aejmc - building a bridge grant project
TRANSCRIPT
BUILDING A BRIDGE GRANT PROJECT 2012 AEJMC Bridge Grant Recipient
Amy Schmitz Weiss, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | School of Journalism and Media Studies
San Diego State University
AEJMC Conference 2015
KEY POINTSWhat we did Project outcomesHow to get startedClass componentsConcluding thoughts
WHAT WE DID• Collaboration between journalism and
computer science students during Spring 2012 semester that led to the creation of a mobile news app for the campus
• Website launched in Spring 2012
• Mobile news app, AzteCast launched in Apple Store July 2012 (1,788 iOS downloads)
• Android platform Summer 2013 (294 Android downloads)
• University’s Student Life and Leadership department adoption of app in fall 2012; daily management of news events on campus by SLL staff
• School newspaper planned to adopt app but ran into budget issues; app seized operation in 2014
PROJECT OUTCOMES• Research article published in 2013 in JMCQ on mobile
apps and geo-location news consumption among young adults
• Led to new collaborations between our School of Journalism and Media Studies and College of Sciences
• Students who took the course ended up getting jobs in the mobile industry
WHERE TO START?
Have an idea that brings your students, the campus and community together – establishes learning outcomes for class/project, dedicated students/stakeholders in the project
Brainstorm with students, colleagues/depts across campus, local media and industry about the idea – months in advance
Identify the platform for the build – custom, open-source, etc.
WHERE TO START?
Identify the host provider for project (university, Bluehost, Amazon EC2, etc.)
Identify students a semester before to generate interest in the class/project
Collaborate – work with other departments and local media to build the class/project
Develop syllabus/infrastructure a semester before or earlier – include flexibility for changes during the semester, alternatives to certain assignments or class sessions, etc.
CLASS COMPONENTS
COMMUNITY OUTREACH - METHODS
Beginning of semester:
Mobile Survey administered campus-wide
During semester:
Focus groups (3 student sessions, 1 community session)
Provides valuable feedback for the creation of your project and steps during of where to go next and when to pivot
STRATEGIC ASSIGNMENTS
Create forms of assessment that scaffold the learning experience, low-stakes and are frequent throughout semester:
• Weekly blog posts• Competitive analysis• Usability analysis of platform• Focus group reports• Team reports for different parts
of the build• Sustainability report
GUEST SPEAKERSOutside experts help to scaffold learning and bring in valuable expertise/insight from various backgrounds
Brant HoustonJed SundwallLorie HearnNat ManningBrian Boyer
INNOVATIVE TOOLS/TECHNIQUESiPad Tablets – Video MeetingsMobile Phone TestingBrainstorming SessionsIDEO CardsMind mappingWireframes
BLOGS
CONCLUDING THOUGHTSAccount for more time than you need – be flexible and have alternative plans
Be ready for failure. Experiment – test and try, test and try.
Recognize your technical resources vs. technical hiccups – have alternative plans
Keep it simple
Bring the community into the project – key stakeholders to its success
Once it launches – project is not over. Seek partners, collaborators to keep it going.
If project ends, learn what worked and what didn’t and highlight successes of what it did for the time the project was in progress
