Syllabus JOUR352, Online Journalism, Spring 2012

Class: JOUR352, Online Journalism, Room 2105; 7-10pm Mondays

Instructor: Rich Murphy
E-mail: richmurphydc@gmail.com or rmurphy@jmail.umd.edu
Cell: 301-518-2237
Work: 202-895-3130

Twitter: @tvsmurphman

Office hours: After class on Mondays, by appointment or available through email.
Closings and delays: I will post notes to our class blog to notify you of any class time or assignment changes due to blizzards, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods or other disasters. When in doubt, please check our blog before setting out. In addition, the university website posts notices about campus closings. Check blog for other updates.

Goals:

Prerequisites: JOUR202 or JOUR262. For JOUR majors only

Books & Materials: We will be using a combination of required textbooks and handouts (printed and online) in this course:

James C. Foust's "Online Journalism: Principles and Practices of News for the Web" Third edition -- available at the campus bookstores and at online bookstores, such as Amazon.com. Check to see if the campus book store is offering rentals and electronic copies of the book at reduced costs.

Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual 2011 (for print). Please bring the stylebook to class with you to aid in lab work. If you have a slightly older edition of the stylebook, that is OK. (Just be aware that AP recently changed its rules on referencing email and websites.)

You'll also be creating a free personal WordPress site.

Additional Readings: This syllabus and the accompanying class schedule.

Students with Special Needs: Should talk to the instructor at the end of the first class. 

CLASS OVERVIEW AND GRADE BREAKDOWN

CLASS SCHEDULE: TOPICS, ASSIGNMENTS, DISCUSSIONS

Absence Policy: Students are expected to attend every class. Students who miss a class due to illness or emergency will be excused only if they contact me by e-mail to explain the absence. If you know in advance that you will miss a class (due to a religious holiday or other compelling circumstance) it is your responsibility to contact me ahead of time. Extended absences will jeopardize your performance on tests and written assignments; if you miss more than two classes, you should arrange to meet with me to discuss how your attendance will affect your grade. A miss on a day of a test or a day when an assignment is due will absolutely require a note from a health care professional; on long-term assignments, the deadline will stand firm despite a short-term illness.
If the University closes due to weather or other emergency and class must be canceled, students will be advised of assignment adjustments via this blog.

Grading: Each assignment will be graded for accuracy, meeting of deadlines, substance, presentation/navigation/links (for Web assignments), quality of writing (headlines, story blurbs, photo captions and other text), usability and style. Associate Press print stylebook rules and rules of grammar should be followed on every assignment. Factual errors have serious consequences, as noted on each assignment. Letter-grade deductions will be taken for broken links, including for photos, and for navigation that doesn't work. All written and Web assignments are due at the start of class, unless specifically instructed otherwise. A full letter grade will be deducted for each day an assignment is late, except for the finals week blog posts, which will receive an F if turned in after deadline.

Standards, Ethics and Academic Integrity: Students are expected to adhere to the strictest journalistic and academic standards. For this class, you must do all work yourself, without collaboration with classmates or others, unless I tell you otherwise. Along with certain rights, students also have the responsibility to behave honorably in an academic environment. Academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty and plagiarism (including use of unauthorized photos, graphics, text or layout from the Web) will not be tolerated. Any abridgement of academic integrity standards will be referred directly to the campus judiciary. Confirmation of such incidents could result in the earning of an "XF" grade for the course and may result in more severe consequences, such as expulsion. Students who are uncertain as to what constitutes academic dishonesty should consult the university publication called "Code of Academic Integrity," administered by the Student Honor Council. This code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students.  For more information on the code or the council, please visit http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, Chris Harvey. Adjunct instructors teaching JOUR 352/652 at the University of Maryland Philip College of Journalism are asked to work from this. Published stories, tutorials or personal bios linked from this page are the property of their respective copyright holders. Latest version of the syllabus written Jan. 11, 2012; last updated Jan. 12, 2012.