Be warned, another nerdy journalism Twitter story is about to unfold —
While checking my e-mail Tuesday, I noticed a couple tweets pop up discussing what curriculum changes the J-School needs to make in order to keep up with how the industry is changing. The tweets were marked with the “#lfyj” hash tag and several folks across all of the sequences were chiming in on what changes they hoped would be made. But the discussion didn’t include only several students complaining about their education together — instead, both faculty and students were giving input from both sides of the classroom. The discussion is ongoing. Everyone continues to tweet about the topic and now there will even be a joint discussion with a moderator.

Ever since I got to Mizzou in August 2007, there has been a lot of talk in the journalism school about what we could do stay ahead in the industry. Some students are now trying to transfer that talk into action with their capstone project. The project, titled “Letters From Young Journalists,” is proposing some curriculum changes based on the students’ research and experiences. From the project’s Web site:

“The demands of the 21st century job market require a revitalization of journalism curriculum. Graduates must be prepared for today’s newsroom, not the newsroom of five years ago. “

The group has some interesting thoughts (although I tend to not agree with all of them). My major disagreement is with their proposal to remove the convergence journalism sequence, which is what my degree is in. I like where their head is, but I’m not sure they have it exactly right.

The school as a whole needs to revamp their traditional positions on media and try to keep up with the latest changes — this means doing more than signing up for a Twitter account or putting podcasts on your Web site. The news has evolved tremendously even in the past five years. Its fun to make Flash graphics for stories or to use social media to gather citizen voices, but we have to remember that this isn’t the “future” of journalism, this is the now.

Like every other journalism student I’ve talked to, I have a lot of ideas that I think could benefit the school. Let’s hope this capstone project ignites a spark that will push our words into actions.