Online Adjunct Faculty – Digital Journalism

Online Adjunct Faculty – Digital Journalism

Join the faculty of one of America’s top public universities at an exciting time of growth and opportunity. The online graduate program within the College of Journalism and Communications (UF CJC Online) is seeking qualified instructors for three new courses in our 100% online Master of Arts in Mass Communication program.

Since 2012, UF CJC Online has transformed lives through graduate education founded in theory and influenced by industry. We offer the most comprehensive, digitally focused online graduate programs in the world. Students choose from seven master’s concentrations and four graduate certificates that offer unparalleled opportunities for professional growth and advancement. UF CJC Online’s flexible programs are demanding by design and competitive by nature. Equipped with the skills needed to move communication forward, UF CJC Online graduates are an unstoppable force for the Gator Good.

Our program offers courses in a traditional fall/spring format (16-weeks each) and one summer semester (12-weeks). Learn more about our program at: https://onlinemasters.jou.ufl.edu/ .

Successful candidates will be available August – December 2024 (Fall semester) to work collaboratively with our administrators and instructional design team to develop one of three new courses. Course development is a formal/paid role. Course creation activities follow a specific process, so all courses meet Quality Matters (QM) standards. The first semester teaching the developed course will be either Spring 2025 or Summer 2025.Teaching contracts will be offered on a regular basis thereafter, dependent on successfully fulfilling the requirements of the role and enrollment demands.

About our Digital Journalism Concentration:
In this program, students will explain the role and apply principles and laws of a free press, identify key events in the history of journalism, and trends in artificial intelligence and current media. Students will master the latest reporting, writing, and technical skills for traditional journalism, digital media, and various genres of storytelling across a variety of multimedia platforms. They will also exhibit respectful collaboration and professional ethical principles and work in the pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness, diversity, and inclusion. Doing so includes thinking critically, independently, and creatively when creating and evaluating both their own work and that of others. Further, students will apply tools and technologies appropriate for various communications professions including social media. Finally, in this program, students will conduct relevant research, find and interview sources, plus present stories in a clear and concise manner.

Course #1: MMC 6936 Reporting and Writing for Digital, Audio and Video 

This course combines traditional reporting skills with the multimedia skills required of journalists today, including writing, audio, video, photo, data visualizations and more. Students will learn to pitch ideas, produce content and market ideas to various media platforms. The emphasis will be on community-based reporting with a strong focus on producing content/stories for specific audiences.

In this course, students will learn to:

• Demonstrate the latest reporting, interviewing, storytelling, writing and technical skills for journalism, digital and social media.
• Pitch stories to news outlets. 
• Conduct relevant research, find and interview sources, and present stories in a clear and concise manner.
• Demonstrate advanced interview techniques.
• Apply relevant skills of each production medium (audio, video, written)

Course #2: MMC 6936 Multimedia Editing

This course covers the many levels of the editing/coaching process that happens when producing journalistic work—ranging from high-level critical thinking to editing with precision. The editing techniques covered will focus on writing, audio, video and photos, so that the editing tools can be applied to multiple forms of journalism—from short-former social media to longer-form narratives and a variety of genres in between. Emphasis will be on tools that are used to help journalists produce compelling content relevant to specific audiences.

 In this course, students will learn to:

• Use peer review techniques to analyze the potentially publishable work of others.
• Provide constructive criticism to others.
• Practice professional ethics and collaboration in the pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness, diversity and inclusion.
• Demonstrate leadership and coaching strategies newer journalists. 
• Practice developing relationships with ethical professionals in the communications industry.
• Develop story ideas based on audience analysis and relevance.
• Demonstrate the latest reporting, interviewing, storytelling, writing, and technical skills to identify story deficiencies and improve the quality of publishable content for journalism, digital and social media.
• Identify story deficiencies and improve quality across variety of media platforms.
• Edit multimedia stories using a range of macro (coaching) and micro (precision) editing skills.

Course #3: MMC 6936 Social Media for Journalists

This course covers the relationship between journalists and audiences, which has changes from a one-way broadcast model to a two-way method of communication. As journalists need to have a respect for an understanding of the people journalism is designed to cover, this course will look at how a collaborative culture is changing journalism and how journalists operate in this world. Course will cover social-media strategy and tools, audience engagement, reporting through social media and more.

 In this course, students will learn to:

• Articulate why and how audiences have an increasingly large role to play in journalistic processes and products.
• Craft journalism that is strategically designed to reach target audiences in predetermined ways.
• Analyze and explain what role journalists and users will fill as information needs change along with the media landscape.
• Analyze, compare, and contrast target “audiences” and what various audiences mean for specific brands, projects, or stories.
• Explain what success means for various types of journalism in terms of its audience.

Basic Instructor Expectations:

• Prepare all course materials prior to the start of each semester.
• Meet Quality Assurance standards for course design through a collaborative working relationship with a team of instructional designers.
• Take ownership of course material and make updates to content and assignments to ensure the information is current and accurate.
• Proactively engage with students throughout each week through meaningful activities that promote student academic growth.
• Engage with students in a professional and respectful manner. Promote a positive learning environment.
• Provide individualized, supportive and meaningful assignment feedback to further student learning.
• Provide students with clear assignment expectations including directions, rubrics and samples if necessary.
• Reply to student and staff inquiries within 48 hours.
• Grade all student work within 10-days of the assignment’s due date or within 10-days of the submission date if the assignment was submitted late.

$6,000/Semester 

• Master’s Degree required. Terminal degree a plus.
• Minimum 5 years professional journalism experience. 6+ years preferred.
• Minimum 3 years teaching experience in higher education preferred but we can train candidates with exceptional professional experience and little to no teaching experience. 

• Experience with Canvas LMS preferred.
• Experience with Quality Matters (QM) standards preferred.
• Online and/or graduate-level teaching experience a plus. Experience teaching a graduate-level journalism class preferred.

In order to be considered, you must upload the following materials with your application. Applications will only be accepted through the University of Florida job portal.

Final candidates will be required to provide official transcript to the hiring department upon hire.  A transcript will not be considered “official” if a designation of “Issued to Student” is visible.  Degrees earned from an education institution outside of the United States are required to be evaluated by a professional credentialing service provider approved by National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), which can be found at http://www.naces.org/ .

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

• The College of Journalism and Communications understands the importance of diversity as a contribution to the industries of journalism and communication in our increasingly multicultural nation and globalized marketplace. We value diversity and the development of competence in intercultural communication and behavior for all who are a part of our College, industry and society. We are committed to incorporating diversity and inclusiveness in our faculty, staff, students, curriculum, research, immersion properties and culture.

The University of Florida is committed to non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations, genetic information and veteran status in all aspects of employment including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training.

Application must be submitted by 11:55 p.m. (ET) of the posting end date.