Course Syllabus

RTV:4594 Advanced Interactive News

Instructor: Theresa Collington, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Telecommunication

Office:2032 Weimer Hall

Office hours: By appointment. I can make appointments with you to Skype, chat or talk. If you find yourself in the Tampa Bay area and want to come see me at WTSP-TV, happy to have you stop by, just give me a call first and we’ll work out a time.

Availability: I will respond to your email within 24 hours, likely at night if you send it during the week. Email is my preferred method of communication, email me at theresa.collington@gmail.com - you can call me at 727-434-1196.

Course Description:Students in this course learn how to use digital content management tools to build and continue to publish content to a blog, while gaining experience necessary to work online in any newsroom capacity. The focus is on developing a web presence and a blog-style portfolio that showcases student work and makes them exceptionally marketable to employers upon graduation. Students are expected to want to publish interesting blog entries or showcase work that they have already completed during their education that becomes easily accessible for online evaluation by potential employers.

Objective:Students learn digital publishing and project management by building and publishing original multimedia content regularly to an online blog, that includes video, photography, web writing, a digital resume, literature analysis with commentary and SEO skills. Work will be regularly critiqued.

Attendance: Class attendance is not required. However in order to receive a passing grade all deadlines must be met on time.

Readings: Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and handouts to be distributed by email and posted on Sakai.

Weekly assignments:Assignments are given on Fridays. All weekly assignments listed below are due at 11:45 p.m. on the following Thursday, you will post all assignments on the blog you develop for this course. Again, All deadlines must be met, if you can’t do the assignment on any given week you will need to work ahead. Late work receives a score of zero.

Submitting assignments:You will be posting all of your work online and submitting the URL of each post to me in SAKAI, each week. Each week, send me the URL for that week's assignment. So, cut and paste the URL from that week's work from your browser and submit only that through SAKAI.

Week 1 | 

Course orientation, including an outline of objectives, goals and assignments.

Week 2 | 

Develop an idea, concept for your blog. Make sure it is something you can update at least twice a week. Choose your CMS (WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger - preferably Wordpress) and start your blog. Be ready to email me your blog URL the following week.

Get started by reading this and working through exercises 1 through 5: at the following link Learn Wordpress.

*note - make sure you’re using Wordpress.com (not .org) for this class. Your blog shouldn’t cost you anything to set up or maintain.*

This week, nothing is due, but you should be developing a blog concept and a blog to send to me next week.

Week 3 | 

First Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m.  

Start producing two blog entries a week, include a photo and some text. Take a picture, write about it. Twice.

These two short entries are due to be posted on your blog and URLS submitted to me in SAKAI. Grade: 15 points

Learn to upload your photos on your blog by reading this and working through the exercise: Wordpress - Get Flashy

If you’d like to update your blog and post pictures with your mobile phone, read this: Wordpress Get Mobile

Week 4 | 

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m.  

Begin reading Don’t Make Me Think. Repeat last week’s assignment by adding two more blog entries this week, that include a photo and some text. Take a picture, write about it. Twice.

These two entries are due to be posted on your blog and URLS submitted to me in SAKAI .  Grade: 5 points

Week 5 |

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m.

Finish reading Don't Make Me Think, write a 500 word minimum review of the book that includes your ideas on what you think makes a good website, based on what you learned.

Only one entry is due this week - your review and thoughts on Don’t Make Me Think, on your blog and URL submitted to me through SAKAI by 11:45 p.m. Grade: 10 points

Week 6 | 

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m. 

Begin embedding YouTube, Vimeo or Hulu Video as blog entries. If you shoot the video or it’s your own work from a past course,  it is OK to only have one entry this week. If you use something already posted on YouTube, you'll need two entries.  

One blog post with video you shot or two blog posts embedding video already online is due to be posted on your blog and submitted . Make sure you include some text about the video and why you chose to blog about it. Grade: 5 points.

Learn how to add videos by reading this: Embedding YouTube videos on your Wordpress blog

Week 7 |

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m.

Read handout material about SEO.  Write an entry showing you understand SEO and hyperlinks. OK to only have one blog entry this week, using SEO and hyperlinks. Make sure you include relevant anchor text. Link outbound - to sources outside your site and inbound, to another entry on your site.

One SEO-friendly post is due on your blog and submitted to me through SAKAI. Grade: 5 points

Week 8 |

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m. 

Write two more blog entries showing you understand SEO and hyperlinks. Make sure they each link to one outbound site, and they each link back to one of your blog entries from earlier this year.

Two posts, about anything you choose that shows you understand SEO and hyperlinks are due on your blog and submitted to me through SAKAI Grade: 5 points

Week 9 | 

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m.

Work on your resume - add your resume to your website and link it up using your name as anchor text on your site.

Your digital resume linked in a blog post and submitted to me through SAKAI is due on your blog. Grade:  5 points

Week 10 |

Assignment DUE at 11:45 

Write one blog entry, a short biography with shameless SEO in mind, that links to your other blog entries and resume, one that potentially could come up first when people Google your name.

One biographical blog post with hyperlinks to your resume and some other blog entries from your blog, is due to be posted on your blog and submitted to me through SAKAI..Grade: 10 points

Week 11 |

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m. 

Start reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Write two positive blog entries with anchor text and hyperlinks. In each entry, link to the short biography entry of at least three of your classmates (three per blog entry, so, six total), using their names as anchor text, and leave comments on of the bio entries on at least three of your classmates.

Two blog entries highlighting some work from your classmates, and comments on three classmates bio pages are due to be posted on your blog and submitted to me through SAKAI . Grade: 5 points

Week 12 |  

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m.

Write a review of The Tipping Point on your blog, with a minimum 500 words, with hyperlinks and good anchor text.

One blog post about The Tipping Point is due on your blog and submitted to me through SAKAI. Grade: 10 points

Week 13 | 

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m. 

Build your blogroll and include links to the blogs of all of your classmates.

Your blogroll is due to be posted on your blog and a link submitted to me through SAKAI . Grade: 10 points .

Reading: Wordpress - Create a blogroll

Learn about the importance of a blogroll and linking to other blogs, and how to set up your blogroll: Wordpress - Get Famous

Week 14 | 

Assignment DUE at 11:45 p.m. 

Blog about life as a Journalism student at UF, demonstrating the best of what you have learned, with SEO in mind. Make sure it includes SEO practices, links to university pages about CMIR, descriptive text, at least three original photos or one original video or a combo of both.This is due to be posted on your blog and submitted to me through SAKAI.Grade: 15 points

Grading:

Points are assigned to each of the exercises above with a total of 100. A perfect score on each assignment will lead to the grade of 100 - totals will reflect grades accordingly. Points will be deducted for sloppy work that isn’t thought through. No late work will be accepted.

Academic Dishonesty:

Academic dishonesty of any kind is not tolerated in this course. It will be reported to Student Judicial Affairs, and it will result in a failing grade for the course.

Students with Disabilities:

Students requesting accommodations must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student, who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when making a request for accommodations.