Dear Journalism friends,

I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was marvelous! I sure had a great time with my relatives. We filled our bellies with delicious food, laughed a lot. And, of course, I talked about my current journalistic endeavors. :)

So I got a grade on my very first exam in journalism studies: An A-! I was very happy, although I still have to figure out how to get an A+. :) I'm happy, though. It was my first try and the result is more than satisfying. I'm a person of constant improvements. So next time, I just want to make sure I get all the answers right.

So what else is new? I guess I started a new module book called "Business and Trade Journalism". Why, you ask. Well, I thought this might be an interesting current and future topic for journalists. It has nothing to do with politics (although - who knows?). I have always been interested in the world of business. So that's why I'm really excited about this topic. I will talk about this module in detail next time. So far, I only got to read the very first page. Thus, not much to tell at this point.

I've been thinking a lot about the objectivity topic in journalism that everyone talks about right now. Ever since the election happened, people realized that objectivity in (political) journalism is at stake. But was it ever any different - did we ever have objectivity in journalism? Do we need it? Yes, we do. It is supposed to be an ethical goal. Journalists carry an important responsibility: Informing people without pushing them in a certain direction.

Stay tuned until next week!

Yours,
Katy

Pre-Thanksgiving Exam

Dear Journalism friends,

So I took my first online exam ever this week. I can't say that it was easy. I can't say that it was hard, either. I definitely learned a lot during the process. The online access to an exam is definitely something I have to get used to. I have not taken any exams online ever before.

Look, usually, you have a piece of paper (or several) right in front of you. You can feel the pen in your right (or left) hand. Now, you have to press down the keys, there is a monitor and there is a software - hopefully reliable enough - to test your skills. In the end, it is the tutor who grades your exam, of course. But who knows? That thought of a software grading my exam came to my mind after I took the exam.

Now, let's evaluate the accessibility and handling of the software. I suspected it to be somewhat scarier than it actually was. I was surprised of how "easy" it was to log on and click through each single task. Each task opens in a separate window so it is never too distracting to see all the tasks at the same time. I really liked that a lot. I will be getting a grade for it sometime within a few days. After calling the students office, a really nice secretary told me that it usually takes only a couple of days. So now I'm all on fire! I can't wait to receive the result!

I will be going home for Thanksgiving. My grandmother is making the Turkey every year. I will tell her and all the other relatives about my studies.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (And stay tuned).

Katy

Taking exams at home!!!

Dear Journalism friends,

what a week! I have been studying like crazy, and I managed to finish an entire module in only one week. Yes, I did it! On a side note: This module book has 35 pages, including exercise tasks after each chapter. Have you ever had a moment where you felt really proud of your achievements? I have this moment. But I'm not getting too comfortable. There is still so much more work to do - I'm just getting started.

Oh, I have "attended" one of their online seminars for the first time. It was weird, but at the same time very helpful for students who were attending. First, I wasn't really sure what to "say" or "ask" in this virtual seminar room. But eventually, I figured it out - also, the tutors were very understanding and helped me out. All in all, it is a good thing to have online seminars, especially if you're learning on your own. I even think it's a must-have for every online course. So there it is, my first positive experience!

I decided to take a little break now over the weekend. There is still an online exam to take but not until some time next week. I can take it anytime I want - isn't that great? I can be totally relaxed hat home (but I still will be a little bit nervous - I hate taking exams, but from at home it will be so much easier) and take the exam! No teacher standing there and watching me all the time, no uncomfortable classroom where the clock's ticking. It is totally awesome to take an exam on my couch where I can hold a cup of tea every once in a while during the exam.

I will let you know how it went!

Stay tuned and be good.

Hello Journalism friends!

Have you ever wondered about learning methods specifically for online students? What they really need is a lot more discipline. Because there is not teacher in a classroom who is trying to push you through a class and is giving you homework. You are entirely on your own. You have to make your own schedule, do your "homework", repeat the learning material and so on.

I have been asking myself this question: What is a good learning method for me? Well, I have lots of trouble with just memorizing. I find that incredibly boring. Also, you will forget everything after just a few days. It depends on how intense and how long you have been memorizing learning material. The best way for me is creating my own metaphors. It is not always easy, depending on what you are learning. But you should give it a try, too.

If metaphors won't work for you, there are some other ways to "memorize" learning material, I'm sure. I have not thoroughly enough looked into that yet. Maybe I'll find out more and write about it in my next blog entry.

So I have finished/completed the module including the online exam. It was not a picnic after all, but I don't like it to be too simple. It is good that it's challenging. I will get graded on my online exam over a period of two weeks I suppose.

Well, not much more to tell for today. Have a good one, friends! Stay tuned.

Katy

Interviewing is fun!

Hello again, dear readers!

This week has been a good experience. I have actually read the entire module book on how to conduct an interview in just one week! It was quite a lot of work, but I really enjoyed reading it. What I still need to do is working through all the exercises after each chapter. These exercises look like a good training method for students. I really appreciate this method as it forces me to read and memorize/learn from chapters right away. So I will do just that over the weekend.

There has been quite some talk about the objectivity of journalism, or whether it has become less objective. This is a very tough topic. My personal opinion is that journalism can never be 100% objective because it is just the "job" of a journalist to evaluate and put some of your own personal opinion into an article. However, I think journalists should try to keep it as objective as possible, for example by considering different opinions and trying to evaluate them. I wonder if the internet is partly responsible for all this talk about objectivity. Sometimes it seems to be as if journalism has become solely a piece of someone's "personal opinion".

If I ever become a successful journalist, I will try my best to keep my writing as objective as possible.

Take care until next week. There will be an update on the finishing of my first module. I probably will have taken the online exam by then.

#objective journalism #interviews #firstmodulefinished #onlinestudies #journalism