Objective:
‘Entrepreneurial Journalism’ examines how you can make money out of your skills and launch your own online magazine business. It teaches you about marketing and promotion through developing a professional new media publishing plan and proposal.
Introduction:
Andrew Price, Head of Enterprise Development and Education, Teesside University;
“Final year undergraduate Multi-media Journalism students [at Teesside University] undertake a module entitled ‘Entrepreneurial Journalism’ which is a precursor to their final group project.
Activity:
“In the module they learn about the disruptive effects of digital technology on the traditional news industry and the vital role that entrepreneurship and intrepreneurship now plays in product development in this sector.
“The students then develop a concept for a new and original online news product via the Wordpress platform; evaluating potential markets, developing an editorial strategy, designing suitable information architecture, considering UX and functionality, developing a brand and identity, planning a social media and UGC strategy and community building campaign, and ultimately developing a viable business model with clear revenue streams.
“They are then assessed over ‘life-span’ of the new enterprise via a two minute elevator pitch, a formal publishing plan and a launch advertisement.
“The students then choose from these individual projects the ones that they want to ‘realise’ as their final group projects. These are then built by the students and run live for the assessment period.”
Impact:
Student feedback on both of these ‘enterprise’ modules is never anything less than excellent. The programme overall had 100% employability in the academic year 2011-12.
Learner outcome:
The examples of curriculum development for enterprise related outcomes were originally outlined by Neil Coles at the International Enterprise Educators Conference under the heading 'From Archaeology to Zoology; an A-Z of enterprise in the curriculum'. For his work in contextualising enterprise for any subject, Neil won the 2013 National Enterprise Educator Award.
Resources:
- Link to appropriate case examples here
References:
- Cardiff University Enterprise | Be Enterprising | Make Things Happen. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cuenterprise/. [Accessed 06 August 2015].
- Teesside University - Undergraduate study - Multimedia Journalism, BA (Hons). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tees.ac.uk/undergraduate_courses/Media_&_Journalism/BA_%28Hons%29_Multimedia_Journalism.cfm#coursecontent. [Accessed 19 August 2015].
Author/contact details:
- With thanks to Andrew Price, Head of Enterprise Development and Education, Teesside University
- a.price@tees.ac.uk