Further exploration of my exciting new Open University Exploring Science course material reveals its true pedigree. Its progenitor is the wonderful Ladybird Junior Science series, which used to edify and entertain the youth of yesteryear, before they discovered Miaow Miaow and Asbos. The pack contains an intriguing box of small rocks and a magnifying glass, which […]
Regular readers will be aware that Freelance Unbound has a habit of taking the modern media to task for being, basically, scientifically and statistically illiterate. Clearly though, the blog risks ending up a hostage to fortune, as I inevitably make the same mathematical and scientific errors that I castigate others for. For this reason, I […]
Just how bad can journalism student assessment work be, in terms of spelling, grammar, punctuation and general accuracy? The answer: pretty bad. Let’s have a look at some of the most common (certainly the most noticeable) problems with student assessment work this year. Apostrophes No student, absolutely none, has the remotest clue how to use […]
I’ve been rewriting some undergraduate course descriptions for online journalism and I’ve realised I have one big problem with them. I can’t think how to update the recommended student book lists. One problem is that whatever I choose has to have longevity. Every time a course is rewritten, it has to be validated by an […]
It’s student hand-in today for one of the online journalism modules I teach. And students who have not made an appearance for weeks – sometimes months – are suddenly sloshing content into their site as if there were no tomorrow. Which, technically, there isn’t I guess. I don’t know why I thought it would be […]
Just finished my first teaching session at Solent University – giving first year journalism students an introduction to web audio. It all went fine – certainly I had no trouble from the IT, unlike other teaching experiences I’ve had [*cough* UCA], and the students were, in the way of all the journalism students I’ve taught […]
This burning question popped up in this morning’s blogging masterclass – an ideal topic for a blog post, coupled with a poll question (now added to the sidebar below. Will it work? Who knows. UPDATE: Yes it does. Fantastic). So – voting in the seminar room seems to split along the lines of “Yes”, “No”, “Not […]
A last-minute booking to sit in on first-year undergrads at UCA Farnham’s journalism course means I get to wade through a pile of blogs in a professional capacity – as opposed to my usual practice of wading through a pile of blogs for geeky fun. The students are doing the online module, which means they […]