More than 500 young journalists, photographers, designers and their advisers gathered in Los Angeles for the ACP 32nd Annual Midwinter College Journalism Convention, Feb. 18-21. Students spent the weekend immersed in training sessions, attending keynotes, and expanding their professional networks.<\/p>\n
Students also had the opportunity to attend breakaway workshops designed to provide comprehensive, in-depth training in three unique areas related to college publications: thinking creatively, developing a mobile app, and reinventing student media.<\/p>\n
A group of students traveled to Disney Studios to develop creativity with help from Christopher Chapman, Global Creativity and Innovation Director for the Walt Disney Company.<\/p>\n
Chapman guided students and advisers through a series of exercises designed to spark innovation and inspiration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to work harder at getting comfortable and having fun before I start the brainstorming process, and I’m going to encourage my staff to do the same,\u201d said Linda Norland, web editor of The Spectrum at North Dakota State University in Fargo. \u201c[Chapman] is proof that you can have fun yet still be professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapman discussed how to maintain creative environments in newsrooms. Grace Amsden, editor-in-chief of the Puyallup Post from Pierce College in Washington, said the symposium taught her to find ideas and inspiration in everyday activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most valuable things that I learned from this session is that often great ideas occur when a person isn\u2019t under pressure, but is relaxed and participating in some sort of physical activity such as walking or practicing yoga,\u201d she said. \u201cI can certainly share this inspiration with my staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reinventing Student Media<\/a>\u00a0workshop\u00a0was an opportunity to explore ways to evolve into relevant, innovative, multi-faceted news organizations.<\/p>\n The workshop was led by five media professionals and advisers who discussed strategies to increase readership and create high quality multimedia content.<\/p>\n Connor Schultz, opinion editor at The Silhouette, Garden City Community College in Kansas, attended the symposium to learn more about where student media is headed.<\/p>\n The panelists noted that print media is just one of a number of options to get stories into the hands of readers.<\/p>\n \u201cI really left with an understanding of the need for change in our industry,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cWe are in a state of rapid turnover and accelerated change at the professional level, and I think student media has been rather insulated from those changes.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s crucial for student publications to stay on top of digital trends. Mobile apps, the focus of the weekend\u2019s third breakaway workshop, are fast becoming a commonplace platform for delivering news to tech-savvy readers.<\/p>\n The daylong App-a-Thon<\/a> was led by Amara Aguilar, associate professor of professional practice in digital journalism at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Laura Davis, former mobile news editor at BuzzFeed.<\/p>\n Aguilar and Davis helped students choose appropriate app content and gave advice on how to engage readers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most valuable thing I learned was that my publication’s app should not simply be a copy of our website. It should serve a different purpose for readers,\u201d said Megan Abba, editor-in-chief of The Panther Newspaper from Chapman University in Orange, Calif.<\/p>\n Students came away from the App-a-Thon with a working prototype of an app and a plan for distribution and promotion.<\/p>\n A student presents mobile apps after learning about design thinking, UX design, wire framing at #ACPLA<\/a> @acpress<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hQUhsN8Pas<\/a><\/p>\n — Amara Aguilar (@amara_media) February 20, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nApp-a-Thon<\/h2>\n
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