes küsimusele, milliseid VKDK olukordi ja vajadusi märkavad mitmekultuurilise õpikeskkonna kogemusega õpetajad. Kultuuridevahelisi väärtusi puudutavad arutelud eeldavad vastastikust kuulamist ja mõistmist, mistõttu lähtub siinne uurimus teoreetiliselt dialoogilise kommunikatsiooni kontseptsioonist. Samast kontseptsioonist lähtub ka Tartu Ülikooli eetikakeskusese õpilaste mäng "Väärtuste avastajad", mille lisapakett on suunatud kultuuriliste väärtuste alaste arutelude algatamiseks ja juhtimiseks. Õpetajate arusaamu ja praktilisi kogemusi koguti poolstruktureeritud intervjuude kaudu. Valimi moodustavad üheksa TÜ eetikakeskuse ja Eesti Pagulasabi pagulus ja -rändeteemalises projektis osalenud õpetajat, kelle kogemuste refleksioon vaatleb nii VKDK praktikaid kui ka õpilaste mängu  kasutamisel ilmnenud võimalusi ja piiranguid.  Summar