Diederich College of Communication

  

The Journalism program at Marquette prides itself on training students to do journalism that matters. This means training students to become socially responsible, ethical journalists who can produce important high-quality multiplatform journalism stories that are told in compelling and responsible ways. Beginning their freshman year, students have a trifecta of co-curricular learning experiences that allow them to further develop and perfect the professional skills learned in the classroom. Student Media/Marquette Wire provides hyper-local coverage of campus life; the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service gives students the city; and the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism gives them the nation/world.

Our assessment work this year has helped us think more “big picture” by asking questions about what our program is designed to do and whether it really does what we intend. It has forced us to be more specific about what we envision as minimum levels of competency and when/where students develop these levels. Determining that upon graduation we expect students to demonstrate professional attributes of a mid-career journalist has promoted an assessment of what that actually means in terms of skills and knowledge level. This, in turn, has prompted us to reflect on where those skills and knowledge levels are taught and whether the experiences we are offering inside the classroom and through co-curricular opportunities are helping the students the way we intend.

 

For further information on Spotlights and the Office of Assessment, contact us at assessment@marquette.edu.