Intensive NKU summer digital journalism program targets high school students

The multi-media, digital age has transformed communications and journalism in quick and profound ways. Those changes in technology and in how news is disseminated and consumed require a new and evolving kind of journalism education.For the third year in a row Northern Kentucky University’s College of Informatics will give area high schools students a taste of what’s in store for them in the work world through a week long “Journalism in the Digital Age” workshop, June 14-18.The on-campus day program is open to 20 students and costs $175. It will be held on NKU’s Highland Heights campus. The workshop is open to Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati students and is the only type of its kinds in the region. The university’s communication programs are part of the school’s College of Informatics.”So much is changing in journalism, and we want to have the students kind of see what is happening in the field,” said program director and NKU journalism lecturer Michele Day.During the program, students will be trained on the fundamentals of journalism including researching, interviewing and writing. Still, most emphasis will square on using those basic skills to create news reports in different media including video, web and photography production.”We are really trying to give them a sampling of everything that goes on in online journalism, and the multi-media aspects of it just keep growing,” Day said.Students will get individual training in using a video camera and microphone, writing for the web, and creating stories via photo slides. They’ll also learn how to publish that work to the web.Among the planned activities is a video scavenger hunt where students will crisscross campus and learn how to combine their video snippets into journalistic stories and post them online.For more information on the program, go to Journalism in the Digital Age Workshop web site.  Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Michele Day, NKU journalism lectureYou can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiasoapbox