I’d like to add to the conversation from a blog posted yesterday by the Center for Scholastic Journalism calling for the burial of the carcass of scholastic journalism. Yes, you read that correctly. Scholastic journalism is dead, and the system was flawed to begin with.

Even from my inexperienced view, I can see there’s some work to be done catching up with the needs of today’s media.

Media literacy is a must

And I wholeheartedly agree that media literacy should be a required course for all high school (and maybe even younger) students. We make them learn government, economics and health, and I’d love to hear an argument for why learning to decipher media messages is any less important to democracy.

Experience required?

But I take issue with saying part of the problem is with advisers who don’t have journalism experience. After I left the newspaper world in September, I spent last fall in the classroom of one of the best journalism teachers in the state of Texas (and in the country, according to some contests), and she never worked as a professional journalist. And let me tell you, those students could certainly determine story ideas that were relevant and interesting to their audience, and they don’t shy away from meaty subjects. Shout-out to the Liberator staff led by Janet Elbom at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy at LBJ High School in Austin. I’d link to their newspaper website, but they don’t have one, yet.

Rapid change needed

Which brings me to what I think is the biggest problem with journalism education curriculum right now: the need to incorporate more multimedia and technology. Many educators I know are furiously trying to learn as much as they can to pass these skills on to their students. Journalism education organizations are likewise trying to fill the gap to make these classrooms look more like media organizations today. (And hopefully even more advanced.)

A viable model

With the nature of today’s media, I agree publishing breaking news in a paper edition every few weeks is not effective journalism education. Students should learn to manage and update a website with timely news, in addition to creating a print product offering interesting narratives and in-depth analysis printed on a less frequent basis. This is the model used by The Christian Science Monitor, as well as several high school journalism programs across the country that serve as models of where we all ought to be, including HiLite Online, pictured above.

This change needs to happen, and soon. But a bulldozer? I would say a little redecorating would do just fine.

Educators and industry leaders are calling for journalists to understand and use social networking, and to do so while adhering to journalism ethics and best practices. I can’t stress enough that their education should start in high school at a time when most students already use sites like Facebook.

Not just for socializing

Most high school students I know look at Facebook and the like as social sites with no place in school. There’s a disconnect between Facebook and legitimate online use, which is backed up by the fact that most school districts block these sites from school computers.

This is a foolish, fearful response to sites that are (free) potential learning tools. I’m not saying Facebook isn’t a massive time-waster for many people, but this is precisely the reason that students should be taught how to efficiently use these sites.

Even outside the journalism classroom, teachers could create private groups on Facebook where students engage in meaningful discussions and double-check homework assignments. What better way to remind students of a quiz or share a relevant news article than on Facebook, where they are most likely spending time anyway, rather than on a school’s website.

Potential for j-classrooms

Journalism classrooms have even more to gain from using Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. As a reporter, I was required to have a Twitter account, which I used to find story ideas, track down sources and let readers know what was going on, as well as advertise my stories and blog posts. Every journalist, educator and industry expert I have asked to list the most important skills a journalist needs has included social networking in the top five.

It’s going to be tough for high schools to keep up. I don’t think many schools have blocked Twitter, but Youtube and Facebook are almost certainly on most schools’ “bad” lists. Although there are ways around the blocks (just ask any student to explain), not only would I feel uncomfortable helping students navigate to blocked sites, but it’s also a clunky way to visit these sites. Best to get administrators on board.

Convincing everyone else

I’m no expert in dealing with administrators, but two pieces of advice I have heard from those more experienced: Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, and perhaps more constructive: Even if you can’t access the sites at school, teach social media use and ethics in an academic way and continually follow up with administrators to show them what students are learning. If they themselves become more educated in how these sites can be educational tools, they’ll be more likely to unblock the sites at least in the journalism classroom.

If any advisers have been successful in removing the blocks, I’d love to hear from you. Without further ado, here are some great resources for using Twitter, Facebook and other social media in journalism classrooms.

Resources for social media in j-classrooms

A recent Pew Internet study reported that teens aren’t taking to Twitter, but high school journalism programs across the country are joining Twitter and doing impressive things there from live-tweeting events to engaging in philosophical discussions about the future of journalism. JEA Digital Media Chair and journalism adviser Aaron Manfull keeps a running list of the Twitter and Facebook pages of high school media.

The Radio Television Digital News Association hosted a free webinar Friday on social networking in the classroom that included a rundown of popular sites and tips on using them with students and convincing administrators to unblock them.

The organization also recently published timely social media and blogging guidelines for journalists.

JEA Digital Media provides a wealth of information to get started, including an explanation on Twitter and how to use it and a handout on using Twitter for live event coverage.

Finally, read more about this issue in an article from the Student Press Law Center, which quotes students who articulate their concerns in a thoughtful way.

One of the most challenging things for a newspaper transitioning online is overcoming the existence of a working newsroom that’s spent the past few decades producing a print product.

Print journalists have been told to think “web first” and come up with multimedia components to go along with print stories. Obviously it’s important advice, but to a print reporter, it felt like the web was an add-on versus a whole new approach to journalism. Like, we’ll just keep doing exactly what we used to do but with a website, too. That, and there was a huge divide between the print and online sides. Like we had a different mission.

I’ve seen the same skepticism on the faces of high school journalists in print-only programs. They’ve got their hands full putting out a newspaper. You expect us to put all this online, too? And shoot video and blog?

The high school newsroom, with its smaller and (somewhat) more controlled environment, could be the place where we get it right. But how?

I took this question to Paul Kandell, the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund’s 2009 Teacher of the Year.

The Palo Alto High School journalism program includes two print magazines, a newspaper, a yearbook and a broadcast program, but what I’m most interested in is The Paly Voice, the online news component.

The school has had a digital journalism class since 2002, which runs the website and used to be in charge of putting content from the print publications online. Sounds like what many print newsrooms do: Hire some tech people to upload the journalists’ work to the web. This year though, the program made a significant change: giving the passwords to the print publication staff to upload the content themselves.

This change has resulted in the print journalists taking more of an interest in the website. And it’s freed the digital journalism students to pursue other projects, like building a social media presence (complete with a social media editor) and a citizen journalism project created by the new user-generated content team.

Kandell said that over time, the print publications might become multi-platform brands on their own, which could make the digital journalism class obsolete.

“If everybody is a digital journalist, why do you need a class just for digital journalists?”

It’d be great if all schools had such a healthy journalism program — there are 200 students in Palo Alto High School’s advanced journalism classes — but the classrooms I’ve observed included one or two newspaper classes geared completely toward the print product. This means building the website slowly within the print journalism class.

In that case, equal power between the print and online sides is key.

“When you’re ready to make the switch, you have to go all in,” Kandell said. “You cannot have just the nerdy tech kid in the corner doing all the work.”

Such a setup won’t work, Kandell said. For one, “It’s dull. They have to be connected to the excitement of journalism.”

He pointed to The Feather, the award-winning online publication by Fresno Christian High School, as an example of a program that’s gotten it right.

“They just said, ‘If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right. We’re going to have an online editor and a print editor, and they are going to have equal power in the class.’”

I think the common theme with these setups is that both the online and print operations have a stake in the website and are learning and practicing journalism. There are no tech geeks who are simply told what to do by the print staff, and the “print” staff takes an active role in uploading content and creating multimedia projects. However the program is organized, the line between online journalist and print journalist becomes blurred, so that eventually, they all have the same mission.

One of the easiest ways to build an online presence for the school paper is to start a blog, or even several blogs, that focus on specific topics, such as high school sports or fashion.

Depending on the school and student interests, niche blogs of any kind add value and immediacy to the paper’s news, entertainment or sports coverage. They can also be a great format to bring attention to longer analytical pieces in the print edition.

I spent the past couple of days in award-winning journalism adviser Janet Elbom’s classroom at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy at LBJ High School in Austin.

One of the students who works on the school’s paper, The Liberator, is also a nationally recognized blogger. High school junior Isabel Legate has been featured in Teen Vogue as well as in local fashion magazines for her art, music and fashion blog Animal Talk, shown above.

Legate’s blog was created outside of journalism class and isn’t affiliated with The Liberator; everything she learned about blogging has been through trial and error. She took some time to share what she’s learned along the way and how her writing changes from the web to the printed page.

The inspiration for Animal Talk came about  in middle school, when she and a friend created a fashion magazine. She’d always been interested in web design and html, so taking the topic to the Internet was a natural progression. A few years later, her blog gets about 100 hits a day, and that’s without Legate promoting it through social networking and other means because of her busy high school schedule and a new side project — creating a print magazine on a similar subject.

A blog requires regular upkeep and constant research, so the writer needs to have a passion for the topic. For Legate, it’s fashion and art. Her tastes are changing a bit, so lately the blog has had more of an art focus rather than fashion.

She’s always looking for blog ideas.

“I read tons of other blogs, and then if I’m out and I see an artist that’s really cool, (or) I notice a trend that’s going on that’s really strange or interesting, then I’ll do something on that,” Legate said.

Reading other fashion and art blogs was the best way she found to figure out what works and doesn’t work, making her blog better: “Because if you’re not getting a lot of hits, and you’re not getting what you want out of the blog, then visually it’s not exciting, or what you’re saying isn’t that exciting.”

She suggests students “look at other blogs for inspiration but don’t try to mimic them.”

Also, “don’t try to sell yourself out with ads.”

Legate has received email offers to make money by blogging about particular products or from ads for things like weight loss pills that have nothing to do with her blog. She limits the ads to products that are relevant to art or fashion.

“I just feel like my blog is about my ideas, and I don’t want it to be a superficial blog, so I try not to post where clothing items are from,” she said. “It’s not about consuming for me; I want it to be more about getting inspiration and creating.”

Legate’s blog is a project outside of her journalism class, but the blogging has helped her when writing for the school newspaper. She’s developed a strong writer’s voice, which she admittedly has to tone down when writing for the print newspaper.

“For the newspaper, I have to be a lot nicer,” she said. “I kind of write in a funny, satirical way on my blog that I can’t necessarily do (in the paper), but I think it does help though because it makes what I do write at the Liberator more interesting.”