Web Training encourages Smart Schools partners to revive campus paper
One cannot deny the important role of campus journalism.
It is a vehicle to celebrate school victories, a venue for
meaningful discussions, and a journal of what’s happening in campus and
the outside world as it relates to student life.
Also a training ground for aspiring journalists, it provides
opportunities for student writers to hone their skills. And most
importantly, it is a powerful tool in getting the students involved.
Today, however, it is unfortunate that the potential of campus journalism is not realized in most public schools.
Due to lack of funds, most schools reduce the number of issues from
a measly twice a year to a single issue annually. Some schools
have also started printing their paper in black and white to save on
cost. There are parents who have also expressed their desire to
completely eradicate the school newspaper because it only adds up to
the fees.
And while school publications are still actively read by student
bodies, the news is no longer fresh due to the very long process of
collating, lay-outing and publishing. Some school papers don’t
even get printed until the school year is over.
To address this problem and as part of the continuous training component of its Smart Schools Program
(SSP), Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) recently conducted a workshop
on Content and Web Development for student and teacher representatives
from SSP partner-schools.
In the course of the week-long training, SMART presented online
campus journalism as a viable alternative to the traditional printed
newspaper which can be costlier and longer to produce.
Faculty
members and students of Smart Schools Program partner schools learn
skills that can help them produce their campus papers online, which is
faster, easier and cheaper than the traditional method.
Unlike the traditional way, where everyone has to wait for months to
get news published, an online school newspaper enables the writers to
upload information through the Internet in a matter of minutes.
As a preliminary to having an online campus newsletter, selected
students and faculty members were trained on content generation and web
development.
The participants trained for content generation were given lectures
and hands-on activities on research methodologies, news and feature
writing and photojournalism.
Activities for content generation were also in line with SMART’s Doon Po Sa Amin project
which promotes the generation and sharing of web-based information and
educational materials about their respective communities.
Partner schools have responded by making online contributions via
the Smart Schools Program and the DPSA websites. SMART is now
leveraging on its network of partner schools to increase online
contributions via campus journalism but eventually hopes to engage
other communities via community journalism, exploring partnerships with
local media and/or mass communication groups.
Vilma Cleope, moderator of Guinayangan National High School’s Ang Sinag (The Ray of the Sun), says, “Since
it is now easier to publish articles through the online newspaper, we
can now include articles about our town and province. Guinayangan
in Quezon has many tourist attractions that are not known to
many. Also, as we incorporate the school website into the online
newspaper, we plan to create a registry for the alumni, especially the
ones abroad, and even solicit funds for school projects from them.”
For most participants, the introduction of online features such as
video blogging was very appealing since this will enable them to post
videos of school events and activities.
The participants go through exercises on data gathering for the content track of the training.
“In our school, students are very eager to submit articles. A
lot of them have also been posting videos on youtube. This is
because most of them are tech-savvy. With an online newspaper, a
single venue is created to put everything together,” says May Ann
Macaraig, moderator of Eastern Wave, the school organ of Bonoan Boquig National High School in Pangasinan.
Jona Pielago, moderator of Isang Uhay (One Grain of Rice),
admits that she is not a techie. She still prefers using Manila
paper to the Powerpoint for her lectures. But she would like to
get used to the online newspaper because of its benefits. “A website
for feedback is definitely a better alternative to the ‘suggestion drop
box’ we are currently using,” says the teacher from Tagaytay City
Science National High School.
As the schools venture into the online world of campus journalism,
they are guaranteed support from SMART in the form of supplemental
training, technical assistance, access to the Internet, and free web
hosting.
(Published 15 June 2009, Smart Communications, Inc.)
