Boldly Creating Digital Student Publications

One of my 2011 goals was creating a digital product for mass distribution in Apple's iBookstore. This summer, I created an eBook that works on my iPhone and an iPad, though nothing to brag about just yet. However, Ed Madison, a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, recently re-inspired me upon sharing what students and faculty there produced via the game-changing tablet.

Madison's "Creating Digital Student Publications on the iPad" (below) was among the best of the 14 Teach-a-Thon presentations at "Journalism Interactive: The Conference on Journalism Education and Digital Media." He explained that in spring 2010 "we made a bold move" and developed/offered a content development course that came out simultaneously with the iPad's launch. The school teamed 16 of its best seniors into four groups and, Madison said, "the results were quite phenomenal." Earlier this year, he continued, the school teamed with Adobe to allow the students to work with the next version of its digital publishing suite while still in its beta stage.

This video highlights the students' interaction and impressions from the course and is excerpted in Madison's demonstration, at 1:07:00 of the Teach-a-Thon, at the bottom of the conference website's video archives page.

I like that the Oregon students, as one of them put it, got to focus on doing something cutting edge both collaboratively and much more so as professionals – and not just for completing an assignment and a grade. Madison said the school's faculty and administrators achieved this success with a basic three-prong approach: empowering the students to be leaders, supporting them in building a team – then getting out of their way.

The video below also features faculty and professionals involved in the initiative. Take a moment to look at all three presentations. My Digital Journalism II students were inspired. I'm sure you, too, will be inspired.