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MATC to offer new journalism course this fall
“Hybrid” course will be offered mostly online
Designed specifically
to meet the educational needs of students who want to learn the craft
of news reporting but who do not live in the Madison
area, Madison Area Technical College will offer a hybrid/online Newswriting
and Reporting class for the fall 2005 semester. The public will be
able to sign up for the class starting July 25 during open registration
for
fall.
This four-credit course, designed for those students who
want to learn entry-level news reporting skills but prefer not to enroll
in a “traditional” journalism
class, will be offered through a unique delivery system: Students will
meet in class at the school’s downtown Madison campus during the
first four weeks of the semester on Tuesday nights, said Larry D. Hansen,
journalism instructor. For the remainder of the semester, students will
meet online for class discussions, lectures, workshops and exams.
“I’m really excited about this new way of teaching a journalism
course,” said Hansen. “Through this hybrid/online approach,
students only need to travel to the Madison campus four times for class.
For the majority of the semester, they can study, learn and practice
the craft of news reporting right in their own communities. Those reporters
can then turn their class assignments into ‘real world’ articles
ready for publication in their hometown newspapers.”
The class will
focus on the skills and knowledge needed by a general assignment reporter:
interviewing, using the Internet for secondary research,
crafting the news story, reacting to spot news events, examining the
reporter’s role in a democracy, knowing the libel and open records
laws, understanding the different branches of state and local government
and being sensitive to ethics and the moral responsibilities of journalism.
The course assignments will be divided into five modules: covering a
speech, covering a political meeting, reporting police news, writing
a human interest story, and localizing a national news event.
Hansen,
who has been an MATC instructor for 10 years, also has 15 years of
journalism and professional writing experience. He has been reporter
for a bi-weekly newspaper (Redwood Falls Gazette in Minnesota) and
a daily newspaper (Portland Press Herald in Maine). He has also been
a
general interest magazine writer (The Northeastern in Boston, Massachusetts),
a human interest columnist (Greater Portland Magazine in Maine) and
business correspondent (USA Today).
For more information, contact Hansen at (608)
258-2389 or lhansen@matcmadison.edu.
MATC is one of the largest of the Wisconsin Technical
College System’s
16 colleges and serves approximately 50,000 individuals annually. It
provides a comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and science,
adult basic education and life enrichment studies and activities, as
well as customized employee training. MATC provides training in more
than 100 career programs. It awards associate degrees, vocational diplomas
and certificates, and offers non-degree courses. The college serves all
or parts of 12 counties located in south-central Wisconsin and offers
instruction through five campuses and various locations throughout the
district.
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Last
Modified:
July 18, 2005
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