Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Digital Bootcamp: How to Launch and Lead an Online Journalism Class

This class is for advisers and students

Every journalism adviser and student editor starts at a different place. Some have experience overseeing print publication staffs and need to know how to add or switch to an online platform. Some have dipped their toes into online journalism and want to take publications to the next level. Others don't know where and how to begin.

No matter where you are in your understanding of digital journalism, this week-long summer workshop will provide you with valuable hands-on practice to take back to your school in the fall.

The course incorporates lectures, activities and conversations for advisers and student editors to provide immediate experience producing and publishing quality digital content by the week's end.

This intensive week will teach participants:

• Critical differences in writing and reporting for the web

• Best practices and "must-haves" for homepages, online articles, slide shows, videos

• Free or cheap digital resources you can use to edit and host photos and video

• How to use the latest social networking tools to draw in an audience and create a rich, relevant news experience

• How to draw and track online traffic

• How to manage deadlines and work flow online in a 24-hour publishing world using free digital tools

• What the top digital scholastic publications in the nation are doing that you can do, too

Who Should Attend?

• Advisers and student editors. The Digital Bootcamp has been changed this year to include students as well as advisers in the same classroom, working side by side, for the first time. Ideally, the teacher and one senior editor (either editor-in-chief or web editor) will attend together. Advisers and student editors will benefit from this paired learning experience by developing a shared vision for the publication, so they return to school using the same tools, procedures and communication techniques to launch or improve their digital publication.

What past participants are saying:

• "I am leaving with a great deal of knowledge of how to pioneer this project at my school, how to maintain and develop the site, and all of the possibilities that an online newspaper has to offer."

• "Melissa Wantz's Digital Media Boot Camp for Advisers is the best CSPA workshop I've ever attended. She is fantastic, and her information was so practical, helpful, and immediately applicable."

• "Every darn day I thank heaven that I went to your workshop in NYC this summer.  Thank you so much!  I found it so helpful, and I want you to know that I appreciate it."

Required:

• Wi-Fi-enabled laptop with basic video and photo editing software (iMovie, Final Cut, etc...)
• Digital still and video cameras (or a Smartphone with built-in video and still camera, i.e. iPhone/Android)
• Cloud-based storage account (i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, etc...)

Class Instructor