STANDARD 2 CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION Internship Director Nagatha Tonkins talks with a student HIGHLIGHTS The school offers undergraduate majors in Journalism, Strategic Communications, Media Arts & Entertainment, and Communication Science. Elon has 4-credit-hour courses. Students typically take four courses in the fall, one in winter term (January), and four in the spring. Graduation requires 132 hours. The Elon Eleven is the school’s distinctive way of expressing ACEJMC’s values and competencies. A curriculum matrix ensures proper emphasis for each one. All students complete a professional internship before graduation, and the school has a full-time internship director to supervise the national internship program. On the graduate level, students in the M.A. in Interactive Media program embark each August on an intensive 10-month program that includes a capstone project. Courses at the graduate level are 3 credit hours. 1. Discuss any testing of language competence required of students entering or graduating from the program. The university establishes all admission requirements and, once admitted, students are free to choose their major without additional academic hurdles. As a result, schools do not have entrance requirements based on language competency testing, grade point averages or other criteria. Some teachers do give a language skills exam as a diagnostic tool in the Media Writing course to help identify problem areas in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation, word usage and sentence structure. Entering students typically indicate a preferred major on their admissions application. This fall, 184 first-year students stated an intention to major in the School of Communications, with these stated interests: Journalism 50 Strategic Communications 51 Media Arts & Entertainment 63 Communication Science 20 Many of these students enroll in the school’s opening course, Communications in a Global Age, during their first semester at Elon. So do other first-year students who did not indicate a preferred major on their application, as well as sophomores considering a major in the school. By the sophomore year, students are encouraged to formally declare a major. They do so at the Academic Advising Center and then are assigned a faculty adviser in the school. 2. Describe the unit’s curricular efforts to develop in its majors the professional values and competencies established by ACEJMC. The school has fully endorsed ACEJMC’s professional values and competencies and recast them as the Elon Eleven for public display and assessment of student learning. The Elon Eleven is displayed in all classrooms in McEwen Communications Building. The dean goes to each section of the opening course to welcome students to the school and introduces them to the values and competencies that serve as the foundation of the curriculum. For assessment of student learning, the faculty adopted curriculum matrices showing where the values and competencies are primary course objectives. The Elon Eleven and curriculum matrices are on the following pages. 1 Journalism (Print/Online News) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Truth, Freedom Ethical History Diversity Write Use the Apply theories Engage in Understand Think accuracy of ways of and roles in a clearly and tools of in presenting research and data and creatively, and fairness expression thinking of media global age accurately technology images, info evaluation statistics analytically COM 100 Communications in a Global Age COM 110 Media Writing COM 220 Digital Media Convergence Awareness COM 230 Media History, Media Today COM 310 Reporting for the Public Good COM 320 Editing and Design COM 350 Understanding Web Publishing COM 400 Media Law and Ethics COM 450 Multimedia Journalism COM 495 Great Ideas: Capstone Application COM 381 Communications Internship Darker squares indicate the primary objectives of a course. For example, COM 100 emphasizes building student awareness in four areas: freedom of expression, ethical ways of thinking, history and roles of media, and diversity in a global age. Lighter squares indicate potential supplemental content areas of a course. For example, while COM 220’s primary objectives focus on the tools of technology and applying theories in presenting information, the course does address other values and competencies such as ethical issues related to digital media. The objective “Think creatively and analytically” permeates all courses to varying degrees, and internships differ significantly with some emphasizing writing, others production, and others research. We visually show this breadth with mid-gray squares. Journalism (Broadcast News) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Truth, Freedom Ethical History Diversity Write Use the Apply theories Engage in Understand Think accuracy of ways of and roles in a clearly and tools of in presenting research and data and creatively, and fairness expression thinking of media global age accurately technology images, info evaluation statistics analytically COM 100 Communications in a Global Age COM 110 Media Writing COM 220 Digital Media Convergence Awareness COM 234 Broadcasting in the Public Interest COM 311 Broadcast News Writing COM 324 Television Production COM 351 Understanding Television News Reporting COM 400 Media Law and Ethics COM 450 Multimedia Journalism COM 495 Great Ideas: Capstone Application COM 381 Communications Internship Darker squares indicate the primary objectives of a course. For example, COM 100 emphasizes building student awareness in four areas: freedom of expression, ethical ways of thinking, history and roles of media, and diversity in a global age. Lighter squares indicate potential supplemental content areas of a course. For example, while COM 220’s primary objectives focus on the tools of technology and applying theories in presenting information, the course does address other values and competencies such as ethical issues related to digital media. The objective “Think creatively and analytically” permeates all courses to varying degrees, and internships differ significantly with some emphasizing writing, others production, and others research. We visually show this breadth with mid-gray squares. Strategic Communications 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Truth, Freedom Ethical History Diversity Write Use the Apply theories Engage in Understand Think accuracy of ways of and roles in a clearly and tools of in presenting research and data and creatively, and fairness expression thinking of media global age accurately technology images, info evaluation statistics analytically COM 100 Communications in a Global Age COM 110 Media Writing COM 220 Digital Media Convergence Awareness COM 232 Public Relations COM 312 Strategic Writing COM 322, 323 or 350 Corp Pub, Corp Video, Web Pub. COM 362 Understanding Communications Research COM 400 Media Law and Ethics COM 452 Strategic Campaigns COM 495 Great Ideas: Capstone Application COM 381 Communications Internship Darker squares indicate the primary objectives of a course. For example, COM 100 emphasizes building student awareness in four areas: freedom of expression, ethical ways of thinking, history and roles of media, and diversity in a global age. Lighter squares indicate potential supplemental content areas of a course. For example, while COM 220’s primary objectives focus on the tools of technology and applying theories in presenting information, the course does address other values and competencies such as ethical issues related to digital media. The objective “Think creatively and analytically” permeates all courses to varying degrees, and internships differ significantly with some emphasizing writing, others production, and others research. We visually show this breadth with mid-gray squares. Media Arts & Entertainment (Broadcast/New Media) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Truth, Freedom Ethical History Diversity Write Use the Apply theories Engage in Understand Think accuracy of ways of and roles in a clearly and tools of in presenting research and data and creatively, and fairness expression thinking of media global age accurately technology images, info evaluation statistics analytically COM 100 Communications in a Global Age COM 110 Media Writing COM 220 Digital Media Convergence Awareness COM 234 Broadcasting in the Public Interest COM 314 Writing for Broadcast/New Media COM 324 Television Production COM 360, 361 or 362 Understanding iMedia, Media Mngt, Research COM 360 COM 400 Media Law and Ethics COM 454 Producing for Brdcst/New Media COM 495 plication Great Ideas: Capstone Ap COM 381 Communications Internship Darker squares indicate the primary objectives of a course. For example, COM 100 emphasizes building student awareness in four areas: freedom of expression, ethical ways of thinking, history and roles of media, and diversity in a global age. Lighter squares indicate potential supplemental content areas of a course. For example, while COM 220’s primary objectives focus on the tools of technology and applying theories in presenting information, the course does address other values and competencies such as ethical issues related to digital media. The objective “Think creatively and analytically” permeates all courses to varying degrees, and internships differ significantly with some emphasizing writing, others production, and others research. We visually show this breadth with mid-gray squares. Media Arts & Entertainment (Cinema) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Truth, Freedom Ethical History Diversity Write Use the Apply theories Engage in Understand Think accuracy of ways of and roles