Welcome to Journalism 101: Media and Culture.   My name is Rob Prince and I teach in the Journalism department at UAF.   I have designed this course around the fictional story of a pioneering, family-owned media conglomerate called the Haveman Media Empire that is struggling to stay family owned under pressure to go public.   In the story you start as interns in the newspaper division of the organization.  You will be promoted to higher levels within the company as you earn points, or “views’ as we call them in the story.   The media are always concerned about how large an audience they can attract, so that’s why you earn “views’ based on the quality of your work.   The idea is that the better your work is, the more people want to see it, the more views you earn.   Each promotion you earn comes with more benefits and resources to help you in the course.

You earn views through completing assignments, posting to the discussion board, completing quizzes and tests, doing extra credit and, when you reach a high enough level in the course, you can even gift views to other students to help them along.   Here’s how your views break down:

Quizzes: 22,500 Views (1,500 ea.)Discussion Posts: 7,500 Views (500 ea.)
Assignments: 7,000 Views (1,000 ea.)
Midterm Exam: 22,000 Views
Term Paper: 19,000 Views
Final Exam: 22,000 Views
Total: 100,000 Views

Each week you will be assigned a chapter to read in the textbook, a quiz in Blackboard, a discussion question to respond to and, occasionally, an assignment to complete or the opportunity for extra credit.   Some of the assignments will require the use of a digital audio recording device, which could be your computer or cell phone.   If you do not have access to any digital audio recording device, let me know and we can arrange for you to partner with another student on the assignment.

I’m sure you have lots of questions about how this course is going to work, so feel free to contact me at rob.prince@alaska.edu or call my office at 907-474-6249 and I’ll be happy to help you out.   Now get to work.   It’s up to you to help save the legacy of the Haveman Media Empire.   Don’t let us down.