Oh, what they missed, but I did not!

I am on my way home from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges’ 33rd annual Mid-Winter Faculty conference, once again stoked with excitement from the things I learned in workshops and renewed acquaintances with my journalism teaching colleagues.

At the same, I am sad for the 60 percent to 70 percent of the California community college journalism instructors who, for whatever reason, opted out of attending the conference. Only about 25 instructors took time from their  busy lives to recharge their batteries in the area of life that makes it possible for them to much of what they were doing instead.

I hold the distinction of being the only person in the organization who has attended EVERY Mid-Winter Faculty Conference. I also had a role in creating the concept of the pre-conference Blue Heron seminar that allows us to explore a single topic for an entire day. And I can tell you now that I will be back again next year. Sign me up now.

Here is a list of some of the things those who DID NOT attend missed out on.

Blue Heron – An interesting session where the students have become the teacher. Former community college students Aaron Williams and Kelly Goff, who teamed up working for the student publication at San Francisco State University before entering the professional journalism world introduced us to new digital tools for storytelling. Among the things were learned was how to persevere when the Inn at Morro Bay says that it has enough bandwidth in its wireless system to serve a group like ours, but really does not.

The difference between journalism teacher and journalism coach when it comes to student publications and why the latter is superior to the former. Contra Costa’s Paul DeBolt, who has almost as much seniority in the organization as I do (I have several years of adjunct experience over him) shared lessons of serving as his college’s women’s basketball coach and how they apply to coaching student publications.

New teaching tools available to us on teaching students how to write more responsible articles that involved mental disorders.

More information on the ONLY undergraduate journalism program in the University of California system and how at least one instructor in the program wants to reach out more to community college students.

Mobile journalism on the cheap with great low-end (low cost) tools and smart phone apps that improve making, editing and delivering  photos and photo stories presented by an instructor from the venerable photography school Brooks Institute of Photography.

How to improve the workflow of assigning, editing and publishing assignments for your student publication.

Updates on curriculum issues facing us all. These include the loss of repeatability for our publications, the creation and adoption of new associate of arts transfer degrees that will save many of our programs and help scads of students –as well as what is fact and what is simply your campus’ Curriculum Committee interpretation of new rules.

What we need to know about the upcoming JACC state conference,

And what has occurred in media law in the last year that we need to know.

I am on my way home from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges’ 33rd annual Mid-Winter Faculty conference, once again stoked with excitement from the things I learned in workshops and renewed acquaintances with my journalism teaching colleagues.

At the same, I am sad for the 60 percent to 70 percent of the California community college journalism instructors who, for whatever reason, opted out of attending the conference. Only about 25 instructors took time from their  busy lives to recharge their batteries in the area of life that makes it possible for them to much of what they were doing instead.

I hold the distinction of being the only person in the organization who has attended EVERY Mid-Winter Faculty Conference. I also had a role in creating the concept of the pre-conference Blue Heron seminar that allows us to explore a single topic for an entire day. And I can tell you now that I will be back again next year. Sign me up now.

Here is a list of some of the things those who DID NOT attend missed out on.

• Blue Heron – An interesting session where the students have become the teacher. Former community college students Aaron Williams and Kelly Goff, who teamed up working for the student publication at San Francisco State University before entering the professional journalism world introduced us to new digital tools for storytelling. Among the things were learned was how to persevere when the Inn at Morro Bay says that it has enough bandwidth in its wireless system to serve a group like ours, but really does not.
• The difference between journalism teacher and journalism coach when it comes to student publications and why the latter is superior to the former. Contra Costa’s Paul DeBolt, who has almost as much seniority in the organization as I do (I have several years of adjunct experience over him) shared lessons of serving as his college’s women’s basketball coach and how they apply to coaching student publications.
• New teaching tools available to us on teaching students how to write more responsible articles that involved mental disorders.
• More information on the ONLY undergraduate journalism program in the University of California system and how at least one instructor in the program wants to reach out more to community college students.
• Mobile journalism on the cheap with great low-end (low cost) tools and smart phone apps that improve making, editing and delivering  photos and photo stories presented by an instructor from the venerable photography school Brooks Institute of Photography.
• How to improve the workflow of assigning, editing and publishing assignments for your student publication.
• Updates on curriculum issues facing us all. These include the loss of repeatability for our publications, the creation and adoption of new associate of arts transfer degrees that will save many of our programs and help scads of students –as well as what is fact and what is simply your campus’ Curriculum Committee interpretation of new rules.
• What we need to know about the upcoming JACC state conference,
• And what has occurred in media law in the last year that we need to know.