Using Social Media in teaching Journalism in media schools of India 1. Archana Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Mass communication and New Media, Central University of Jammu, Jammu – 180011, J & K, India, E-mail: [email protected]2. Sadaf Bushra, Assistant Professor, Department of Convergent Journalism, Central University of Kashmir, Academic Block, Nowgam Byepass, Srinagar – 190015, J & K, India. E-mail: [email protected]Abstract: The recent emergence of social media worldwide is being noticed in every sphere of life in India including education. Also the adaptability and familiarity of today’s generation with applications such as Face book, Twitter, You Tube and Wikipedia is quite visible. Amidst this technological transformation and growing tech-savvy young population of India, the educational institutions are expected to catch up with this world of social media applications and social media users. Since ‘social media’ itself contains media within it, so media schools in India are expected to adopt it first for teaching purposes, sometimes as a subject and sometimes as tool or teaching aide. This paper tries to find out, what is the modus operandi of rationally chosen ten media schools of India in teaching journalism by using social media and how much capable they are in doing so. Keywords: Face book, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Social media Introduction: The growing and ever increasing position of Social media tools such as Face book, Twitter, Orkut, Blogs, Google docs has the capacity to enhance education to a great extent especially media education. For more than a decade now there has been quite an innovation in different forms of online media learning worldwide. Social media tools promote to engage students and teachers in a more interactive, effective and participative way. Social network can be defined as an online media tool were individuals share different kind of information in a social communication relation (Tiryakioglu, and Erzurum, 2011). But at the same time social media tools present a challenge to the perception of formal education system in media institutes. Many academicians believe that online media tools can be used for ‘serious student centered learning’ (Goodyear and Ellis, 2008 as cited in Selwyn, 2011). In a
Transcript
Using Social Media in teaching Journalism in media schools of India
1. Archana Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Mass communication and New Media, Central University of Jammu, Jammu – 180011, J & K, India, E-mail: [email protected]
2. Sadaf Bushra, Assistant Professor, Department of Convergent Journalism, Central University of Kashmir, Academic Block, Nowgam Byepass, Srinagar – 190015, J & K, India. E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The recent emergence of social media worldwide is being noticed in every sphere of
life in India including education. Also the adaptability and familiarity of today’s generation with
applications such as Face book, Twitter, You Tube and Wikipedia is quite visible. Amidst this
technological transformation and growing tech-savvy young population of India, the educational
institutions are expected to catch up with this world of social media applications and social
media users. Since ‘social media’ itself contains media within it, so media schools in
India are expected to adopt it first for teaching purposes, sometimes as a subject and sometimes
as tool or teaching aide. This paper tries to find out, what is the modus operandi of rationally
chosen ten media schools of India in teaching journalism by using social media and how much
capable they are in doing so.
Keywords: Face book, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Social media
Introduction:
The growing and ever increasing position of Social media tools such as Face book, Twitter,
Orkut, Blogs, Google docs has the capacity to enhance education to a great extent especially
media education. For more than a decade now there has been quite an innovation in different
forms of online media learning worldwide. Social media tools promote to engage students and
teachers in a more interactive, effective and participative way. Social network can be defined as
an online media tool were individuals share different kind of information in a social
communication relation (Tiryakioglu, and Erzurum, 2011).
But at the same time social media tools present a challenge to the perception of formal education
system in media institutes. Many academicians believe that online media tools can be used for
‘serious student centered learning’ (Goodyear and Ellis, 2008 as cited in Selwyn, 2011). In a
way, it can be said that many qualities of social media like connectivity, collection & creativity
are seen to reflect more flexible, fluid and accelerated ways of being. Social media is seen to be
linked with an increased tendency for young people to multitask, to rely on a ‘digital juggling’
(Subrahmanyam and Smahel, 2011 as cited in Selwyn, 2011). For many academicians around the
world, increasing presence of social media in higher education is quite essential, for the colleges
and universities to establish a long term relation with the students. For example, Social
networking sites are now being used by universities as alternative spaces wherein students can
adapt to the university lifestyle through interacting online with peers and faculty (Yu et al, 2010
as cited in Selwyn, 2011). Indeed many educationists believe that universities are in a good
position to utilize social media practices to support the collective creation of knowledge amongst
students and the wider community (Moskaliuk, Kimmerle and Cress, 2009 as cited in Selwyn,
2011).
Mason and Rennie (2007) reasoned “shared community spaces and inter group communications
are a massive part of what excites young people and therefore should contribute to persistence
and motivation to learn”.
The use of social media implies that learners should be ‘active co-producers’ of knowledge
rather than ‘passive consumers’ of content, and that learning should be a ‘participatory, social
process’ supporting personal life goals and needs (Lee and McLoughlin, 2010 as cited in Selwyn,
2011). Online media learning can be used independently in its widespread access in media
education. Social networking sites can be used inexpensively without substantial support from
universities. Also they can be successfully integrated into educational processes (Gulbahar,
Kalelioglu, & Madran, 2010 as cited in Tiryakioglu, and Erzurum, 2011)
Changes in learning structure are a major educational implication of social media learning. These
changes are encapsulated by Thomas and Brown (as quoted in Selwyn, 2011) description of a
technology- enhanced ‘new culture of learning’- i.e. learning that is based around principles of
collective exploration, play and innovation rather than individualized instruction. Universities
need to continuously work towards a challenge, were collaboratively authored work of students
need to be accessed. Also how a well designed profound curricula need to be framed (Gray et al
as used by Selwyn, 2011).
The first known network is considered the SixDegrees which was developed in 1997. Rapid and
important developments were experienced in social networks later in the years; consequently the
number of users has increased quickly. The worldwide growth of social communication
networks gained incredible pace and popularity. Among these networks, the most common one
is known as Face book. It is the largest social network with one billion users (Vance, 2012). Face
book is used in the delivery of information, reference books, group assignments, and course
sessions. Instructors and students can send materials, addresses of web sites, and videos
regarding courses on Face book and presentations, assignments, and other products of the
students that can be shared by forming links to Google documents. Face book can be used to
etc.) effectively, follow up current events, news, people or groups, and get involved in discussion
environments to support the skills of learning for cooperation, research, discussion, critical
thinking, problem solving and so on (Tiryakioglu, and Erzurum, 2011).
Researchers conclude that social networks help in improving communication skills, enhance
participation and social commitment, reinforce peer support, and ensure realization of education
based on collaboration. Moreover, social networking sites can be easily and inexpensively used
without a substantial support from universities so that they can be integrated into educational
process of students. Thus, students have possibilities to re-access learning process over the Web
and continue his/her studies (Gulbahar, Kalelioglu, and Madran, 2010 as used by Tiryakioglu,
and Erzurum, 2011).
Social networks present several opportunities without physical and geographical constraints.
Seguin and Seguin (1995) recommends educators that they may gain benefits such as program
exchanges, job announcements, creating relief funds or searching such funds, arranging
concurrent or non-concurrent conferences, and publishing studies conducted by themselves or
their students (as used by Tiryakioglu, and Erzurum, 2011). Infact teachers can use social media
and its tools extensively and efficiently for planning teaching assignments and course.
Advantages deriving from use of social networks as an education tool can be listed as follows
(Balci, 2010 as used by Tiryakioglu, and Erzurum, 2011).
Independence from time and location
Improvement in quality, success, and efficiency of education by use of computer for
education
Ability to learn in more systematic manner and in shorter time due to advances in
computer technology
Individualization of learning
Ability to have instant feedback
Offering the student ability to repeat course content as much as desired
Ease of displaying the content
Allowing to the design of visual and auditory learning environments
Ability to present courses that require laboratory applications to students via simulation,
animation, and virtual laboratories
Archiving course content and synchronized class (virtual class) applications
Bidirectional communication
Tendency towards more voluntary behaviors on the side of students for improving
research, knowledge, and skills in comparison to conventional programs
Offering possibility to evaluate performance of students
Minimizing risk of error in measuring evaluation results
Improving skills of students and teachers to reach, evaluate, use, and efficiently cite the
knowledge.
Effective use of features and opportunities of social networks supports teachers empowering of
the educational process with active learning, creativity, problem-solving, cooperation, and
multifaceted interactions as well as students' using social media for improving their academic
performance, inquiry, and alternative thinking skills. Social media tools can strongly affect
communication skills, extends participation and social commitment, strengthens peer support,
and enables the realization of cooperation-based learning. Social network sites can be used easily
and conveniently into the educational practices successfully and such utilizations are becoming
widespread rapidly. Social networks provide opportunities for the academicians to use it as a
teaching aide because it is flexible and user friendly (Tiryakioglu and Erzurum, 2011).
Literature Review:
According to Murthy (2011), Eapen, Thakur and Sanjay (1991) were first to trace the genesis
and growth of journalism and mass communication in India. They say:
In India, the first attempt was made by Mrs. Annie Besant at the National University at
Adyar, Madras. This did not last long. Efforts made by the Indian Journalists Association,
Calcutta, to sponsor a training course for journalists also failed. It was at Aligarh that the
first university level instruction course in journalism was introduced in 1938. This was
abolished in 1940. The Department of Journalism started by Professor P.P. Singh at
Lahore under the auspices of Punjab University in 1941 is the oldest institution. (See
also, Desai, 2008).
She noted:
The visibility post-independence came by 1960s when various traditional universities
opened either ‘journalism’ or ‘communication’ programmes. University Grants
Commission (UGC), an apex institution for providing coordination and dissemination of
standards in Universities, Colleges and Research institutions, came into being in 1956.
By 1970s institutions like Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), National
School of Drama (NSD), Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), National Institute
of Design (NID), all under ‘State’ leadership, contributed directly or indirectly to the
growth and human resource requirements of media sector in India.
Patnaik (2013) considers the growth of journalism education in India as steady progress. He
considers, the journey of journalism education though started in 1941 from Punjab University, it
shifted to New Delhi in 1948, just after seven years and after 70 years of its birth, the number of
educational institutions providing journalism education has grown manifold in terms of quantity,
quality and students enrolment. According to him, the changing orientation of journalism
education in India from professional to academics and from westernized to Indianite is glorious
achievement of the Indian Journalism and communication education.
However, the views of Eapen et al were quite opposite. According to Eapen et. al (1991):
There were only six University departments up to 1961 in India and the number went up
to 25 by 1981. Since then there has been a phenomenal expansion with another 25
departments coming up. Notwithstanding the quality and availability of resources, more
and more universities are clamouring for a journalism department. According to a
University Grants Commission (UGC) report, there has been “an explosion of journalism
explosion in the country”. Besides Universities, training in journalism and the allied areas
is also imparted in other institutions, Government and private.
As per data given by Patnaik (2013), about 300 journalism and Mass communication
departments in various universities are engaged in providing post-graduate diploma, degree, M
Phil and doctoral programmes. Besides half-a-thousand institutions are offering diploma and
certificate programmes in journalism.
Desai (2008) also gives an account of growth of journalism education in India. She says,
around 1980s communication/media studies at undergraduate level began in Southern India,
which took long to spread to other part of the country. University of Mumbai in the Western
India started ‘Bachelors in Mass Media in the year 2000 with 13 colleges, which became around
30 by 2005’ (Solomonraj, 2005 as quoted by Desai, 2008). In 1990s many diploma programmes
across the country, many of which latter got converted to Masters Degree, mushroomed. By the
end of twentieth century many private initiatives, mainly media agencies setting up their own
training institutions, like Mudra Institute of Communication- Ahmedabad, The Times School of
Journalism-New Delhi, The Asian College of Journalism-Chennai, to name the few, came into
existence.
Though uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education
primarily in adult education just started in 21st century, teaching New Media or using new media
in teaching journalism was out of sight till that time. Two innovative projects attempted to use IT
for imparting basic literacy skills, which were – Commonwealth of Learning Literacy
Project(1999-2002) and The Computer Based Rural Literacy Project (2000) (Patel, 2002). But
still there were no traces of uses of New Media in teaching journalism. In a personal
communication through mail, Priya Rajsekhar, who teaches New Media Journalism in Asian
College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, says,
I understand it is very nascent. I do not have documents but can say with some degree of
confidence that ACJ should be one of the very few colleges in the country that offer a
comprehensive New Media Journalism program.
Similar views were expressed by Mark Austin, concerned faculty of Indian Institute of
Journalism and New Media (IIJNM). He says:
To the best of my knowledge, IIJNM was the first journalism school to offer a course on
new media when it opened 14 years ago.
Though it is hard to find which institute was first to offer a course in New Media; it is more
difficult to find out which one among them started using first social media in teaching
journalism. Such uses are very recent experiments in today’s media education in India.
Purpose of the study
In the backdrop of above mentioned scenario, our study examines the following research
questions:
i. Which social media are being used for teaching journalism in selected top most
institutes?
ii. In what way these institutes use social media as part of teaching journalism? What
is their modus operandi?
iii. How the concerned faculty evaluates teaching through social media in comparison
to traditional teaching?
Methodology
This study uses both the tools of questionnaire and personal interviews to collect relevant data.
First the top media schools have been selected by consulting the ratings of www.htcampus.com,
www.livemint.com, http://indiatoday.intoday.in and www.thehindu.com. According to the list of
top ten media schools of India, given by these web sites, it was checked whether New Media or
Online Media was a part of their syllabi or not. Only then there would be clear possibility to use
social media as part of journalism education. This is also important to note that though in many
of the media schools, New Media was part of the syllabus, but they did not use social media in
teaching process, so in spite of contacting them, relevant informations could not be extracted.
Apart from top five institutions, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi,
Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, A.J. Kidwai MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi,
Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, Bangalore, and Indraprastha College for Women,
Delhi University, five regional universities were taken as sample to maintain appropriate
representation. It has following two advantages:
i. A comparative study of the facilities available in top media institutions and in that of
regional but old and traditional universities, for teaching journalism and uses of social
media can be done.
ii. How advance the regional and traditional universities are in teaching New Media in
Journalism education, in comparison to the top graded media institutions can be gauged.
Questionnaires were mailed to 15 of those media schools, which were not only top in the list but
also used social media in teaching journalism. But only ten of them responded. The concerned
faculty was contacted by using the details given on websites of the respective media schools and
in some cases by using personal contacts. A list of media institutes where questionnaires were
sent and we got responses is given below:
1. Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi
2. Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai
3. A.J. Kidwai (AJK) MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi
4. Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM), Bangalore
5. Indraprastha College for Women (IP College), Delhi university(DU), Delhi
6. Indraprastha University (IP), Delhi
7. Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh
8. University of Madras, Chennai.
9. Kashmir University (KU), Srinagar, J&K.
10. Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora, J&K.
Questionnaire for concerned faculty
The questionnaire is predominantly open-ended descriptive type asking the concerned faculty in
detail their choice of social media for teaching and why that choice. Also questions stress upon
the modus operandi of using social media in their respective media schools and how is the
response of students towards such use. We tried to check, whether these media schools provide
appropriate facilities for using social media in teaching. If such uses are being practiced, then
what is the process of assessments, have been tried to find out. Since the teachers have their
exposure in teaching through traditional medium also, it is imperative to know their evaluation of
teaching through social media in comparison to traditional medium.
Since there is a scarcity of literature or secondary sources on this particular subject, the
views of the concerned faculty members through personal communication have also been
incorporated freely in the introduction and in subsequent sections as primary sources.
Social Media used for teaching journalism
We asked from each of the concerned faculty that which particular social network they use in
teaching journalism, under which course and why. Their answers are tabulated below:
Name of the Institute Course/courses
related to social media
Social networking
sites used
Why
IIMC Cyber Journalism and
New Media
Face book, Google
Groups, Google
Hangout, YouTube,
Team Viewer
Face book is used by almost every internet user today. Google Groups are useful for group task and assignments. Google Hangout is good for conferencing and collaborative learning.
ACJ New Media
Journalism
Google Plus, Twitter,
Face book
Good proof of
concept, strong
fundamentals, being
used by major media
houses.
AJK JMI Online Journalism Face book, Twitter,
Wordpress, Blogger,
Delicious, Storify,
Youtube, Soundcloud,
Vimeo, Talkshoe,
Fusion, Open Heat
Map, Flickr, Picassa,
Linkedln, Many Eyes
Students are taught
application of each of
these social media
tools because each has
its own unique
purpose in providing
professional
guidelines.
IIJNM Reporting and Writing
for Multimedia;
Advanced Reporting
and Writing for
Multimedia
Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube and
Linkedln
Most widely used and
most useful social
media websites.
IP College, DU Bachelors’ in
Journalism & Mass
Communication
Facebook, Youtube,
Edu2.0, Wiziq
Demand of the future.
IP University Online Journalism/
New Media
Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube
Useful sites and
essential part of
course.
University of Madras Online Media Blogs, Twitter,
Facebook, Google
Maps
Integral part of course
and useful tool for
news reporting
IUST New Media and
Online Journalism
Facebook, Twitter and
Youtube
Widely used sites,
User friendly
KU Online Journalism Facebook Most popular
It is clear from the above tabulation that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are most commonly
used social networking sites used by almost each of the sample institutes; however the regional
universities also mentioned blogs, which was not mentioned by the other top institutes. Also
reasons for using those particular sites varied from institute to institute. Most of them considered
the used sites were very useful and they were demand of the future. However, Asian College of
Journalism has a more professional approach as it says that the sites used by it are used by major
media houses, so it uses those sites in teaching. Indian Institute of Mass Communication gave
separate reasons for choosing separate social networking sites. Facebook is used by almost every
internet user today. Google Groups are useful for group task and assignments. Google Hangout is
good for conferencing and collaborative learning.
Also most of them considered the wide popularity of Facebook and Twitter, an important reason
for using these sites in teaching process. This also draws attention that the wide popularity of
sites like Facebook and Twitter may have compelled the regional universities like Kashmir
University & IUST for using them in teaching process.
Using social media as a part of teaching
There were diverse answers found by the concerned faculty members on asking in what way they
used social media in teaching journalism, what their modus operandi was. Some of them used it
as teaching aid for sharing informations while some used it as a subject of media education.
Their answers are given below:
Name of the Institute Uses of social media Name of the Institute Uses of social media
in teaching in teaching
IIMC Generally, social media is used extensively for assignments, online sessions, sharing of resource materials and notices.
AMU Collect views and
knowledge used by
others, sharing
knowledge.
ACJ In order to be
responsive to the
changes in the
industry, stay updated
on latest
developments in using
social media and
impart those skills to
the students
IP University These sites and their
elements are taught
for reference and as
subject of the course
offered
AJK JMI Group discussion, for
notification, resource
development and
sharing knowledge
University of Madras To train students in
reporting for social
media, researching
news, generating story
ideas, fact checking
and verification
IIJNM Find stories on social
media, Find sources,
crowd sourcing, How
to Tweet
IUST Marketing,
Advertising,
Discussions
IP College, DU Sharing informations
and knowledge
KU Sharing study
material, discussion
Broadly speaking, all of the sample institutes and universities use social media for sharing
knowledge and informations and for discussions beyond class hours. This way it can be said that
social media is being used as a teaching aid in most of the institutes. It is also being taught as a
course in some of these sample institutes and universities, like IIJNM teach students ‘how to
tweet’ and IP University teaches ‘what are these sites and their elements’. Apart from these uses,
some of the institutes and universities like IIJNM, University of Madras and IP University also
teach students ‘how to use social media in generating news ideas, finding sources, fact checking
and verification and how to report for social media’. Asian College of Journalism imparts the
students with all the latest skills of social media, thus making them technologically advanced
with changing time.
However, IUST, KU and IP College only use social media for sharing informations and
discussions.
Response of students towards uses of social media in teaching journalism
Not only using new techniques of teaching are important but their impact on students and their
feedback is also important. We tried to investigate the response of students as well on using
social media in teaching journalism. Their responses are tabulated below:
Name of the Institute Response of students Name of the Institute Response of students
IIMC Very encouraging AMU Very popular
ACJ Popular among
students
IP University Very positive
AJK JMI Excellent University of Madras Well skilled on such
sites
IIJNM Highly positive KU Positive
IP College, DU Overwhelming IUST Average
Almost all the sample institutes and universities have noticed highly positive response of the
students towards the use of social media in teaching journalism except IUST, which noticed not
so good response of students in such uses.
Facilities provided by institutes and universities for using social media
While keeping pace with the transforming technologies and meeting the demands of new tech-
savvy generation, it is very important to check, whether the institutes offering advance media
education are providing the necessary facilities to the students or not. This has been gauged by
following answers:
Name of the Institute Facilities Name of the Institute Facilities
IIMC Computer lab with
internet connection
and the campus is
WiFi connected
AMU Well equipped
computer multimedia
lab with high speed
internet connectivity
ACJ Students have smart
phones and institute
provides broadband
and wireless
broadband facilities
IP University Internet facilities in
computer lab
AJK JMI Multimedia news lab
with broadband
connection and lab
assistants to help the
students
University of Madras Internet facilities in
department’s multi-
media lab as well as
common computer lab
IIJNM Computers KU Internet services with
WiFi
IP College, DU Computer lab with
WiFi
IUST Poor
Except IUST, all other sample institutes and universities provide minimum basic facilities for
using social media all the time to the students. Some top most institutes like IIMC, ACJ and AJK
JMI provide most convenient computer labs with broadband connection. Other universities like
AMU, IP and University of Madras also provide multimedia lab with high speed internet
facilities. Among all the sample universities, only IUST has poor infrastructure for using social
media.
Assessing process in online assignments
When a teacher teaches using social networks, even the assessment process should also involve
social media. In this section, we tried to check, what the assessment procedure of students is
when teaching is done by using social media.
Name of the Institute Whether assessment is done
through social media
If yes, what is the method?
IIMC Yes There are different free tools
available online for
assessment. Periodical quizzes
and other test are done.
Message Boards are also a
good way of communicating.
ACJ Only for certain specific
exercises
Effective use of certain tool to
gather/ verify information or
conduct a poll
AJK JMI Depends on requirement Feedback on various
assignments, declaration of
internal marks
IIJNM In some specific assignments Through real-time practice
“tweeting” assignments in
which students must cover a
breaking event in “tweets” of
no more than 140 characters
and email to Moodle (content
management software).
IP College, DU In most of assignments Mostly through common
assignments and through
online presentations and
interactions
AMU No Not Applicable
IP University No Not Applicable
University of Madras Yes Based on student’s
contribution to social media –
news reports posts and online
projects
KU No Not Applicable
IUST No Not Applicable
As it is apparent from the table above, all the top most five institutes and universities use social
media for assessing assignments as per requirement, but four of the other five regional
universities do not use social media at all for assessment. This shows that the regional
universities are still lagging behind in taking full advantages of social media.
All the other six institutes and universities use social media differently for assessing the
assignments. While ACJ uses social media for verifying facts and informations and conducting
polls, AJK uses them only for giving feedback and passing informations about internal
evaluations. While IIJNM uses social media in giving interesting tweeting assignments, IP
College uses it for common assignments and online presentation assessment. University of
Madras also uses it for online projects. Indian Institute of Mass Communication uses different
free tools, available online for assessment.
Online specialisation in a particular media stream like print, radio or TV
It is important to understand the technical advancements of media schools in using new media or
online media in teaching. If there would be online specializations offered in various media
streams like print, radio or TV, the chances of using social media in teaching that particular
specialization would be very high.
Name of the institute If there is online specialization
in a particular media stream
If yes, which are they
IIMC No Not Applicable
ACJ Yes Print, Radio and TV
AJK JMI No Not Applicable
IIJNM Yes Multimedia, Print and
Broadcast. All the three
streams produce news content
that is disseminated online
IP College, DU Not at the moment, but it is in
pipeline
If it is launched, it will be in
electronic media
AMU Not presently, but it is in
pipeline
Not Applicable
IP University No Not Applicable
University of Madras Yes Print, broadcast and mobile
journalism
KU No Not Applicable
IUST No Not Applicable
Among all the ten sample institutes and universities only three claimed that they had online
specialization in particular media stream. Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) claims to have
online specialization available in all three streams – print, radio and TV, whereas Indian
Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM) online specialization in multimedia, print and
broadcast. University of Madras claims that they have online specialization in print, broadcast
and mobile journalism. All the other universities are either considering such specialization or still
without an idea about it.
Comparison of teaching using social media and using traditional lecture system
Since the teachers using social media in teaching journalism have also been using the traditional
way of teaching, it is imperative to compare their experiences in teaching by both of these
methods. Their experiences are compared below:
Name of the Institute Traditional medium Social media
IIMC No comment Flexible, cost effective, can
offer best available resources
to any part of the world
ACJ Still relevant Makes sharing , demonstrating
and accessing information a
lot easier
AJK JMI Resource sharing and resource
discussion space are way
beyond traditional teaching
Complementary method of
traditional teaching, inspire
discussions, sharing resources,
highly interactive
IIJNM Traditional teaching methods
should incorporate and utilize
the facilities offered by social
media
Traditional teaching methods
should incorporate and utilize
the facilities offered by social
media
IP College, DU No comment Engages students in creative
ways, inspire discussions,
opens up even shy students
AMU No comment Motivating and participatory
IP University Traditional teaching can be
blend with modern tools at
very low cost
More interactive, makes
teaching interesting and
informative, works as good
resource and reference source.
University of Madras Teaching predominantly
through regular class lectures
and field work
Platform for journalism
practice
KU More personalized, dependent
on classroom settings
More interactive, not confined
to classrooms
IUST Still practiced well Not a good idea for Kashmir
In this section, the concerned faculty of sample institutes and universities evaluate between their
experience with traditional teaching and teaching using social media. Most of them suggested
using the advantages of social media in teaching through social media as it will make teaching
interesting, creative and participatory for the students. Also they acknowledge that today’s media
students in India are very active on social media and this media is quite interactive, so it is very
easy to involve them in fruitful discussions even beyond the class hours. This gives it an
advantage of 24-hour teaching in an interesting way.
Conclusion
According to Sanjay (2013), “Internet penetration in India is about 44.521 million and media
spread and access is considerable and has a bearing on the nature of education and training
institutions for this sector.” With such a deep penetration, the young generation is hooked up
with social media, most of the time. It requires the skill set of human resources for the varied and
convergent media in different although skewed in favour of seizing technology and adapting
them to suit media and societal needs (Sanjay, 2013).
According to the responses gathered from the concerned faculty of sample institutes and
universities, it is evident that they are in favour of making present course pattern of journalism
and mass communication more interesting by providing the students sufficient exposure to the
widely used social media so that they can acquaint themselves with the nature of work in an
convergence oriented changing media industry.
Besides, to meet the ever growing challenges of media industry, well equipped media lab
and necessary infrastructure in journalism departments must be provided as it affects the
efficiency of the students. Though, some private institutes and universities in metropolitan cities
are having all the basic facilities needed to meet the challenges of growing media, the
universities in remote areas like IUST in Awantipora, lack such facilities. The Indian
government is paying attention to such disparity and that’s why Indian Institute of Mass
Communication has recently opened its satellite branches in Jammu, Aizawl, Amaravati,
Dhenknal and Kotttayam with all basic resources.
During this research, it is found that many private and government universities having a
course on New Media, are only providing theoretical knowledge to the students and do not aware
them professionally on practical aspect of it. This partial knowledge is not fruitful to the students
as the journalism field is less theoretical and more practical. So such partial knowledge would
cause lack of efficiency among the students and ultimately it would lead them away from a good
job in the field.
Also, lack of expertise has been found among faculty members. Most of the faculty
members who teach New Media or Online Media in various institutes and universities are either
visiting faculty or contract faculty. Very few permanent faculty members are teaching this
particular subject, which indicates that those teachers who are academically qualified as per
UGC norms are lacking professional expertise and those who are professionally and technically
expert are lacking academic qualification for being a permanent faculty member in any
university. This dilemma needs urgent address in Indian context.
There should be a well-defined, full-fledged course-curriculum based on software/web
journalism, technical writing, functions and uses of internet, web designing, social media and its
uses and other supporting areas in all Universities apart from the private institutes, which are
already offering such curricula. This will help the students to get practical training in all aspects
of new media before going to the field.
If media education has to grow in India to the international level, it will have to consider
providing online specialization in various media streams like print, radio and TV.
Limitations
i. Our research is limited to the purposive sample of ten rationally selected media institutes
and universities, but it could not include few other important samples due to their non-
response.
ii. Since uses of social media in teaching journalism is a nascent trend in media education in
India, so it was very difficult to collect informations about its inception and growth in
India, however we tried to throw some light on this section by some personal
communication with concerned faculty.
References:
Austin, M. (2013): Personal communication via e-mail.
Balci, B. (2010). E-learning in Turkey: Developments and applications. Quoted from Tiryakioglu, F.
and Erzurum, F. (2011).
Desai, M.K. (2008). Reviewing Communication/Media Education in India: Many Players,
Diverse Directions but Lost Focus. Journal of Global communication, Vol.1, No.2, July-
December. 118-131.
Eapen, K.E., Thakur, B.S. & Sanjay, B.P. (1991, July). Journalism Education and Text Books in
SAARC Countries. Report submitted to the IAMCR. Retrieved on July 10, 2013 from,
http://www.uta.fi/cmt/textbooks/saarc.html.
Goodyear, P. and Ellis, R. (2008). University students’ approaches to learning. Quoted from
Selwyn, N. (2011).
Gray et al. (2010). Students as web 2.0 authors. Australian Journal of Educational Technology.
Quoted from Selwyn, N. (2011).
Gulbahar, Y. Kalelioglu, F. & Madran, O. (2010). Educational use of social networks. Quoted
from Tiryakioglu, F. and Erzurum, F. (2011).
India Today Best Colleges Survey and Ranking (2013). Global Headlines: Best Mass
Communication colleges. Retrieved on July 10, 2013 from
