There are three main projects and a class blog in this course.

... Project Blog
Project blog involves a weblog each student creates and maintains throughout the entire course. The topic of the weblog can be about any facet of journalism (such as J.D. Lasica’s Media Musing weblog) or used to report on a particular topic throughout the class (such as animal rights, politics, etc.).

What should a student blog about? Blog about articles that relate to the “beat” covered in the weblog, upcoming legislation, important issues or advances in the field. Remember to include links to other resources and always credit “sources” if links were found on another weblog. Weblog posts should be interesting, discuss current trends, contain hyperlinks and be written appropriately for the medium. During this project, students can think of themselves as “columnists.”

Students will set up a new weblog and post twice a week (10 points per post). Posts which are to be graded may be made on consecutive days, but two or more posts cannot be made on the same day. Students turn in blog post URLs via e-mail as indicated in the exercise requirements on the online syllabus. Some students may wish to post more than twice a week and this is encouraged. Only the posts submitted to the primary instructor will be graded.

Students will have the opportunity to interview an “expert” within the community of the selected weblog topic. Interviews must be conducted and posted before week 11.

Students who already blog will need to start a new weblog for this class. Obscene, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate posts on the class weblog(s) will result in a zero for that entry. Students are not required to change the colors, template or features on their weblogs. Comment features are not required. More information regarding this project will be discussed in class.

... Class Blog
The instructors will manage a class weblog [ http://projects.jou.ufl.edu/JOU4341/blog/ ]. This weblog will be a forum, separate from individual student weblogs, for the class to continue the discussion outside of class time. Each student is required to post to the class blog at least twice (if not more frequently) in the semester. This will count toward the student’s class participation grade. The post can come in the form of an original content post or a well-thought out comment in reply to a classmate’s post. If we as a group provide a thoughtful & well-kept-up weblog, it can become a tool for journalists in the field & may serve as a networking tool.

Note: The class weblog is meant to allow the class to continue the discourse from class – this is not the appropriate forum to ask other students for class assistance (such as “does anyone have an international student that I can interview?” or “can you help me with my HTML”), flaming (“that was a dumb comment you made”) or any inappropriate and unprofessional banter. Think of this class weblog as a part of the online newsroom “job requirement” and use it as such.

... Project 1 – Interviewing International Students
For this project, students will conduct three in-depth face-to-face interviews. From the interview notes students will write meaningful components that will contribute to a class-wide project. Components will be interlinked to create a multi-linear story. Some basic HTML (through the use of Dreamweaver) will be used in this project. A short refresher lesson in HTML will be given. More information regarding this project will be discussed in class.

... Project 2 – Reporting on a Global Issue
The class will choose one global issue to write about. Using primarily online resources (including experts), students will work in teams to research the issue and write a comprehensive, interlinked site covering various self-selected aspects of the issue. Each student will write one original multi-part story on a key aspect of the issue. The result will be a resource package that could be used for background and context for a breaking news story.