Course intentions have left many of Ryerson’s second-year journalism students huddled in corners, rocking back and forth and crying for their mothers.
Cry no more, young padawans. The faithful folks at The Eyeopener are here to help.
Yes, the journalism curriculum is changing, but after sitting and pondering the thousand tables for a few hours, things started to make sense. WE DID THE WORK, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO!
Let’s take this nice and slow.
Here is the old curriculum:
JRN 123
LIBERAL STUDIES: Two courses from Table B.
PROFESSIONAL*: Five one-count (or equivalent) courses from Table I.
PROFESSIONAL: One course from Table II.
PROFESSIONALLY-RELATED: One course from Table III.
And the new curriculum:
JRN 123
LIBERAL STUDIES: Two courses from Table B.
PROFESSIONAL: Four one-count (or equivalent) courses from Table I.
PROFESSIONAL: One course from Table II.
PROFESSIONALLY-RELATED: One course from Table III.
PROFESSIONALLY-RELATED or OPEN ELECTIVE: One course from Table I, Table II, Table III or Open Elective Table.
All that is changed here is this:
- They’ve taken the five-counts from Table I and split it into FOUR counts from Table I and ONE count from Tables I, II, III or the open-elective table. Basically, all they’ve done is give you more options.
- The new Table II is shorter (no doc survey or business of journalism) because those courses moved to Table II Group B.
- Table I courses have changed a bit. For example, JRN 204 used to be called ‘infographics’ and now it is called ‘data journalism’.
- Certain courses are still on tables but aren’t really being offered — such as Opinion Writing (JRN 503), or News Reporting Workshop (JRN 304). According to j-school chair Ivor Shapiro, this is because Digital Reporting Workshop is gobbling up news reporting. Let’s be real, he said (I’m paraphrasing), everything is digital so j-school’s gotta stay fresh.
Beverly Petrovic, our lovely student affairs coordinator, tried to clear up some of the confusion by sending us an email. It looked a lot like the old calendar — which resulted in a lot of crying at The Eyeopener headquarters — but if you follow what she sent, you likely won’t get a lost.
And if you do, she and I have one last piece of advice for you:
Follow your advisement report. For the sake of Lisa LaFlamme’s hair, follow your advisement report.
If you feel like course intentions are trying to kill you, e-mail farnia.fekri@gmail.com with questions. Or seek professional help.
Leave a Reply