Online Courses, Fall 2017

What is fact? What is fiction? Can we even tell the difference any more? Today's 24-hour news environment is saturated with a wide array of sources ranging from real-time citizen journalism reports, government propaganda and corporate spin to real-time blogging, photos and vidoes from around the world, as well as reports from the mainstream media. In this class, students will become more discerning consumers of news. Students will use critical-thinking skills to develop the tools needed to determine what news sources are reliable in the digital world. Through readings, class discussion and written assignments, students will deconstruct stories, breaking down broadcast, print, web, and social concepts such as objectivity, opinion, bias and fairness and how all contribute to the mix of news reports in today's digital landscape. 

Journalism 300 introduces students to basic reporting and newswriting skills, including interviewing, researching public records, fact-checking and much more. This class includes numerous reporting and writing assignments.

Prerequisite for matriculated UMass Amherst students: EngWrit 112. If you are not a regular UMass Amherst student and you would like to enroll in Journ 300, please contact the UMass CPE Records & Registration Office (413-545-3653 or regoff@cpe.umass.edu) as soon as possible. 

This is a required course to earn the Certificate of Journalism.

This course explores the challenges and issues facing journalists covering global affairs. Students will learn about intercultural communication, overcoming biases in reporting, and the use of social media as a platform for news reporting. They will also examine the work of foreign correspondents from a critical perspective. Through a mixture of readings and news writing, the course will broaden students' understanding of current affairs on the global stage.

This course addresses the principles and practices of public relations and strategic communication in the public, private, for-profit and no-profit arenas. Course includes lectures, readings, multimedia viewings and student-engaged, collaborative and classroom and online learning methods. 

The roles and responsibilities of today's PR practitioners are expanding. PR Professionals must understand and embrace how to integrate social media communications with overall business communications, learn different ways to engage with customers and other stakeholders and navigate a changing media landscape with new technology that drives consumer news consumption. This course examines the role of today's communicators who are developing new strategic approaches to the practice of PR.  Students will learn how to research and evaluate various types of 2.0 collaborative technologies, monitor conversations for reputation and crisis management, develop social media objectives and strategies for integrated communications programs, create and manage the social media communications process, identify opportunities to engage via different networks, develop content for deeper interactions with stakeholders, and use different types of measurement to gauge communications success.  The class will focus on how to align strategic PR and social media programs with higher level business goals and objectives.