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Journalism November 2011

JOURNALISM DISCIPLINE COMPREHENSIVE

PROGRAM REVIEW

2011

Riverside Community College District Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Web Resources: http://www.rccdfaculty.net/pages/PR_status.htm

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Table of Contents

A. Mission and Relationship to the College 3

B. History 5

C. Data and Environmental Scan 9

D. Programs and Curriculum 15

E. Student Outcomes Assessment 17

F. Collaboration with Other Units 22

G. Outreach 22

H. Long Term Major Resource Planning 23

I. Summary 24

J. Recommendations to the Program Review Committee 27

Appendix 28

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JOURNALISM DISCIPLINE COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM REVIEW 2011

A. Mission and Relationship to the College(s)

The current mission of the Journalism Discipline is:

To provide an excellent educational experience that prepares students for entry level careers in a broad range of journalism and related occupations, to transfer to university journalism and mass communications programs, and to critically examine the media.

The Journalism Discipline’s mission is consistent with the Colleges’ mission statements as set forth in the 2011-2012 Catalogs:

Riverside City College provides a high-quality, affordable education, including comprehensive student services, student activities, and community programs, and empowers and supports a diverse community of learners as they work toward individual achievement and life-long learning. To help students achieve their goals, the College offers learning support services, pre-college and transferable courses, and career and technical programs leading to certificates or associate degrees. Based on a learner-centered philosophy, the College fosters critical thinking, develops information and communication skills, expands the breadth and application of knowledge, and promotes community and global awareness.

Norco College provides educational programs, services, and learning environments for a diverse community. We equip our students with the knowledge and skills to attain their goals in higher, career/ technical, and continuing education; workforce development; and personal enrichment. To meet the evolving community needs, Norco College emphasizes the development of technological programs. As a continuing process we listen to our community and respond to its needs while engaging in self-examination, learning outcomes assessment, ongoing dialogue, planning, and improvement.

Responsive to the educational needs of its region, Moreno Valley College offers academic programs and student support services which include baccalaureate transfer, professional, pre-professional, and pre-collegiate curricula for all who can benefit from them. Lifelong learning opportunities are provided, especially, in health and public service preparation

GOALS / VALUES

I. Over the past five years, the Journalism Discipline’s goals have been to:

Offer courses and student media experiences that prepare students to work with professional media and to critically examine mass media

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Align equipment with media industry standards Provide learning opportunities that can lead to continued education or

immediate employment Offer students opportunities to work with student-produced campus

newspapers, online newspapers, and television newscasts. Move to suitable facilities for each Journalism Discipline at Riverside, Norco,

and Moreno Valley.

II. The Journalism Discipline’s goals are consistent with the Riverside City College’s goals:

CULTURE OF INNOVATION

RCC is committed to being an innovative institution working to improve teaching and learning, and student support services through the effective delivery and use of technology and by expansion and modernization of our learning environments.

The values that are integrated into the curriculum and pedagogy include:

The Journalism Discipline will provide a supportive teaching and learning environment in which students are encouraged to develop their strengths and to respect others.

The Journalism Discipline will provide practical, hands-on teaching and learning consistent with media industry expectations, and to the extent possible, consistent with industry equipment.

The Journalism Discipline will prepare students to critically examine the media.

III. The Journalism Discipline’s values are consistent with RCC’s stated values:

Student Centeredness -To serve the best educational interests of the students; to offer a comprehensive and flexible curriculum together with programs and services according to diverse and evolving student needs; to treat each other with a sincere, caring attitude and to respond to suggestions and constructive criticism from students; to counsel and advise students to help them plan for and progress toward their individual educational goals; and to recognize outstanding student performance.

Teaching Excellence -To communicate to students a body of knowledge in a creative, stimulating, and challenging manner; to work to establish student and instructor rapport; to maintain the highest standard of professional performance and recognize teaching excellence; to

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promote the exchange of ideas among colleagues and provide opportunities for professional development; to define for students course goals, objectives and grading standards, making clear the expectation of high achievement; to encourage students to think critically and analytically, applying learning principles, concepts, and skills; and to inspire independence of thought and self-discipline.

Learning Environment-To create an atmosphere in which students and staff find satisfaction in their work and feel pride in achievement; to provide comfortable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing facilities and grounds; to provide and maintain state-of-the-art equipment and ample supplies; to provide programs and support services which are responsive to student and community needs; and to actively support academic and social activities which take place outside the classroom.

Tradition-To further the traditions of pride, quality, innovation, and professionalism found in this institution; to share our heritage by making Riverside City College the educational and cultural center of the communities it serves; and to build for the future on the foundations of our past.

B. History

The District began offering students opportunities to work with student media in the form of the student newspaper in 1922 on a regular basis, but first offered students the opportunity to work with a newspaper in 1917 on an intermittent basis. In the 1960s, the student newspaper improved under the leadership of Journalism instructor Wayne Overbeck. At that time, the newspaper, called Tiger Times, reported about important news issues, including attempts to regulate free speech on campus, the Vietnam war, and the civil rights movement. Overbeck resigned and left the College in 1967 after just two years, because the College refused to provide the Journalism Discipline with a full-time Journalism Production Specialist. Forty-six years after Overbeck first attempted to get approval to employ a full-time production specialist, the position has still not been approved in 2011, despite 16 years of efforts by current full-time newspaper adviser and Journalism Discipline Facilitator Allan Lovelace.

In 1996, Lovelace assumed leadership of a Journalism Discipline in extreme disarray. At that time the Journalism Discipline was housed in a wing of one of the A.G. Paul Quadrangle’s several basements, in a small, smelly, filthy room cluttered with large stacks of newspapers throughout and infested with raccoons, opossum, mice, roaches, fleas, mites, black widow spiders, and mosquitoes breeding in a rancid sump pump, and massive outbreaks of yeast, mold, mildew, and bacteria. Down the hall in the Photography area, large Norway rats inhabited the utility room and skunks had free rein to roam the building. During production nights for the newspaper, students and faculty regularly had to dodge opossum and raccoons in the newsroom.

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In the 1997-98 El Nino winter, the rancid sump pump was in an almost constant state of flood for months, blocking entrance for disabled students and generally making life miserable for everyone. Ancient pipes leaked for a month above the instructors’ offices and yeast, mildew, mold and bacteria spread rapidly to suffocating intensity, ultimately leading to the Journalism Discipline Facilitator closing the newsroom for nine consecutive days. Then, a large pipe literally exploded above the Journalism Discipline Facilitator’s office, ruining all of his textbooks, historical newspapers and magazines, teaching materials, and documents which were so saturated with water and vermin feces that they all literally changed from paper into soggy pulp and had to be thrown out. An Orkin inspector discovered a Norway rat infestation in the Photography area in 2000. Conditions eventually improved after years of suffering, but the sump pump continued to overflow and black widow spiders and mosquitoes continued to swarm in the sump pump’s large drain which regularly overflowed into the newsroom and even down the hall into the Photography area. Finally, relief came when the Journalism Discipline moved from the unsafe A.G. Paul Quadrangle to the Administration building in 2005. The Journalism Discipline was forced to move again in 2006, this time to one side of the Assessment building. The Journalism Discipline’s current location, while clean and safe, is too small.

The history of the Journalism Discipline also has been affected by feast or famine with its equipment. From 1996-1998, the Journalism Discipline received funding each year to replace its ancient computers. When Lovelace assumed leadership of the Journalism Discipline in 1996, he found three of the Discipline’s seven circa 1986 DOS-only computers broken and the circa 1986 worn out tractor feed dot matrix printers filled with rocks, bones, and dirt. The Journalism Discipline’s remaining four DOS-only computers in 1996 were so old (also circa 1986) they could only run text and so the newspaper had to be designed off campus by a private contractor, severely limiting the educational opportunity for the students to learn publication design skills. With College funding in October 1996, Lovelace immediately replaced two of the computers, replaced all of the dot matrix printers with a network laser printer, and added a flatbed scanner. The remaining five computers were replaced and an online newspaper was added to the Journalism Discipline in 1997. Another computer was added in 1998 for the online newspaper. The Journalism Discipline’s flatbed scanner eventually broke and was replaced by a used hand-me-down scanner from the Photography Discipline. In 2003, the Journalism Discipline’s computers were all replaced with used three-and-a-half-year-old computers handed down from another RCC Discipline, but the Journalism Discipline had to continue to use its old monitors because the used three-and-a-half-year-old hand-me-down computers’ monitors were too small for the intensive publication design and photo editing required for the newspaper’s production. The Journalism program’s computers at Riverside were replaced with new units in April 2007, but they are now four and a half years old in 2011, obsolete, and must be replaced so that they can run the software required for video editing, photo editing, page design, and website design. The Journalism program at Moreno Valley does not have a newsroom to house computers. The Journalism program at Norco also needs new computers, a laser printer, a scanner, and digital cameras.

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Despite the horrific conditions at Riverside with vermin and flooding in the A.G. Paul Quadrangle, the overwhelming disruptions of near constant moves to three locations within two years, and substandard and unreliable equipment and software, the Journalism Discipline at Riverside has enjoyed enormous success that far surpasses that of most Journalism Disciplines in the nation since 1996. The Journalism Discipline entered student media contests with the Associated Collegiate Press, Journalism Association of Community Colleges, Society of Professional Journalists, and Los Angeles Times. These organizations used news media industry professional journalists, photographers, and editors to assess the journalistic competency of students’ print and online newspaper stories, photos, page designs, video stories, and overall excellence from RCC’s Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 classes. RCC’s Journalism students often surpass university students in contests at the national level. For example, the Journalism Discipline’s newspaper at Riverside has been recognized by media industry professionals with hundreds of major awards, including the following honors since 1996:

-Associated Collegiate Press national Best of Show Newspaper in 2011 and 2004

- Associated Collegiate Press national Stories of the Year in 2009, 2003, and 2000

- Associated Collegiate Press national Pacemaker awards in 2005 and 2004

-Five Associated Collegiate Press annual All-American awards

- Twenty-eight Journalism Association of Community Colleges General Excellence awards from 1996-2011

-More than 300 Journalism Association of Community Colleges individual awards from 1996-2011

- Journalism Association of Community Colleges Best newspaper in Southern California

- Journalism Association of Community Colleges state Pacesetter Award in 1998

-Twenty-eight Society of Professional Journalists awards

-Three Los Angeles Times College Newspaper Overall Excellence awards

-Two national CPOY College Photographer of the Year awards

In 1996, the Journalism Discipline was part of the Performing Arts Department. Journalism then joined the Applied Technology Department because its faculty did not want to be left behind in the only media Discipline in the Performing Arts Department, after Photography and Telecommunications joined Applied Technology. This change proved harmful to Journalism, which was ignored by Applied Technology Department leadership. Journalism then joined the English and Speech Communications Department, which has treated Journalism as a full partner with support, cooperation and

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encouragement. The Journalism Discipline has found its proper home with the English and Speech Communications Department, and the name of the Department is slated to be changed to English and Media Studies.

Since the last Discipline review, the Journalism Discipline has accomplished the following goals:

Offered courses and student media experience that prepare students to work in professional media and to critically examine mass media. Students have served with student newspapers and enrolled in lecture classes such as Introduction to Journalism and Mass Communication.

Provided learning opportunities that led to continued education or immediate employment. Graduates have secured employment as reporters and editors at The Press-Enterprise and other local and national media and related employers.

Offered students opportunities to work with a variety of media including student-produced print newspapers, online newspapers, mobile newspapers, and television newscasts.

The Journalism Discipline is still attempting to finish accomplishing the following goals:

To align equipment with media industry standards. The Journalism Discipline’s computers at Riverside were replaced with new Gateway PCs in April 2007, but they are now four and a half years old in 2011, obsolete, and must be replaced so that they can run current software required for video editing, photo editing, page design, and website design. The industry standard is the new edition of the Macintosh iMac computer.

To move to suitable facilities for each Journalism program at the three District colleges at Riverside, Norco, and Moreno Valley. At Riverside, the Journalism program needs its own lecture/lab classroom with 25 new computers adjacent to its newsroom; expansion into the space currently occupied by Assessment would provide that additional space. At Moreno Valley, the Journalism program needs its own newsroom for its student newspaper. At Norco, the Journalism program needs a larger newsroom.

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C. Data Analysis and Environmental Scan

I. COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM REVIEW DATA SUPPORT- JOURNALISM - RIV

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2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Enrollments 123 90 91 117 108 85 73 85 96 109 118Retention 87.0% 87.8% 87.9% 87.2% 89.8% 88.2% 83.6% 84.7% 89.6% 83.5% 69.5%Success 61.8% 61.1% 68.1% 57.3% 76.9% 68.2% 69.9% 65.9% 75.0% 59.6% 53.4%

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Riverside Journalism Enrollments, Retention and Success Rates, Fall 2000 - 2010


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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Efficiency 242.89 270.82 293.55 368.16 182.37 181.80

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Riverside Journalism Efficiencies, Fall Terms 2005 -2010


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*Please contact RCCD Institutional Research for more detailed research needs

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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010FTEF 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.00 1.00Discipline WSCH 287.41 320.46 346.15 434.13 182.37 181.80

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Riverside Journalism FTEF and WSCH, Fall Terms 2005 -2010


Journalism’s RCCD District Data, Fall 2009 and Fall 2010

Semester WSCH Efficiency

Fall 2009 607.35 331.27

Fall 2010 670.21 329.60

Riverside Enrollment Data from Institutional Research:

Top Enrolled Courses Enrolled Spaces –Fall 2009

Fill ratio

Intro to Journalism 23 92%Newspaper 26 52%

Newspaper Editing 25 83.33%

Mass Communications 23 92%TOTAL JOU 97 74.62%

Riverside Faculty Data from Institutional Research:

Faculty Load Distribution in the Unit

Course Total Teaching Load for Fall 2009

% of Total Teaching Load by Full-time Faculty

% of Total Teaching Load Taught by Part-Time Faculty

Intro to Journalism 0.2 100 0Newspaper 0.3167 100 0Newspaper Editing 0.2833 0 100

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Mass Communications0.2 100 0

TOTAL JOU 1.0 .7167 .2833Norco Enrollment Data from Institutional Research:


Fill ratio

Newspaper 28 62.22%

TOTAL JOU 28 62.22%

Norco Faculty Data from Institutional Research:

Faculty Load Distribution in the Unit

Course % of Total Teaching Load by Full-time Faculty, Fall 2009


Newspaper 0 100%TOTAL JOU 0 100%

Moreno Valley Enrollment Data from Institutional Research:


Fill ratio

Intro to Journalism 43 122.86%Newspaper 28 80%

TOTAL JOU 71 101.43%

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Moreno Valley Faculty Data from Institutional Research:

Course % of Total Teaching Load by Full-time Faculty, Fall 2009


Intro to Journalism 0 100%Newspaper 0 100%TOTAL JOU 0 100%

II. Enrollment Trends and Students Served

The Journalism Discipline’s courses are included in an Area of Emphasis in Communication, Media, and Languages. Student graduates transfer to CSUs including Cal State Bernardino, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, and Humboldt State University. They also transfer to other universities, including Cal Baptist University and the prestigious University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. Journalism courses are offered at Riverside, Norco, and Moreno Valley.

Enrollment has been consistently strong at Riverside every year. Since 2009, enrollment has been strong at Norco and Moreno Valley as well. At Riverside, the newspaper staff ranges from 65 to 75 students per semester, making it one of the largest among community colleges in California. At Riverside, Journalism 1, 7, 20, and 52 are offered every fall and spring semester, and Journalism 1 is offered every summer. At Riverside, Journalism 2 is offered about once every 10 years, but it will need to be offered once every other year when a new Journalism Transfer Degree has been approved and instituted by 2013. For Journalism enrollment to continue to be adequate at Norco and Moreno Valley, their programs will need full-time Journalism instructors, suitable newsrooms, adequate equipment including computers, cameras, scanners, printers, sound recorders, software, telephones, and funding, as requested in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, etc.

Student Demographics

Female enrollment exceeded male enrollment, with 58 percent of students being female District-wide in Journalism classes in the 2009-2010 academic year. This ratio mirrors

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that of the national trend for students enrolled in Journalism and Mass Communications Disciplines.

District-wide, the largest age groups enrolled in Journalism classes are under age 20 (202 students) and under and 20-24 (189 students) during the 2009-2010 academic year.

The educational goal most identified by RCCD Journalism students during the 2009-2010 academic year was to earn the AA degree and then transfer (243 students), followed by students taking Journalism classes at RCCD and then transferring without the AA degree (57 students). This interest in transferring will be accommodated with a new Journalism Transfer Degree that is being created by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges with completion date anticipated to be in January 2012. The 18-unit Journalism Transfer Degree is expected to include 15 units of Journalism courses and three units in other courses. The Journalism Transfer Degree’s courses will fully transfer into all CSUs statewide.

The ethnic groups studying Journalism at RCCD are Hispanic (159 students), White (110 students), African American (94 students), Asian (26 students), and Other (57 students).

Overall Assessment of Discipline Performance

The Journalism Discipline is doing a superior job in preparing students for entry-level careers in a broad range of media industries. The Journalism Discipline enjoys a reputation for excellence with media industry professionals because these same professional journalists and editors have honored the Journalism Discipline’s students with hundreds of national, state, and regional awards including many in direct competition with university students, and then employed many of these same RCCD Journalism students. As society becomes increasingly complex, the need for journalists who can communicate effectively and critically examine the media’s effects and role will also increase, and the Journalism Discipline at RCCD has responded to that need by training students to employ the skills and critical thinking required to be responsible media professionals.

D. Programs and Curriculum

Degrees, Area of Emphasis, and Courses

The District offers an Area of Emphasis in Communication, Media, and Languages; nine semester units may be in the Journalism Discipline and nine units in a related Discipline. Journalism courses prepare students to work in the print, online, mobile, and television media industries and/or to transfer to university Journalism and Mass Communications programs. Students take a range of Journalism courses that include instruction in news writing, media criticism and theory, and media production for print, online, and mobile platforms.

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A new Journalism Transfer Degree is being created by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges with completion date anticipated to be in January 2012. The 18-unit Journalism Transfer Degree is expected to include 15 units of Journalism courses and three units in other courses. The Journalism Transfer Degree’s courses will fully transfer into all CSUs statewide.

Journalism Courses

JOU 1 Introduction to Journalism (3 units)

JOU 2 News Writing (3 units)

JOU 7 Mass Communications (3 units)

JOU 12 Photojournalism (3 units)

JOU 20 Newspaper (3 units)

JOU 52 Newspaper Editing (3 units)

JOU 200 Journalism Work Experience (3 units)

1. Recent Curricular Changes

Journalism 1, 7, 20, and 52 Course Outlines of Record were all updated by the Journalism Discipline Facilitator and then approved in 2006-2007. The Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 Course Outlines of Record were updated again and approved by the English and Media Studies Department in the fall 2011 semester. The Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 Course Outlines of Record were updated to make it possible for students to continue to serve with the student newspaper in multiple semesters by gaining additional levels of mastery of the subject.

The Journalism 12 Course Outline of Record was also updated in the last two years. This course is cross-listed with Photojournalism 12.

2. Planned Curricular Changes

The next step in curriculum planning is to update the Journalism 2 Course Outline of Record. The update will focus on writing for print, digital, and television media. A Journalism course in Multimedia will need to be created and approved to be part of a new Journalism Transfer Degree that is being developed. The Journalism Transfer Degree will include 18 units in Journalism and related disciplines. The Journalism Transfer Degree’s courses will fully transfer to the Cal State University system statewide.

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3. Prerequisites, Co-requisites, Advisories

There are no Discipline prerequisites for entry into the Journalism Discipline. Journalism 1 is required as a prerequisite for Journalism 2. Journalism 1, English 1A, or Photography 8 are advisories for the newspaper courses, Journalism 20 and Journalism 52.

4. Interdepartmental Cooperation

Journalism 12 is cross-listed with Photojournalism 12. This course is cross-listed to help make Journalism students aware of Photography courses they should consider taking to help prepare them to work in media industries.

RCC’s Film, Television, and Video Discipline lists Journalism 1 and Journalism 7 as courses students may take to meet its Certificate requirements.

E. Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Student Learning Outcomes for General Education

No Journalism courses are required as part of the General Education courses at RCCD. A good candidate to include as a General Education course is the Journalism 7 Mass Communication course, which is included among the General Education courses at many community colleges in California. Journalism courses met the former CSU CAN requirements for transfer; CAN’s replacement uses these same requirements and the corresponding courses still transfer. Journalism ethics is a major emphasis of the Journalism 1 course and Journalism 7 course. Using communication skills is also a major emphasis of the Journalism 20, and Journalism 52 production classes since students must conduct interviews to gather information, prepare questions, listen carefully to the thoughts of others and represent these accurately in relation to the stated objectives of the story. The lecture-based course Journalism 7 exhibits a strong emphasis in critical thinking because the course prepares students to critically examine media effects and the role of the news media in society.

Assessment

The Journalism Discipline has now assessed SLOs for all of its regularly offered courses: Journalism 1, Journalism 7, Journalism 20, and Journalism 52.

I. Assess SLO, Journalism 7 – Mass Communication

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The Journalism Discipline assessed an SLO in its Journalism 7 course during the Spring 2011 semester as follows:

Assess the following SLO:

Demonstrate an understanding of the mass communication process. a. Identify mass media terms, models, and theories.

A pop reading quiz was given early in the semester that included a question that would also appear on the midterm test. One purpose of repeating the question on the midterm test was to determine whether students were retaining their understanding of a key concept as the semester progressed to its halfway point. The results of the comparison demonstrated that of the 20 students who completed both the pop quiz and the midterm test, a substantial improvement among students in understanding the key concept occurred in the five weeks between the pop quiz and the midterm test. Ten of the 20 students who completed the quiz understood the key concept early in the semester. Fourteen of the 20 students who completed the midterm test understood the key concept. The improvement may be attributed in part to the instructor returning to the key concept in lectures from time to time during the semester, to the requirement that students keep a journal of their media reading and comment about the presence or absence of the key concept in the stories, and to the students being allowed to keep their pop quiz with the question about the key concept to use as a study guide. While it is encouraging to see an improvement in the number of students (from 50% to 70%) who understood the key concept, the goal is to have all of the students understand key concepts. The key concepts are discussed in class lectures, but some students will miss the lectures due to absences. To increase the percentage of students who understand of key concepts, a plan was developed to provide additional opportunities for students to be exposed to them. Mini homework assignments that can only be completed by students who read the assigned chapter in the textbook will be given as a way to address the problem of students failing to purchase or rent the textbook when they mistakenly decide that the textbook is unnecessary. Handouts listing key concepts will also be provided, but without the definitions. To measure the effectiveness of this plan, the same question about the key concept used in this spring 2011 SLO assessment will be included in the pop quiz and the midterm test as part of the SLO assessment to be repeated in subsequent semesters.

II. Assess SLO, Journalism 20 - Newspaper

The Journalism Discipline is a one-person discipline. The full-time faculty member, however, met with part-time instructors from Riverside and Moreno Valley to assess an SLO in the Journalism 20 Newspaper class during the spring 2009 semester. Methodology:

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The Journalism Discipline will assess the first SLO:

Demonstrate journalistic writing skills. a. Use the computer to compose professional quality newspaper stories for publication on deadline.

To assess the SLO, three instructors from Riverside and Moreno Valley met at Riverside in May 2009. Copies of student newspaper stories from these two campuses were selected to check whether students were demonstrating competency in the SLO. Because students develop their skills as the semester progresses, stories from the last fall semester newspaper were selected for assessment.

The following criteria, per COR, were examined to determine student competency in the SLO to “Demonstrate journalistic writing skills”:Students used Associated Press style correctly.Students used quotes and paraphrases with correct journalistic style. Students structured sentences appropriately.Students used voice (active, passive) appropriately.Students used the story structure appropriate for the event, topic, or issue reported.Using these criteria, the instructors examined 8 stories from Riverside and found:7 of 8 - (87.5%) stories used Associated Press style correctly.7 of 8 - (87.5%) stories used quotes and paraphrases with correct journalistic style.8 of 8 - (100%) stories structured sentences appropriately.8 of 8 - (100%) stories used voice (active, passive) appropriately.8 of 8 - (100%) stories used the story structure appropriate for the event, topic, or issue reported.

These results indicate that most students are demonstrating competency in the following areas at Riverside:

Associated Press style, quotes and paraphrasing style, sentence structure, use of voice, and story structure.

One student struggled with Associated Press style and quote style. This particular student was taking her first Journalism class in college and had never taken Journalism in high school. The instructor recognized as a result of this assessment exercise that additional instruction and handouts on Associated Press style and quoting style are needed for other students who also lack media experience and/or previous Journalism instruction.

The results indicated that a majority of students demonstrated in their newspaper work that they understood how to apply the SLO. The goal, however, is for all students to demonstrate understanding of the SLO in their newspaper work. A plan was created to use an online subscription to the Associated Press Stylebook. Preliminary results indicated that more students demonstrated competency with the SLO, but further results indicated that most students did not use the subscription service and so the subscription was not renewed. Workshops were then created early in the next semester to explain the

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SLO, but these workshops had limited success. A plan to distribute handouts about the SLO was put into place early in the fall 2011 semester, and a new Associated Press Stylebook was purchased and placed in the Journalism program’s library for student use.

III. Assess SLO, Journalism 52 - Newspaper

In the Fall 2011 semester, the full-time Journalism professor assessed the following SLO:

Demonstrate copy editing, page design, photo editing and/or headline writing skills in journalism.

a. Use the computer and software to edit a newspaper. Create effective page designs on the computer.

The full-time instructor determined that students are producing advanced and even professional quality page designs and photo edits on the Journalism program’s existing computers. However, 10 of the Journalism program’s 11 computers are four and a half years old, obsolete, and cannot run the most recent editions of Adobe CS Suite which includes Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Premiere, which are the industry standard software. The Journalism program’s computers at Riverside are so obsolete that they are limited to running an outdated four-year old version of design software that prevents the students from being able to efficiently use content from the print edition of the newspaper for the online edition of the newspaper. With the Journalism program’s existing obsolete computers and software at Riverside, transferring content from the newspaper’s print edition to its online edition is a slow and inefficient process. RCCD’s Technology Plan states that computers must be replaced every three years to avoid obsolescence and that the lifespan of a computer is at best five years. All of the Journalism Discipline’s work by its students and faculty is completed on its 11 computers, and so the 10 that are obsolete and continually breaking down must be replaced.

IV. Assess SLO, Journalism 1 - Introduction to Journalism

An SLO was assessed for the Journalism 1 course at Riverside in 2008 as follows.

Methodology used for teaching the 5W lead in Journalism 1:

1) The instructor showed an example of a 5W lead and discussed its structure, content, and purpose.

2) The students read a set of reporter’s notes, and then the instructor produced a 5W lead using those notes, a computer, and an LCD projector. The instructor went through the exercise step by step as a professional journalist would do on deadline.

3) The students read a different set of reporter’s notes and then assisted the instructor in producing another practice 5W lead, which was displayed, step by step, on the LCD

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projector. This proved to be an important learning tool because it got students involved during the teaching, instead of their sitting passively during a lecture.

4) The students then read another set of reporter’s notes and produced a 5W lead in a timed individual exercise in class using computers.

Assessment of a student learning outcome indicated that 100 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in an in-class individual exercise produced in the Journalism 1 class. The students wrote a 5W lead on deadline. Assessment of the student work indicated that 100 percent of the students were able to produce the 5W lead using the appropriate structure and content.

Current teaching methods are 100 percent effective with this student learning outcome and should be duplicated as appropriate with other student learning outcomes. Assessment of the 5W leads written during this class demonstrated that 100 percent of students produced 5W leads using appropriate structure and content in a timed individual exercise in class using computers. The success of this exercise is directly attributable to the instructor involving students during the completion of a practice 5W lead prior to the assessed exercise.

Journalism 2 Course Outline of Record timetable:

Spring 2012: Research the current CSU standards to ensure the updates will not jeopardize the Journalism 2 course's transferability.

Summer 2012: Research multimedia storytelling in the journalism industry.

Summer 2012: Update the Journalism 2 COR to incorporate multimedia storytelling and current university standards for this course.

Fall 2012: Secure Discipline, Department, and Curriculum approval for the Journalism 2 COR updates.

Improving Student Success

In early June of 2011, the Journalism program’s full-time faculty member at Riverside identified a lower than average success rate in the program’s two newspaper courses, Journalism 20 and Journalism 52, in the spring 2011 semester. The full-time faculty member then planned a meeting with the program’s Riverside faculty and interested students near the end of the Spring 2011 semester to identify possible steps that could be taken to improve the success rate in these two courses. The results of the meeting were analyzed by the one full-time faculty member to select practical changes that could be attempted. The changes for the Fall 2011 semester for the Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 courses included simplifying the newspaper courses’ deadlines page by using fewer words and much larger type and by creating separate pages for the due dates for turning in assignments to the newspaper’s editors and faculty members. The deadlines pages

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were then included in the two courses’ syllabi, posted in the newsroom on poster size paper, discussed during orientations, and distributed to each student. Another change was to the newspaper information sheet that is filled out by students during Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 orientations at the beginning of the semester. For the Fall 2011 semester, this information sheet included a section that stated that the student understood that to receive grade credit, assignments must be turned in by the deadlines stated on the deadlines pages. During the newspaper orientations for the Fall 2011 semester, students then signed their agreement on the information sheet that they understood and agreed to the requirement that assignments must be turned in by the stated deadlines. Preliminary results in the Fall 2011 semester indicate an increase in the percentage of students turning in assignments by the stated deadlines, which in turn will likely result in students being more likely to pass the Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 courses. If successful these changes will then increase the success rates of these two courses which make up 60 percent of the load when calculating the success rate for the Journalism program at Riverside each fall and spring semester.

For the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 semesters, the Journalism Program turned away many students because students attempted to enroll in Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 in the third and fourth weeks of the semester after missing mandatory orientation meetings for the newspaper in the first week of classes. To address this situation, the times and days for the mandatory orientation meetings are now listed in the printed schedule of classes, WebAdvisor online, the instructor’s website, and in the student newspaper. Results of the last year and a half indicate that these methods of reaching students have increased the percentage of students who attend Journalism 20 and Journalism 52 orientations and increased enrollment in these two courses.

F. Collaboration with Other Units including Instructional, Student Services or Administrative Units

RCC’s Instructional Media Center staff and the Journalism program faculty agreed in the Fall 2011 semester to allow the Journalism program’s newspaper students to produce video reports of RCC sports events, which are now shown on the College’s Tiger TV online program and on local cable television.

G. Outreach Activities

The Journalism Discipline recruits from area high schools each year and hosted a California Newspaper Publishers Association series of workshops for high school students in 2006 that enjoyed a strong turnout. The Journalism Discipline has also met with high school counselors on Transfer Day, hosted tours of its newsroom for high school students, and visited a local junior high journalism class. Recruitment efforts are concentrated on campus primarily. Additional recruitment and outreach would be

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possible if the Journalism Discipline at Riverside had more than one full-time employee. Local newspapers provide tours, part-time and full-time jobs, and speakers.

H. Long Term Major Resource Planning

Resources

1. Additional Staff : Conversion of its existing part-time Journalism Production Specialist position to full time at Riverside. Conversion of the part-time Journalism teaching positions at Norco and Moreno Valley into full time.

2. Facilities : Expansion into the remainder of the Assessment building at Riverside. Full-time facilities for the Journalism programs at Norco and Moreno Valley.

3. Equipment: A three-year replacement cycle for computers and associated equipment. This replacement must begin immediately by Spring 2012 by replacing all of the Journalism Discipline’s computers.

To fulfill this mission, the Journalism program at Riverside must upgrade its equipment and hire a full-time Journalism Production Specialist. Despite a lack of financial support that would be comparable to similar programs in California, the Journalism program at Riverside has accomplished almost miraculous success at the national, state, and regional levels with hundreds of significant journalism awards, but it cannot continue this extraordinary level of achievement without at least a reasonable level of consistent support from the College.

Equipment remains the most critical resource problem for the Journalism Discipline. RCC replaced all 10 of the Journalism Discipline’s outdated computers in 2007 at Riverside. The Journalism program Moreno Valley does not have a newsroom to house computers and the newsroom at Norco is too small. These needs have been addressed in Annual Unit Plans.

To continue to enjoy a strong reputation, the Journalism Discipline must update its equipment to prepare its students to present the news in new ways including in online newspapers as platforms for the combination of the written word, still photos, sound, video, and graphics. Although the Journalism Discipline has an excellent online student newspaper, to keep up with the changes taking place in the media industries the Journalism Discipline must get funding every three years to purchase new computers, digital cameras, digital sound recorders, digital camcorders, digital scanners, and current Adobe CS Suite and Adobe Premiere software.

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I. Summary

1. Briefly summarize in list form the goals and objectives the unit has for the next four years?

a) Offer courses and student media experiences that prepare students to work with professional media and to critically examine mass media.

b) Align equipment with media industry standards. c) Provide learning opportunities that can lead to continued education or

immediate employment.d) Offer students opportunities to work with student-produced campus

newspapers, online newspapers, and television newscasts.e) Move to suitable facilities for each Journalism Discipline at Riverside,

Norco, and Moreno Valley.

2. Describe support from the college or district that is needed to help the unit achieve its goals and objectives.

a) Funding to replace the Journalism Discipline’s computers at Riverside and Norco.

b) Funding to purchase computers for the Journalism program at Moreno Valley.

c) Funding to purchase scanners, cameras, and sound recorders.d) Funding to soundproof office B in the Journalism program’s newsroom at

Riverside so that it can be used to record podcasts and video voice overs.e) Approval and funding to convert the part-time Journalism Specialist

position to full time at Riverside.

Where Do We Want to Be?

Topics that need to be addressed in the next 5 years:

A three-year replacement cycle for computers and associated equipment as described in the District’s Technology Plan.

Expansion into the remainder of the Assessment building at Riverside. Appropriate full-time facilities at Norco and Moreno Valley. Conversion of the part-time faculty positions at Norco and Moreno Valley into full

time. Approval and funding to convert the part-time Journalism Specialist position to full

time at Riverside.

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Soundproofing the Journalism program’s office B at Riverside to be used for recording podcasts and video voice overs.

Revised Vision/Summary

Over the next five years, the Journalism Discipline will continue to implement its existing mission: To provide an excellent educational experience that prepares students for entry level careers in a broad range of journalism and related occupations, to transfer to university and college journalism and mass communications programs, and to critically examine the media. Commercial print media will continue to exist for years, but the media are placing a greater emphasis on digital news and so the Journalism Discipline will continue and expand its successful work to prepare students to work with these changing media. The Journalism program at Riverside first created an online edition of its student newspaper for the Internet in 1997, and its student online newspaper was redesigned recently to make it more attractive and functional. Also, Journalism students at Riverside were asked in 2011 by the College’s Instructional Media Center staff to produce video reports about RCC sports, and these video reports are now shown on RCC’s website, Viewpoints’ website, and local cable and broadband television. The Journalism program at Riverside also added a mobile app edition of its newspaper for the iPad, iPhone, and Android platforms in 2011. These new media will continue to be enhanced and developed to meet the needs and interests of the Journalism Discipline’s students as they prepare for careers in a changing media landscape.

What do we need to do to get there?

A. Initiatives, Strategies, Goals and Activities

1. Curricular Initiatives

Update Curriculum to reflect changes in media industries, including revising skills courses to incorporate new media storytelling methods.

2. Strategies

Continue to attend training workshops, conferences and trade conventions to maintain currency in industry equipment and facilities; ensure students take advantage of these opportunities by including them in the teaching methods of each production course.

3. Student Learning Goals

The Journalism Discipline’s goals with respect to student learning are:

To ensure students receive training that is consistent with media industry standards and expectations;

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To expose students to emerging technologies and techniques through teaching methods that includes frequent field trips to media conventions and participation in workshops.

What Evidence Do We Need to Track Progress?

Tracking Journalism students’ success is accomplished year-round with national and state contests, which are judged by media industry professionals. Additional tracking includes students’ success in transferring to universities and securing media employment, such as a Riverside Journalism student who became a White House photographer, a Riverside Journalism student who became a U.S. Senator’s press aide, and Journalism students who secure employment as reporters and editors with The Press-Enterprise, the Sun, the Black Voice News, and numerous other newspapers, magazines, and other media.

Summary of Goals, Activities and Findings

Goals:

to offer courses and student media experience that prepare students to work in professional media and to critically examine mass media.

to align equipment with media industry standards. to provide learning opportunities that can lead to continued education or immediate

employment. to offer students opportunities to work with student-produced campus newspapers,

online newspapers, and mobile app newspapers. to move to suitable facilities for each Journalism programs at Riverside, Norco, and

Moreno Valley.

What We Learned:

Confirmed that Riverside City College Journalism students are achieving at industry standards as determined by industry-judged media competitions.

Confirmed that the Journalism Discipline’s computers are obsolete. Confirmed that the goal to update the Journalism Discipline’s equipment is

appropriate in matching media industry expectations.

Insights Gained

The Journalism program at Riverside learned that its students win national, state, and regional journalism awards when their purpose of working with student media is to get media experience, develop their job skills and critical thinking ability, and serve the public. The Journalism program at Riverside learned that prominent media industry professionals have decided that RCC’s student media work is superior and deserving of

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recognition with hundreds of national, state, and regional awards. The awards also serve as evidence of the effectiveness of the instruction offered to these students by the Journalism program at Riverside. New equipment must be purchased to continue this high level of success.

J. Recommendations to the Discipline Review Committee:

How Can we Improve the Discipline Self-Study Process?

The Journalism Discipline Facilitator was well prepared to conduct this Comprehensive Program Review. One problem was caused by the lack of time the Journalism Discipline Facilitator had to devote to this report. The Journalism Discipline Facilitator has been the only full-time employee the Journalism Discipline has had in his 16 years of employment at RCCD. He must spend time every day preparing to teach his classes, advising three student media, keeping current in his subject area, resolving student conflicts, preparing student leaders, teaching proper ethical journalism while observing and protecting students’ First Amendment rights, purchasing supplies, preparing budget requests, planning trips to media conventions and workshops for his students and part-time staff, maintaining the equipment, recruiting on and off campus, planning for the Journalism Discipline, interviewing part-time applicants, serving on committees, conducting meetings, attending meetings, and making decisions. To have adequate time to write the next Comprehensive Program Review, the Journalism Discipline Facilitator must be provided with a full-time Journalism Production Specialist, a position that has been requested since 1965 and is needed now more than ever.

Relevant links:

http://rccjournalism.blogspot.com

http://www.viewpointsonline.org

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http://www.viewpointsonline.org/

http://rccjournalism.blogspot.com/


Appendix

Extra data is available at: http://www.rccdfaculty.net/pages/PR_status.htm see Annual Discipline Review Data 2010.

1. Demographic information (ethnicity, gender, age group, enrollment status) 2. Course Enrollments by time of day offered for each term3. Counts of sections offered by term4. Student Retention by course by term.5. Student Success rates (two measures) by term6. FTES generated by course and term7. Weekly Student Contact Hours by course and term8. Full-Time Equivalent Faculty by course and term9. Percentages of student enrollments taught by Full-Time and Part-Time faculty

for course and term10. Class enrollment by course and term11. Grade point averages and grade distributions by course and term12. Student success rates (two measures) by Demographics by term13. Degrees and certificates awarded, if applicable

Additional information and assistance with data analysis is available upon request. Please fill out a request form from

http://academic.rcc.edu/ir/request_form.html

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http://academic.rcc.edu/ir/request_form.html

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