Fear of technology

In a time and age when many of my generation assume the younger generation understands technology, I have been surprised by the number of people who walk into my class and announce that they "don't know anything about computers." It's a rampant attitude. I beg each and every student who says this to pretend they never said it and give everything I introduce them in my class a try. In the last seven years I have taught as a journalism professor, I've seen a slow change that is now very obvious: It isn't just a belief that some students don't know about computers, many students are simply afraid to fail. I teach students how to think beyond the journalism they have already learned in the radio-television sequence at the Missouri School of Journalism. My students know how to produce stories for on the air and online. They know how to edit stellar video and audio. But there is another level of multimedia journalism that I try to help them add to that solid base of knowledge. That can be scary when many of my students are overachievers who are frightened to get a bad grade. They are so frightened, they are afraid to jump into something new before they even have a chance to fail. I used to just think that was funny and it didn't interfere with my teaching. But lately I have decided it is time to teach my class differently.

In the past I have taught my students the basics of software like Flash, Photoshop and Illustrator. I introduced blog tools, video conversion tools and many other web-based tools that can make delivering online stories a richer experience to the news consumer. The students who try it all walk away with a knowledge of how things work. But even more important, they understand how to talk about the technology. They may not be experts, but they can talk to an expert and be able to understand his or her needs when they work together on a project. I will not stop teaching these tools, but I am going to do it with more help. I think I need to spend classroom time presenting my case for the basic knowledge of software instead of teaching it during class time. I plan on going about this campaign in a number of ways.

First, I want to make sure my students know there is no other time in their life when they will have this much free time to experience and be curious about new tools for journalism. I'm handing them access to tools to explore and an outlet to share their lessons. Each of my students work in the KOMU-TV or KBIA-FM newsrooms. They also have a chance to work within a number of social media outlets for each of the newsrooms.

Second, instead of focusing on the software in the classroom, I will spend more time showing examples of what technology can produce for the journalism industry. I hope to introduce my students to a number of people in the journalism industry (thanks to Skype) who have a wide range of skills. I hope to use their backgrounds to explain why it's important to break past the fear of new.

Third, I have added five Lynda.com courses to my class where my students will be able to take at their own pace. I will not teach software in class, but I will plan to hold open non-mandatory meetings with students who are still confused and want to work through the confusion.

At the end of the class, I expect my students to use the lessons they learned with Lynda.com to produce content that will benefit their online portfolio. I expect examples of photo editing, graphic creation and as extra credit, a use of interactive graphics. I am hoping requiring content that will benefit the student portfolios will motivate my students to jump into learning software.

Not all of my students are afraid of technology. The shifts I am making in my class are focused in helping this group of students succeed just as well as the unafraid.