Don't Just Read the News, Write the News! -- A Course about Writing Economics for the Media
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| Title: | Don't Just Read the News, Write the News! -- A Course about Writing Economics for the Media |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Picault, Julien (ORCID |
| Source: | Journal of Economic Education. 2021 52(2):114-127. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 14 |
| Publication Date: | 2021 |
| Intended Audience: | Teachers |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Guides - Classroom - Teacher |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Economics Education, Writing Instruction, News Writing, Advanced Courses, Performance Based Assessment, Writing Workshops, Peer Teaching, Experiential Learning, Partnerships in Education, Journalism Education, Individual Instruction, Writing for Publication, College Students |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00220485.2021.1887030 |
| ISSN: | 0022-0485 |
| Abstract: | The author of this article describes an upper-level economics course where students learn to write economic news articles, which improves communication and audience-targeting skills. The course was created in partnership with a media outlet and designed around authentic assessments to provide students with a genuine experience based on academic and journalistic standards. The interactive nature of the course allows students to benefit from workshops, one-on-one discussions, and peer-learning. Articles target a general audience and must convincingly address a piece of economic news. Students must apply the theoretical knowledge accumulated in preceding economics courses to analyze and explain real-world situations. If students can meet the media partner's standards, they are offered the opportunity to publish their articles. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2021 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1295442 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwFlBFo7XNPxkcdsHuy21CrzAAAA4zCB4AYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHSMIHPAgEAMIHJBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDIMpqX5URzyidqPXOAIBEICBmzosRmMnXaQm9OiGx4JppZMsY6zRlJvYkvJeL8OxWvh1AQQDbEL2wRdRFVYVtbfjEEjqMrepY5zmvmBicrBJHp7U_eui9nw1im-SpNsLI372mupg3hEw9kCcoEWBdYy6Vrb3PQ0g9tIwr0Zqe4vQ1347RIq8jk_lsTiXaPNM2EbrkaXYd8css3eaHjubJejRt0exe8LbmxSdBEs_ Text: Availability: 1 Value: <anid>AN0149959132;jmd01apr.21;2021Apr26.01:58;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0149959132-1">Don't just read the news, write the news! — A course about writing economics for the media </title> <p>The author of this article describes an upper-level economics course where students learn to write economic news articles, which improves communication and audience-targeting skills. The course was created in partnership with a media outlet and designed around authentic assessments to provide students with a genuine experience based on academic and journalistic standards. The interactive nature of the course allows students to benefit from workshops, one-on-one discussions, and peer-learning. Articles target a general audience and must convincingly address a piece of economic news. Students must apply the theoretical knowledge accumulated in preceding economics courses to analyze and explain real-world situations. If students can meet the media partner's standards, they are offered the opportunity to publish their articles.</p> <p>Keywords: Authentic assessment; engagement; experiential learning; literacy-targeted; media; writing</p> <p>In this article, I present an upper-level economics writing course developed in partnership with a local media outlet. Following McGoldrick's ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref1">21</reflink>]) recommendation, it is designed for students to improve their communication and audience-targeting skills.[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref2">1</reflink>] Students are exposed to academic and journalistic standards as they get a chance to publish economics news articles in a local media outlet while completing a university course. The course incorporates numerous authentic assessments developed in collaboration with the media partner. The authentic assessment nature of the exercises described in this article is reinforced by both the real-world audience and the professional journalistic standards with which students must comply.</p> <p>The term is divided into two-week modules, each with a defined learning objective. Students individually produce a 400-word article, which is graded on completion of each module. Modules follow a scaffolded process that creates a guided path to writing high-quality media articles and allows students to develop and practice their writing skills. Students edit and rewrite articles multiple times, focusing on improving precision, conciseness, and clarity. The course is interactive by design as class time is mostly devoted to workshops, one-on-one discussions with students, and peer-learning.</p> <p>The media partner interacts directly with students and helps to develop the grading rubrics and the course structure. At the beginning of the course, a journalist discusses the articles' guidelines and expectations. During the term, the journalist provides students with feedback on their articles. For the term article, the topic is chosen by the student but validated by the journalist. Students are free to select the topic of their module articles.</p> <p>The most similar approaches I found in the literature were Hall and Podemska-Mikluch ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref3">16</reflink>]) and Cohen and Williams ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref4">11</reflink>]). Hall and Podemska-Mikluch used writing op/eds as a component of their principles of economics courses. They carefully describe this method's advantages: op/eds are short; op/eds give more freedom on the topic; students can experience the usefulness of economics; and op/eds provide a sense of what an active member of society is. Cohen and Williams propose a similar method using scaffolded writing assignments to include writing components in their principles courses with large enrollments (800 students).[<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref5">2</reflink>]</p> <p>The approach I am proposing is somewhat different from Hall and Podemska-Mikluch ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref6">16</reflink>]) and Cohen and Williams ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref7">11</reflink>]), as writing a media article is the central goal of this course. The course is not offered at the principles level. Instead, it is an upper-level course that students are recommended to take later in their curriculum. Students must apply the theoretical knowledge accumulated in preceding economics courses to analyze real-world situations while keeping such knowledge accessible to the general public. So, the course's goal is not to cover new economics content; rather, create an environment for students to utilize and demonstrate already-assimilated economics knowledge.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-2">Media partnership</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0149959132-3">Why a partner?</hd> <p>A media partner brings the necessary journalism expertise, the experiential aspect, and improved credibility. The media partner's input is critical in creating an authentic assessment-based course and reinforces students' experiential learning.</p> <p>The partnership also allows students to benefit from both the evaluations of their instructor and local journalists. Typically, a journalist comes to class at the beginning of the term. The goal is twofold; first, to provide background information about the journalist profession and give tips. Second, to explain the objectives, guidelines, and expectations for the articles that students will produce. In collaboration with the media partner, we defined the four main grading rubrics: Content-Quality of Information; Writing-Conventions; Design-Layout and Organization; and Research-Quality. Because the media partner participated in the grading rubrics design, the guidance that such rubrics create conforms to the profession's practices. These rubrics are not just an economics instructor's vision of what journalists aim for when writing an article. It is based on practicing journalists' experiences and practices, and therefore, provides a more authentic direction to students. A complete description of grading criteria is available in appendix A.</p> <p>One significant benefit of such a partnership is to promote student engagement. As Addams et al. ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref8">1</reflink>]) notice, students are better engaged when working on non-hypothetical writing projects in collaboration with local organizations. Also, Picault ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref9">23</reflink>]) discusses a recent trend in the economics education literature—student-crafted methods—in which students produce output that extends beyond the classroom. This partnership acts as a catalyst because students can publish articles in a local media outlet if they meet the media partner's criteria. Research from social psychology by Hackman and Oldham ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref10">15</reflink>]) shows the importance of "task identity" and "task significance" to create engagement.[<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref11">3</reflink>] This course promotes students' engagement by creating an interesting and valuable "task," and because students create a tangible outcome, i.e., the articles they produce and the potential for publication.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-4">Setting up the media partnership</hd> <p>Establishing the partnership was not that challenging. Being in a mid-sized city with a strong sense of community was an asset. When considering which media to propose the partnership to, two main criteria were considered:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> A <emph>local</emph> media company</item> </ulist> <p>I expected that a national media company would have no interest in the project itself. Besides, local media understands the regional importance of our campus to the community. They have an interest in supporting our youth to receive a quality education, as a significant number of them will stay in the region after graduation. Also, it is a way for the media company to increase local readership among a population, i.e., students, that is typically more difficult to reach.</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> A media company that is well established in the community and is involved in outreached projects (local fairs and events, etc.). My hope was that such media would be more inclined to work as a partner if it already has partnership experience with various organizations.</item> </ulist> <p>A journalist, who had recently interviewed me, offered the contact information of the content director to discuss the project further. After our first meeting, the content director was "on board" and provided me with a letter of support for the project to present to my department and faculty. As soon as the project was approved, the content director introduced me to the journalist who became my primary contact.</p> <p>Both the students and the media outlet can benefit from such a partnership as it provides interesting content to the readers while teaching students basic writing for media purposes. Students' articles also offer the media outlet an understanding of how students see and interpret relevant events and topics impacting the local community. This is particularly valuable because journalists typically do not interact much with students.</p> <p>A key takeaway from this experience is that there are media outlets that are willing to help our students with such projects and that there are objective benefits for them to engage in such partnerships.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-5">Is the media partnership essential to the course?</hd> <p>While the partnership is an important feature of the course as we implemented it, it may present a challenge for replication purposes. There is no guarantee that a local media company will accept such a partnership. However, the partnership is not essential to the course. An instructor could use a blog to publish the best articles and create some exposure for students who write articles worth sharing. The course structure would have two key differences: the instructor would act as the editor, and students would not benefit from the media partner's feedback. On the positive side, students' grades can be quickly returned, as there would be no wait for the journalist's opinions before providing the grades.</p> <p>Additionally, there is potential for this course to be offered in collaboration with a journalism department. Such cooperation is not new in the literature and already takes place in some economics courses.[<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref12">4</reflink>] A colleague from journalism studies would assume the role of the journalist in my version of the course.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-6">University and market standards</hd> <p>Contrary to the typical university course, students face dual standards. The articles are held to the standards of both the university and the media outlet. This point is paramount to understanding the value of this partnership.</p> <p>The agreement with the media outlet explicitly stipulated that articles would be published if, and only if, they satisfied the same requirements as journalists working for the media partner. As the instructor, I had no impact on the decision to publish an article. This decision rested solely with the editor. Such a setup provides students with a better understanding of the working world's expectations as professionals evaluate them. It is an excellent opportunity for students to understand that the working world has different, generally stricter, standards. For instance, if an article contains typos, it was almost always disqualified from publication. This experience shows students that workplace expectations go beyond usual classroom standards—50, or even 80, percent is not enough to succeed in a competitive work environment.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-7">Authentic assessment</hd> <p>The "Economics and the Media" course was created as an authentic assessment. Typically, authentic assessments focus on skills and knowledge directly transferable to the workplace.[<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref13">5</reflink>] An authentic assessment mimics the type of tasks and performance standards that prevail in workplaces. By definition, the course requires students to write media articles to the same standards as journalists. The partnership with the local media reinforces the authentic assessment. As detailed in Villarroel et al. ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref14">27</reflink>]), students benefit strongly from authentic assessments. They improve the quality and depth of learning, autonomy, and promote the abilities needed in the workplace.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-8">Learning objectives</hd> <p>My faculty's curriculum committee approved the "Economics and the Media" course and integrated it into our course calendar. The approved learning objectives read as follows: After completing this course, students should be able to:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Relate real-world events with appropriate theoretical economics concepts;</item> <p></p> <item> Apply economics knowledge directly to real-world events;</item> <p></p> <item> Effectively communicate economic concepts based on a specific audience and context;</item> <p></p> <item> Engage in critical thinking about message analysis;</item> <p></p> <item> Organize and select information for a short article.</item> </ulist> <p>Also, our Bachelor of Arts has additional learning objectives for which this course contributes:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Analyze writing by identifying the ideas it conveys;</item> <p></p> <item> Employ a university-level writing process involving planning, multiple drafting, conferring, revising, and editing with a focus on grammatically correct and audience-appropriate style;</item> <p></p> <item> Identify and use varied styles purposefully through manipulating sentence rhythms, sentence variety structure, vocabulary, and figurative language.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-9">Course competencies</hd> <p>The key competency that this course contributes to is clearly defined in both Allgood and Bayer ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref15">3</reflink>]) and Allgood and Bayer ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref16">4</reflink>]), "Communicate Economic Ideas in Diverse Collaborations."[<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref17">6</reflink>] As the authors state: "Economists must be able to communicate with each other, with policymakers, and with the general public" (Allgood and Bayer [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref18">3</reflink>], 109). Typically, economics programs are not directly designed to teach our students how to communicate economics. O'Doherty, Street, and Webber ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref19">22</reflink>]) show employers also have noticed that economics graduates are not particularly good at communicating economic ideas. When questioned about the skills economics graduates lack most, the responses show stronger emphasis toward three skills: abstraction, communication of complex concepts, and communication in writing. The course was designed to provide these skills to students. It was built first as an authentic assessment devoted to communicating economics and second as a targeted-literacy course creating better concept utilization and retention.</p> <p>The "Economics and the Media" course also addresses competencies from other taxonomies. For instance, it contributes to meeting Hansen's ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref20">18</reflink>]) objectives.[<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref21">7</reflink>] Hansen proficiency #3 is "Interpret existing knowledge." Actually, this proficiency superseded the original Hansen's ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref22">17</reflink>]) proficiency #3 "Displaying ability to draw out existing knowledge," for which he mentioned that students should be able to "show what economic concepts and principles are used in economic analyses published in articles from daily newspapers and weekly news magazines" (Hansen [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref23">17</reflink>], 151). It was modified to reflect a majority of students' future career orientation, which will not include graduate school for most. The updated proficiency fits even better now that the work performed by students in the "Economics and the Media" course requires that they must make sense of economics concepts, confront them in the real world, and write an article that illustrates and explains these concepts.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-10">Literacy-targeted courses</hd> <p>Hansen, Salemi, and Siegfried ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref24">19</reflink>]), Salemi ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref25">24</reflink>]), and Benjamin, Cohen, and Hamilton ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref26">5</reflink>]) describe how and why instructors should shift their principles of economics courses to literacy-targeted courses. The starting point is the empirical evidence that former students who completed economics courses perform only slightly better than others when tested later about their understanding of economics (Walstad and Allgood [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref27">28</reflink>]; Walstad and Rebeck [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref28">29</reflink>]). Busom, Lopez-Mayan, and Panadés ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref29">8</reflink>]) suggest that principles courses fail to correct students' beliefs about economics. Incorrect preconceptions about economic issues typically persist, even for those performing well on tests. Besides, better economic literacy could benefit individuals at the individual and society levels (Davies [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref30">12</reflink>]; Goedde-Menke, Erner, and Oberste [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref31">14</reflink>]).[<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref32">8</reflink>]</p> <p>The experience of literacy-targeted principles courses shows that students perform at least as well as those following traditional principles courses (Gilleskie and Salemi [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref33">13</reflink>]; Benjamin, Cohen, and Hamilton [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref34">5</reflink>]). Benjamin, Cohen, and Hamilton mention that literacy-targeted courses are more attractive to women and other minorities in our discipline. I cannot offer much evidence supporting this statement in the context of my course. My university no longer provides instructors with such information about students. However, my own observation aligns with this vision, especially for the most recent iteration of this course.</p> <p>While literacy-targeted approaches for upper-level economics courses are not widely discussed in the literature, the "Economics and the Media" course design builds on recommendations from Hansen, Salemi, and Siegfried ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref35">19</reflink>]). Among the recommendations that can be generalized beyond principles, they suggest focusing on problems, issues, policies, and puzzles to create more opportunities to practice economics and to lecture less. The "Economics and the Media" course embraces these recommendations. The course format includes only a few lectures per se and compels students to apply their economics knowledge to current economic issues.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-11">Course structure</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0149959132-12">General presentation</hd> <p>Enrollment in the course is capped at 16 students. The smaller class size creates the opportunity to use class time very differently than traditional lectures. It offers a chance for the instructor to coach and mentor each student regularly.</p> <p>The media partner and I agreed that the target audience was the media partner's usual reader, who typically does not know about opportunity cost, marginal utility, or floating interest rates. So, we instructed students that the articles' content must be clear to the general public. The use of specific jargon and the disclosure of which economic concept they were referencing was prohibited. As a result, students strategized to provide comprehensible economic information without using jargon that the audience may not understand. In my view, this was one of the most challenging parts for students, as they regularly use economic jargon without completely integrating it. They had to improve their own understanding of the concepts to write their articles for the target audience. The final length of articles was determined to align with the typical length, i.e., word count, of the media partner's articles.[<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref36">9</reflink>]</p> <p>The course requires students to write articles analyzing local and national hot topics, using their economics knowledge. The output required from students is twofold: a term article and module articles. The term article provides students with enough time to prepare an article and apply their learning throughout the term. Students must place more emphasis on investigation and research. They have more time to find appropriate quotes from the local community. The term article represents the main chance for students to be published as they can use the whole term to polish every element of their articles. Module articles are mostly used for students to practice and develop skills. These were also reviewed for potential publication, and some were published.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-13">Module articles</hd> <p>The main goal of the module articles is for students to develop skills and practice writing media articles. Every second week, students must hand in an article. The topic is open, as long as it is related to economics and is of interest to the readers. The articles should be 400 words long and must include two visual elements. The inclusion of visual elements was the media partner's idea. On their Web site, they integrate visual elements into their text. Associating text with visual elements is one technique used by journalists working for the media partner. Requiring a similar effort was another way to adhere to the philosophy of an authentic assessment. In general, visuals are pictures, but they can also be videos or public postings from social media, especially Twitter and Instagram. Social media posts are easy to embed to a Web page and are an attention-grabbing way of quoting as it provides a visual while including additional information. Pictures can be the students' own pictures, but if they take pictures from another source, they must acknowledge that source. Furthermore, the source cannot be another media outlet. We require students to give visuals without copyrights so that we can use the visuals. Finding such pictures is not very complicated for students as multiple Web sites provide free images. Also, students can directly search for images labeled for reuse on Google.</p> <p>Every second week, the best three articles are submitted to the media partner for review. As described in the next section, the class time is organized to fit the module articles' submission schedule. It was designed so that when students learn a new skill, they can immediately apply it to improve their next article.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-14">Class time</hd> <p>The course organization allows students to develop skills during the term progressively. In winter 2019, students had seven assignments to perform; two for the term article, i.e., the pitch and the final article, and five module articles.</p> <p>Coursework to produce the module articles is organized in modules of two weeks. The goal of each module is for students to write a high-quality article. Each module contains four 80-minute sessions with specific goals to attain. The module's design allows students to follow a manageable scaffolded process when writing their articles; it enables instructors to address students' needs at the group level (lecture 1) and the individual level (lectures 2, 3, and 4). Also, the module structure mimics the term article's structure in a shorter time frame, so students are practicing for the term article while producing their module articles.</p> <p>The first lecture is devoted to workshops—developing a particular skill that students will require when producing the news article. Workshops address issues at the group level. Typically, the topic of a workshop is determined based on the needs of students. Topics may include: "how to source and quote in a news article," "what constitutes a good title," "how to target an audience," etc. Examples of workshops are available in appendix B. This format allows the instructor to choose the topic based on the most systematic mistakes students made when writing their last article. It empowers the instructors to provide targeted support for the most prevalent errors.</p> <p>Integrating economics concepts in media articles is not as trivial as it may appear. Kelley ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref37">20</reflink>]), Wood ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref38">30</reflink>]), Cochran and Brown ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref39">10</reflink>]), and Sowell ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref40">26</reflink>]) discuss how evident shortcomings exist in news coverage of economics, and therefore, how even professional journalists have a hard time with such integration. Consequently, it is not complicated to find examples of shortcomings in the news to fuel the workshops.</p> <p>During the three following lectures (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref41">2</reflink>, 3, and 4), the intervention level moves from the group to the individual student. The instructor meets with each student individually for a few minutes to discuss the pitch/draft and provide advice. The goal is to make sure each student's needs are addressed. This strategy is essential to the course's success. Students present with various needs; therefore, it is impossible to address all their needs at the group level effectively. Like Cohen and Williams ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref42">11</reflink>]), the module's scaffolded nature requires students to write and rewrite, allowing them to engage with the instructor's feedback and the other students to improve their writing skills.</p> <p>For such a structure to be effective, students must follow clear preparation guidelines with predefined writing components that they complete before coming to class. Then, each student discusses these writing components with the instructor and peers.</p> <p>In preparation for lecture 2, students produce a pitch. The pitch must include a visual element (picture, graph, etc.), a paragraph defining the article's topic, and a paragraph explaining the relevance to readers. The pitch is designed for students to focus on the topic and the inclusion of the target audience. It is the preparation phase for the article and an essential piece of the scaffolded process. Students have time to ponder multiple alternative topics to select the best one. Without the pitch, students rush into finding a topic without considering enough elements. In this step, the writing quality is not assessed, as the next steps place more emphasis on writing itself. The pitch allows students to reflect and gain confidence in their chosen topic before committing to the writing piece.</p> <p>For lecture 3, students must provide a draft. The draft must include a 500-word article, a description of the underlying economics concepts (1 page), and two visual elements. As the article does not include any jargon, the instructor must make sure students referred to appropriate economics concepts. To do so, students must provide a written explanation of the economics concepts included in the article and explain how they were included. This part is crucial as it is how the instructor can guarantee the assignment's economics nature is respected. During the one-on-one time, the instructor provides appropriate guidance to enhance the article while gaining precision, concision, and clarity. In summary, students must prove their usage of economics concepts and develop their writing skills.</p> <p>For lecture 4, students must prepare a second draft. The second draft should be 400 words long and include two visual elements. If a student could not demonstrate enough economics content during lecture 3, they also must provide a revised description of the underlying economics concepts present in the article. Similarly to the preceding step, the instructor discusses articles directly with students and provides guidance.</p> <p>The final article is typically submitted the same day as lecture 4 but at a later time. The submission deadline is 6 hours after the end of the lecture. The rationale for the 6-hour limit on the final draft is that short deadlines are frequent in the journalistic world. It reinforces the authenticity of the assessment as it closely mimics the deadline-driven reality of journalists. On an observational note, the short deadline seemed to enhance participation and engagement in lecture 4. The tight deadline reduced procrastination and provides an incentive for students to receive advice and guidance from the instructor and peers during a period when they typically plan to work harder, just a few hours before the deadline.</p> <p>While the instructor discusses with one student, the other students are instructed to partner among themselves for peer review and to provide each other feedback, and work on their articles to integrate the feedback they received. Most students engaged beyond working on their own articles and beyond just reading each other's articles. Students exchanged ideas with each other and provided constructive feedback and advice. This setup allows students to create a very interactive environment where they can learn from each other and progress together.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-15">The term article</hd> <p>As agreed with the media partner, the term assignment follows a three-step scaffolded process. This scaffolded process allows students to receive feedback from the partner before handing in the final version. The partner made clear that a decisive element is the topic of an article. They would not publish a very well-written article if the topic was not of interest to the readership. Students must consider the target population at every stage of the production of an article. Steps separate the topic selection from the article's writing, so students can receive feedback from the partner about their topic and make sure they write something of interest to the partner. All the final articles are then submitted to the media partner. The three steps of the term article are defined as follows:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> First, students pitch three topic ideas with supporting briefs explaining why each topic would be relevant to the readers. The editor chooses one of the three topics and sends comments and directions back to the student.</item> <p></p> <item> Next, students conduct the necessary research and sourcing for their articles and then write the article. The style of the article should be informative, concise, and "on brand." The article must be 400 words long as it is the usual format of the media partner.[<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref43">10</reflink>] The writing is the main component, but they have to consider visual aspects as well. So, students must also work on the article's visual arrangement and provide illustrations such as pictures and tweets.</item> <p></p> <item> Finally, the instructor facilitates the submission of articles to the media partner's contact person. While this can seem trivial, it is essential to mention it. Making this clear prevents your partner from receiving dozens of emails from students directly. In the first iteration of the course, some students took the initiative to carbon copy (cc) our partner when delivering their files. That created unnecessary confusion for the media partner.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-16">Grading</hd> <p>When designing the course, the part I was the most anxious about was grading. My experience with other courses seemed almost irrelevant. However, I found support from my media partner when creating the grading rubrics. This collaboration was crucial for creating a fair grading scheme that represented the work of journalists.</p> <p>Journalists rely on the critical threshold of publication. So, we felt this must be included somehow for the grading. We mirrored this threshold by providing a perfect grade to an assignment published by the media partner. We considered that students who meet the highest objective of the course should be compensated adequately, and also that it was a clear and compelling reward for students. Because we did not expect many publications, we also created an internal blog for which I was the editor. We publish good articles on the blog; these articles would receive a grade superior to 80/100. Articles that are not granted any form of publication would receive a grade below 80/100. Some articles received grades lower than 50/100.</p> <p>Grading articles was a learning process, and students needed time to adjust, as such a grading scheme was also new to them. But, with experience and taking time to explain grades, students developed confidence in the grading process.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-17">Prerequisites</hd> <p>The "Economics and the Media" course was first offered under our "Topics in Economics" course shell. A disadvantage was that prerequisites were too low for the coursework. It required only economics principles as prerequisites. I clarified to students the level of difficulty of the course and that the targeted audience is senior students with significant experience in the economics discipline. It was not so much of a challenge because, at my institution, senior students register first. Out of 27 students, only 4 were junior students. On average, they did well, but they mentioned it was a lot of work to catch up. One student even said in the student evaluations that the course should not be recommended to junior students: "Taking this 300 level course as a second-year student. The course is about communicating economics to the average person. I feel like it would be a better course to take in your third or fourth year." Junior students can no longer register in the "Economics and the Media" course as it has its own course code and an appropriate set of prerequisites (6 credits of English and a minimum of 6 credits of upper-level economics courses).</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-18">Benefits to students and outcomes</hd> <p>Students can benefit in the following ways from such a course: develop writing skills; learn how to address a specific audience; use theoretical knowledge in a "real world" context; gain a practical understanding of the local economy; have the opportunity to add media publications to their CVs, and gain an understanding of and experience with journalism.</p> <p>To date, the course has been offered twice and was open to 16 students each term. Because of late withdrawals, a total of 27 students completed the course. Nine of them have published at least one article, and a total of 15 articles were published. Published articles were identified in the headlines of the platform and social media, just like those of career journalists.</p> <p>When I proposed the course to my department, we were unsure whether students could publish an article, given students would be subject to the same standards as professional media contributors. After all, our program does not prepare them for that. However, we saw the challenge as a positive thing because one lesson we wanted students to learn was that real markets are not easy to navigate and require strong involvement to be successful. The number of publications came to us as a pleasant surprise, and we believe it was due to some students actually embracing the challenge and genuinely engaging with the coursework.</p> <p>Students' writing skills have regularly improved throughout the term. On average, module article scores have increased by 7 percent from the beginning to the end of the term. While such evidence can be considered purely anecdotal, it is interesting to refer to the media partner's wrap-up article after the first term. In this article, the media partner reports that they noticed a significant improvement in student articles.[<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref44">11</reflink>] While this is not statistical proof, it seems that it can be at least considered a market validation.</p> <p>Something that regularly comes back in the evaluation comments and emails students sent to me after the course was how they appreciated learning to address a general audience. Below are some such comments from students:</p> <p>I really enjoyed this course, it was nice to be able to use the economic concepts we had been learning for the past four years and apply it to something tangible. For myself personally, it really challenged me to adapt my writing style for a more general audience and not just my professors.</p> <p>The course taught students how to break down complicated topics to make them accessible to a wider audience. The course also taught students to research certain topics in a limited amount of time and to integrate them into an intriguing article.</p> <p>It was cool to collaborate within the community, and to understand how to write for different audiences.</p> <p>Thank you for an interesting course and a worthwhile semester! I liked the concept of making Econ accessible to a wider audience. I feel lucky to have been a part of this inaugural course!</p> <p>It was definitely one of the most intriguing courses I've taken here on campus. It really helped me develop creative thinking and writing along with thinking outside the box and being observant. I would be very eager to transfer these skills into my professional career.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-19">Concluding remark</hd> <p>The course presented in this article is an example of a course designed for students to develop writing skills and understand how to target an audience. It is especially important because most of what students write at the university level is aimed at an academic reader. But, for the vast majority, their future audience will not be academic and typically do not understand our jargon. A course like this helps students comprehend that it is not only important to write well, but writing in a way that can be understood by the masses. The learning and experience they acquire in such a course is critical for future endeavors.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-20">Acknowledgments</hd> <p>The author is grateful to Scott Simkins, Faithe Picault, the two anonymous referees, as well as participants of the AEA Committee on Economic Education's Poster Session at the 2019 ASSA meetings and of the 2019 Conference on Teaching &amp; Research on Economic Education for many valuable comments. This course could not have been developed without the support and the participation of the author's media partner KelownaNow, and especially Jim Csek, Josh Duncan, Samantha Hill, and Karen Montgomery. The author thanks to students in the Winter 2018's and Winter 2019's sections of the "Economics and the Media" course at UBC Okanagan.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-21">Appendix A</hd> <p>Graph</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-22">Appendix B</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0149959132-23">Examples of workshops</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0149959132-24">Workshop: How to source and quote in a news article</hd> <p>Here is an example of a workshop I created in reaction to what I read in my students' articles.</p> <p>Sourcing was deficient in two ways:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Students did not source enough and were writing too much about their opinions.</item> <p></p> <item> Students often used "according to" to source anything. Actually, I computed the ratio between the number of times they used "according to" to the number of sources they used for each student. None were below 50 percent. One student even used "according to" seven times in a 500-word article.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-25">The workshop in class</hd> <p>At the beginning of the lecture, I provide students with an article that uses different forms of sources (quotes, data, reports, etc.). The goal is to showcase multiple examples of how a journalist sources external information.</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Ask students to read the article and identify every source integration in the article. (15–20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Randomly pair students two by two, ask them to review the different source integrations, and discuss why the journalist did it this particular way. (15–20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Allow for an open class discussion about these integrations. Let students discuss how and why they were done. Can they see some similarities in style between the different forms of sources? (15–20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> To make sure students directly apply what is discussed, ask students to rewrite two paragraphs that include quotes from the last article they handed in. Students must focus on how to source during that time. (20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Ask teammates to exchange their rewrites and to analyze the changes, and provide constructive criticisms. (10 min)</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-26">After the workshop</hd> <p>Ask students to complete the rewrite of these paragraphs and to hand them in the next lecture. It allows you to see if they integrated different ways of sourcing content. Also, I forbid my students to use "according to" for the next two articles, as it forces them to transpose the learning to the following articles and create good habits.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-27">Workshop: What constitutes a good title?</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0149959132-28">Preparatory work before coming to the workshop</hd> <p>Before the workshop, every student must look for three titles from a legitimate media source that they find particularly attractive. For each of these titles, students must write a paragraph describing why they found this title interesting.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-29">The workshop in class</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Randomly pair students two by two and ask them to discuss and review their cumulated six titles. Out of the six titles, ask them to select the two titles they consider the most attractive. (15–20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Ask each student to write on the board one title each, and ask students to read all the titles (5 min).</item> <p></p> <item> Ask each student one by one which title they would click on for sure and which title they would not, along with a short explanation. Identify the answers on the board (one black bar for a click and one red bar for a no-click). Typically, some titles will be preferred, while some others will be less interesting to the group. (10–15 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Allow for an open discussion about what makes some titles more attractive and what makes others less attractive. Can they see some similarities in style? What type of connections with the readers does the title encompass, etc.? Once students provided enough material, disclose, discuss, and analyze the key takeaway you want students to assimilate. (15–20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> To conclude and reemphasize the takeaways, assign each student a title, preferably not theirs, and ask them to identify on the board the two most important words in that title. Discuss with students what makes these words important in the contexts of the takeaways. (15 min)</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-30">Takeaways</hd> <p>My list of takeaways follows. Feel free to alter the list to fit your goals. A title should be:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Short (7 to 15 words)</item> <p></p> <item> Written in the active voice and preferably in the present tense</item> <p></p> <item> Accurate and specific</item> <p></p> <item> Have no unidentified pronouns</item> <p></p> <item> Generating curiosity</item> </ulist> <p>– To generate curiosity, a title should generate at least one of:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Immediacy</item> <p></p> <item> Proximity</item> <p></p> </ulist> <p>• Drama</p> <p></p> <p>• Oddity</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Prominence (being important)</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-31">Workshop: How to target an audience</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0149959132-32">Instructor's preparation</hd> <p>The most important preparation you need is for yourself to understand the audience. You need to discuss this with the media partner. Ask about targeted demographics but also about the partner's vision about articles and the type of voice they want. Such information will help you better target their audience. For instance, Jim Csek, COO and CFO at NowMedia, says that "(KelownaNow's) voice is softer, trustworthy, caring and is about starting a conversation as well as educating." It is "based in journalism and go back to the roots of storytelling, and the headlines are seven to ten words and try to inspire hope. We invite the reader into the conversation." It may be different with another outlet, and it is paramount to adapt to your partner's voice and audience. Also, if a journalist visits your class, make sure she talks about their target audience and voice. Typically, the journalist will describe those better than you can.</p> <hd id="AN0149959132-33">The workshop in class</hd> <p>At the beginning of the lecture, I provide students with two short paragraphs from a technical research paper or a specialized magazine. The goal is to provide something students won't understand but that you can explain what these paragraphs are about and what they describe. The goal is to place them in a reader's situation that was not correctly targeted and then be provided with the keys to understand.</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Ask students to read the article and try to make sense of it. (5 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Ask students what they understood (normally not much). And then, take the time to explain what the paragraphs are about and what they describe. Make the vulgarization work they are supposed to do in their articles. It is a way to show students that it is possible to explain something complicated without technical references. (15 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Discuss with students the audience you are facing. What type of vocabulary the audience may or may not understand? Provide words and idiomatic expressions requiring various levels of knowledge. Ask students if they know them. Usually, there will be different levels of understanding in the classroom. That is a good starting point because students will realize that people have diverse knowledge levels, even in the classroom. So, in society, the magnitude of the difference is undoubtedly larger. Will the audience understand these terms? That can determine whether terms need an explanation or even if we should use them in an article targeting the general population. Ask students about who in their family could understand such and such words; it will reinforce the understanding that different levels exist. (20 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Ask students to write a short paragraph that they believe would accurately target the audience. (10 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Randomly pair students two by two. Ask them to read each other's paragraphs and identify the portions they believe were not accurately targeted. (5 min)</item> <p></p> <item> Ask each pair to provide one example and write it on the board. Select a few (depending on time left) and discuss whether it was appropriate for the target audience and, if necessary, how to modify it appropriately. (15–20 min)</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0149959132-34">After the workshop</hd> <p>For the next pitch, ask students to be more vigilant when writing the paragraph about the audience. They must be able to explain more carefully how they will address the audience.</p> <ref id="AN0149959132-35"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref2" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Addams, H. L., D. Woodbury, T. Allred, and J. Addams. 2010. Developing student communication skills while assisting nonprofit organizations. Business Communication Quarterly 73 (3): 282 – 90. doi: 10.1177/1080569910376534.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref5" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Al-Bahrani, A., B. Libis, S. Drabik, and J. Gibson. 2017. Econ beats: A semester long, interdisciplinary, project-based learning assignment. 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Journal of Economic Education 16 (1): 27 – 35. doi: 10.1080/00220485.1985.10845097.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0149959132-36"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> McGoldrick ([21]) suggests economics students need more opportunities to apply economics skills and to improve communication skills throughout the curriculum.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See Caviglia-Harris ([9]) and Schmeiser ([25]) for a description of the literature on teaching writing skills to economics students.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Hackman and Oldham ([15]) define "task identity" as the degree to which the job requires completion of a "whole" and identifiable piece of work—that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a visible outcome; and "task significance" as the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people—whether in the immediate organization or in the external environment.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> An example of similar collaboration can be found in Al-Bahrani et al. ([2]).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See Villarroel et al. ([27]) for more details about authentic assessments, benefits, and specific course designs.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Allgood and Bayer ([3], [4]) provide a taxonomy specifically created to evaluate the learning of five essential competencies for economics graduates.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The most classical taxonomy is Bloom et al. ([6]) that categorizes six different levels from the least to the most effective for students' content assimilation: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation (20–24). "Economics and the Media" was created for students to promote learning at the four upper levels (Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation). As students already completed economics courses before taking this one, they were already extensively exposed to the two lower levels of this taxonomy.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Bosshardt and Walstad ([7]) and Goedde-Menke, Erner, and Oberste ([14]) show the importance of basic economics concepts in individuals' financial decisions, and Davies ([12]) describes the benefits of economics literacy to citizens' education.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> On a few occasions, students were permitted to write a longer text when required for publication.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> As explained in Hall and Podemska-Mikluch ([16]), writing short articles is actually benefitting students. In addition to the benefits they describe, I would add that students are given more chance to correct and improve their writing skills as they can spend time to correct and enhance each and every sentence and sometimes words.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See article: https://<ulink href="http://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/UBCO/KelownaNow%5fand%5fUBCO%5fwrap%5fup%5fsuccessful%5f1st%5fterm%5fof%5fnew%5fpartnership/">www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/UBCO/KelownaNow%5fand%5fUBCO%5fwrap%5fup%5fsuccessful%5f1st%5fterm%5fof%5fnew%5fpartnership/</ulink></bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Julien Picault</p> <p>Reported by Author</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref25"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref27"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref37"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref40"></nolink> |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Don't Just Read the News, Write the News! -- A Course about Writing Economics for the Media – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Picault%2C+Julien%22">Picault, Julien</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5726-2998">0000-0002-5726-2998</externalLink>) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Economic+Education%22"><i>Journal of Economic Education</i></searchLink>. 2021 52(2):114-127. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: Y – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 14 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2021 – Name: Audience Label: Intended Audience Group: Audnce Data: Teachers – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Journal Articles<br />Guides - Classroom - Teacher – Name: Audience Label: Education Level Group: Audnce Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink> – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Economics+Education%22">Economics Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Writing+Instruction%22">Writing Instruction</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22News+Writing%22">News Writing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Advanced+Courses%22">Advanced Courses</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Performance+Based+Assessment%22">Performance Based Assessment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Writing+Workshops%22">Writing Workshops</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Peer+Teaching%22">Peer Teaching</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Experiential+Learning%22">Experiential Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Partnerships+in+Education%22">Partnerships in Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Journalism+Education%22">Journalism Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Individual+Instruction%22">Individual Instruction</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Writing+for+Publication%22">Writing for Publication</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Students%22">College Students</searchLink> – Name: DOI Label: DOI Group: ID Data: 10.1080/00220485.2021.1887030 – Name: ISSN Label: ISSN Group: ISSN Data: 0022-0485 – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: The author of this article describes an upper-level economics course where students learn to write economic news articles, which improves communication and audience-targeting skills. The course was created in partnership with a media outlet and designed around authentic assessments to provide students with a genuine experience based on academic and journalistic standards. The interactive nature of the course allows students to benefit from workshops, one-on-one discussions, and peer-learning. Articles target a general audience and must convincingly address a piece of economic news. Students must apply the theoretical knowledge accumulated in preceding economics courses to analyze and explain real-world situations. If students can meet the media partner's standards, they are offered the opportunity to publish their articles. – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2021 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: EJ1295442 |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1295442 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1080/00220485.2021.1887030 Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 14 StartPage: 114 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Economics Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Writing Instruction Type: general – SubjectFull: News Writing Type: general – SubjectFull: Advanced Courses Type: general – SubjectFull: Performance Based Assessment Type: general – SubjectFull: Writing Workshops Type: general – SubjectFull: Peer Teaching Type: general – SubjectFull: Experiential Learning Type: general – SubjectFull: Partnerships in Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Journalism Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Individual Instruction Type: general – SubjectFull: Writing for Publication Type: general – SubjectFull: College Students Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Don't Just Read the News, Write the News! -- A Course about Writing Economics for the Media Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Picault, Julien IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2021 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 0022-0485 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 52 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of Economic Education Type: main |
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