JOUR200A: Fundamentals of Editing and Reporting I — Teaching Lede Writing for Digital/Print, Broadcast and Social Media Simultaneously

Fundamentals of Editing and Reporting I is a foundational course required for all majors in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The first half of the course focuses on grammar, AP style, determining how to identify news and good editing. The second half of the course pivots to applying those principles in writing by focusing on teaching students how to summarize news facts, write them in an inverted pyramid news writing style for digital/print publication and also for broadcast and social media platforms. There are key differences in writing for various platforms and historically each has been taught in separate modules, using separate exercises during the course. Students have said they found that confusing. Some students continued to confuse writing styles through the end of the course. This portfolio examines if introducing all the forms simultaneously would prove less confusing to students and improve learning outcomes. In this portfolio I also reflect upon my first year of teaching, during a global pandemic, and on course challenges, limitations, successes and future plans