Translating Journalism Skills into Life-long Learning

“Interactive journalism” involves learning to write broadcast scripts, develop Web sites, shoot audio and record audio, edit digital content, crop photos, and upload the final piece to a Web site. I was lucky to have writing skills and a basic understanding of Web design when I was accepted into a master's degree program in journalism and public affairs at American University in 2002. The understanding of what I now know to be good journalism took time to comprehend, as it was threaded in each of the classes that I took to create a whole picture.

During the program, we typically started out in the classroom for lecture and discussion. Many of us were professionals several years out of college and had a lot of experience to share with the class and ideas to bounce off of each other. With our professors providing real-life experience too, they would cite examples in their writing and editing lives, teach us the new key concepts, and send us on our way. Without having so much as stepped too far outside of a work-a-day cubicle, I was sent to New York to cover events at the Online News Association conference as my first assignment. It was thrilling and terrifying, but by the end of the event, I was reading my news pieces online, with the help of Associated Press staffers in Rockerfeller Center who were kind enough to edit and post stories.

That kind of experience cannot be taught in a classroom and for the rest of the program, I encountered similar situations where I had barely learned a new skill before I was asked to practice it. And again, and again, until finally, it became less foreign. I gained confidence in my new skills and quickly began looking for jobs where I could stretch my newfound muscles. But learning a new task isn't the be-all or the end. Continuing education and tweaking and improving skills should be a lifetime endeavor, not just something we do as students. It keeps us fresh and can prevent us from getting bored, or getting stuck in a job we excel at. Once we master a new skill, we should be on to the next.