The Walter Cronkite School will be offering journalism students a series of Skill Booster Fridays classes designed to enhance students’ skills or give them a head start in different aspects of the profession starting Jan. 24.
Cronkite News Service director Steve Elliott has experience with hands-on activities and will be leading some of the classes, which will be held semimonthly on Fridays.
Elliott has worked with high school teachers since 2007, which led him to the idea of bringing the workshops to college students.
“I developed some very interactive training modules that are designed to get high school journalism teachers from zero to 60 on reporting and writing and some other subjects,” Elliott said.
Everything covered in the workshops is also part of the school’s curriculum, but students will have the chance to test those skills through interactive workshops, he said.
The workshops can also help students learn to develop questions, interviewing techniques and ways to reach sources, Elliott said. They will give students an eye into what they will see in their careers, he said.
Associate Dean Kristin Gilger and other staff members will be collaborating with Elliott to add a variety of skills to the workshops.
“They can get a jump start learning skills such as reporting, online media or videography that they might otherwise have to wait to learn in a class,” Gilger said. “The idea is to give students a chance to try new skills and have fun while they’re doing it.”
The first class will be a reporting simulation, such as a simulated disaster, that puts students in different, fast-paced situations so they can learn how to handle them and think on the spot, Elliott said.
Elliott said he has seen that as new classes come in, students are eager to get involved.
“Freshmen classes are more and more engaged every year,” he said. “They want to gain experience. This is one way you can get an earlier start at Cronkite. Anybody should be able to take these.”
Freshman student Jonathan Diego said he will attend the workshop as part of his 201 class.
“I wanted to go check it out when I heard about them. I think they sound interesting,” Diego said. “Then it was added to my 201 syllabus, and if I like it, I will be attending them in the future.”
Sessions are open to all Cronkite students, though are particularly aimed at the younger students who want to start learning skills sooner.
“We intentionally make it hard, we intentionally make it funny and we make it weird,” Elliott said. “Hopefully people can brush up on their skills.”
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