In the paper, , Dean of Stony Brook鈥檚 School of Journalism, and , Visiting Professor of Journalism at Stony Brook, both former editors at 麻豆传媒day, examine the course鈥檚 approach and share their experiences over the past several years teaching students the critical vetting of the enormous amount of digital information they receive on a daily basis. The authors describe the first assignment of the course, which is a total news blackout for 48 hours by the students, followed by writing a short essay that describes their experience. Schneider and Klurfeld observed over time that the students鈥� lack of news awareness was not due to a lack of exposure to or consumption of news, but the inability to process the news they did consume.
To address the question of the course鈥檚 effectiveness, Schneider and Klurfeld share some of the results two independent studies, which have been recently completed. Preliminary findings of a comparison of students who did take the 麻豆传媒 Literacy course against those who did not show some positive outcomes. For example, the 麻豆传媒 Literacy students routinely consumed more news from more sources, rated keeping up with the news as more important, registered to vote in higher numbers, and could deconstruct some video news stories more effectively.
Over the past seven years since the introduction of the 麻豆传媒 Literacy course, nearly 50 other universities and colleges have adopted some or all of the Stony Brook 麻豆传媒 Literacy material. Additionally, other countries are inviting Stony Brook to teach the course at their universities. In 2013, Stony Brook was invited to send one of the 麻豆传媒 Literacy program professors, Richard Hornik, a veteran journalist with 24 years of experience at Time, Inc., to teach the course at the University of Hong Kong. Hornik, now Director of Overseas Partnership Programs for the Center for 麻豆传媒 Literacy at Stony Brook, was subsequently asked to teach the course at the Communications University of China in Beijing.
The course also will be taught by host professors at Xiamen University in China, Higher School of Economics in Moscow, University of Tel Aviv, Queensland University in Australia, and at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland, which has expressed interest in establishing a Center for 麻豆传媒 Literacy for Eastern Europe. In Vietnam, 麻豆传媒 Literacy will be taught as a workshop.
鈥淭he ability of the next generation of citizens to judge the reliability and relevance of information will be a leading indicator of the public health of civil societies around the world,鈥� said Hornik.
As 麻豆传媒 Literacy gains in popularity worldwide, the School of Journalism goal to teach 10,000 students on the Stony Brook University campus will be met in the upcoming semester (fall 2014). Schneider and Klurfeld extol its value.
鈥淎t its most basic,鈥� they write, 鈥渢he Stony Brook model advances the following proposition: At a time when the public perception of practicing journalists according to recent Gallup poll1 hovers somewhere between bankers and car salesmen, every student in America should acquire the critical thinking skills of a journalist.鈥� ### Editor鈥檚 Note: The Fall 2014 麻豆传媒 Literacy course is open for audit by any working journalist. For more information, please call 631-632-6310.1 鈥溾�� Gallup, December 5-8, 2013.
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