After a 6+ month sabbatical from twittering and blogging, I am back (more on that later....). I just read that a university in Australia is requiring journalism students to take a course on Twitter. This definitely ranks as the most ridiculous news I have heard this week.
Apparently some students at the university didn't know what Twitter was, and since Twitter - and social media - play an increasingly important role in the world of journalism, it's important that these students know how to use it.
That said, I still think this course is a waste of a college student's time and money. If you're a journalism major and you don't actively use Twitter, then you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. Same thing goes if you don't read the newspaper everyday...but that doesn't mean you should take a college course on how to read the paper.
As a communications major myself, I have plenty of experience with pointless classes (such as Creative Thinking where I learned how to meditate). I also know that if you major in something like journalism or communications, you need to be interested in and motivated enough to continuously stay on top of the latest and greatest outlets people use to communicate - which is something a class can't teach!
Turns out most students required to take the course agree with me and think the class is a "waste of time."* One student was quoted as saying, "The class is kind of pointless but on the bright side, we're allowed to chat with our mates on our iPhones during class. Plus, homework is really easy since all of our essays are 140 characters or less."**
*This sentence is true.
**This one isn't.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment