All I have to say about it right now is that there were a lot of reactions, good and bad (most of the good ones being through Facebook and e-mail and face-to-face).
There were a few J-schools that assigned their students to read and discuss (which I find pretty remarkable) and Mark Glaser wrote a follow up.
Then Gawker wrote about it. (Looks like I'm slowly making my way through the Gawker Media Network... hahah).
Otherwise... still watching, listening, observing. Very much a learning experience.
I'll keep you posted :)
September 18, 2008
MediaShift Article
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2 comments:
I did something similar within days of starting at my college paper, although that was pretty much before the internet so only the students and staff read my piece. It was an expose on how professors were stealing the research of their doctorate students and passing it off as their own. It created an even bigger rumpus as it did not have my byline so there was a miniature witch-hunt to find who wrote it! Happy days. Nobody ever caught me either.
It's brave to write about people who are grading you - a classic dilemma for a journalist, too. Your best scoops are likely to come from people closest to you, and you need to be careful writing about them - but NYU have shot themselves in the foot by shutting down your articles and then denying they banned future blogging. It sounds like totalitarianism from here.
Alana,
This is a fascinating story, and I can identify with your situation. As an undergraduate myself, I took some courses in which I had a better understanding of the subject than the professor. It does happen sometimes, especially when dealing with technology subjects. In my case, I was taking a computer network technology course from a brand new professor with no actual experience in the area while I was then working as a professional network administrator.
It can be a strange feeling knowing that you quite possibly have a better handle on the material than does the person being paid to teach it. It takes a great deal of humility and pragmatism to succeed in that setting.
Just keep in mind that college isn't exclusively about teaching you specific knowledge that you will need in your career. In fact, much of what you are learning now will be obsolete in a very short time! And it won't be long until you will be the seasoned veteran with a world-view that has some rust on it.
Digital media is still a pretty new area, and everyone teaching it is also learning along the way. Don't get too hung up on the fact that they aren't teaching what you want to be learning, because you obviously have the ability to learn it without their help.
What you need learn are critical thinking skills as well as flexibility and adaptability. If you master this you will have what you need for success regardless of what else you have learned (or not learned) in college.
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