Hello everyone, I'm a professor of journalism at UT and the former social media editor at the Statesman. I sold the administration here on the idea of having a mobile apps development course for journalism students (grad students and upper-level). The intersection of tech and the humanities is so important, and I want to equip our students with the ability to work in both worlds. Since it was my idea, and they went with it, I'm teaching it. I'm not a programmer, and I don't know any coding, though I'm trying to remedy that. I was hoping to get the Computer Sciences College to send a professor over here to joint teach the class and have CSC students take it as well. It turns out they'll be unable to do that, so I'm on my own. And I'm a little terrified. This is the perfect city to do something like this, and I want to include the tech community to not only make this less terrifying for me, but make it a great experience for our students. I have total freedom on how this class should be taught and what we'll do. Here are my initial thoughts: * The students would identify a need in the news-related market. Does the Statesman need a new app? Is there something the Texas Tribune could be doing? What about a news app that is independent and competes against them? * They would then brainstorm, whiteboard and market test their ideas * We would get as far along in the process as possible before the semester ends. Perhaps they are just in the prototype-on-paper stage at the end, but I'm hoping they have some type of working app prototype. * The students would pitch their ideas to a panel, which could include professional journalists, developers and startups.
*What I need from developers (maybe you?)* * * *Level 1 commitment:* Just some help on how to shape this class. If you could design this class, what would you have future journalists do? It's possible I'll get some CSC students in the course. If they're there, what would they do? A lunch or coffee meeting to brainstorm and looking over my syllabus and giving advice would go a long way. *Level 2 commitment:* Volunteer to guest speak in my class next semester. It's already on the planned schedule for 9:30 - 11 a.m. in the spring on Mondays and Wednesdays. If you come speak and help ingrain the culture of programming and talk about what they need to do to "speak your language," that would be great. If you want to do a workshop where you sit with the students and talk about how to attack their projects, that would be great, too. *Level 3 commitment:* Come help teach the course a few times during the semester. Work with the students to guide them on the right path. * * *Level 4 (gold level) commitment:* Co-teach this course with me. We likely will have some money that we can pay for your time and expertise. Plus, you can put "Adjunct Professor" on your linkedin profile. *Corporate level commitment:* Perhaps your company or startup wants to make this a partnership with the J-School? You get interns and future smart hires and we get help from your employees? Let's talk! If you're interested in this on any level, please contact me at [email protected]. You can also call me at 512-471-0030 or tweet me at @robquig. You can also just comment on this post. Thanks! Robert -- Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin
