THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013
ACADEMICS
PAGE 3
University launches two-week courses over break
ASHLEY BOOKER
abooker@kansan.com
While many students may be working or catching up on sleep during the semester break, a handful of journalism students will be virtually raising their hands from Dec. 30 to Jan. 24 in the first online, minimester courses in the University's history.
Many other schools around the country have interterm classes, but they have never before been offered at the University, until now. "We are moving in the direction of offering minimester courses campus-wide," said Sara Rosen, senior vice provost for academic affairs.
The School of Journalism has been working on this idea since the beginning of the semester, and it has finally become a reality.
"The idea of the minimester is to provide short, intensive courses at times when students can either pick up a needed course, explore new areas including experiential learning opportunities or pick up a short course that will prepare them academically for the next set of courses." Rosen said.
Both "Visual Storytelling" and
"Multimedia Web Development" were carefully selected to measure if a required course or an elective course would be more successful.
Much to their surprise, "Visual Storytelling," the required course, filled the day after it opened, and "Multimedia Web Development," the elective course, filled 13 days after it opened, said Kelli Nichols, assistant dean at the School of Journalism.
Both courses may be popular but their course styles are very different. "Multimedia Web Development" is a course that has been created from the ground up and allows students to help develop the course as well.
This class will create a mobile website* for the School of Journalism to supplement the current desktop website. Students will meet virtually online through Adobe Connect where they will be able to screen grab Associate Professor Doug Ward's screen, press a button to raise their hands and also message back and forth, among other things.
sessions with the class as a whole and will also poll what career fields students want to participate in, since the class will be group-project based.
This class will help with the ability to collaborate online, Ward said. He believes collaborative teamwork with a client (the school's public relations department) reflects where future journalism careers are going.
Sara Anees, a junior from Wichita, will assist Ward as well as attend the class. She has been drafting a proposal for the mobile site and also collecting photos and videos that may be used for the website as well.
"I think that it will be nice to work on a project that is interesting without having as many obligations."
Unlike "Visual Storytelling," "Multimedia Web Development" will be asynchronous — where students work on their own time compared to getting online at the same time.
It is part of the University's goal to prepare students for what the working world is like, because in that world, it is unrealistic to have a five-week break.
Even though both 16-day courses may be rather intense, both minimester professors and Dean Brill aren't worried about journalism students. But they understand students will need to stay focused and motivated.
This class is offered in the regular 16-week online course and also condensed in the 8-week online summer course. Michael Williams, associate professor at the school, understood it could be condensed yet again and only had to cut back on one assignment in order to do so.
Brill said the school needs to think, "How can we better model what will be the working environment for people?"
SARA ANEES Junior from Wichita, Kan.
"I think that it will be nice to work on a project that is interest-
without having as many obligations." Anees said.
Kimberly Kaehn, a senior from Dallas, will take "Multimedia Web Development," during the minimeter since she will be working as a marketing intern for Peoples Bank in the spring.
"I enrolled in the course hoping that it will better prepare me for the internship." Kaehn said. "I will have more time in the spring to focus on school, my internship and applying to entry-level jobs."
The two minimester courses at the School of Journalism were made possible through a collaboration of work since early fall with the school's staff, Academic Affairs staff, the Center for Online and Distance Learning, Information Technology, the Office of University Registrar, Bursar's office, and also Financial Aid.
Both classes' success will be measured through evaluations and student feedback while participation will be measured through online log time. But as of right now, both minimesters have been initially successful based on sheer desirability.
—Edited by Paige Lytle
POLITICS
Kan. senator, GOP foe squabble on ethics issues
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA, Kan. — The campaigns of U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and the Kansas Republican's primary challenger are sparring publicly over ethics issues, increasing the acrimony in their already contentious race.
Roberts' executive campaign manager, Leroy Towns, filed a complaint last week with the Senate Ethics Committee against challenger Milton Wolf because Wolf hasn't yet filed a required financial disclosure form. Towns asked for an investigation, saying that Wolf's missing a 30-day deadline to file
one form raises questions about whether voters can trust him.
But Wolf spokesman Ben Hartman said the challenger will file the form soon, within a grace period that's typically given to new Senate candidates. Then, the Wolf campaign cited 16 instances since 2000 in which the Federal Election Commission questioned items in Roberts' campaign finance reports.
Federal law requires a congressional candidate to file the disclosure form within 30 days of becoming a candidate, and Wolf filed a statement of his candidacy on Oct. 23, making the deadline Nov. 22.
Wolf's campaign also accused Roberts of abusing his seat on the Senate Ethics Committee in an attempt to intimidate his challenger. Towns said there's nothing to the allegation and accused Wolf of being willing to "make facts up."
Roberts, 77, is seeking his fourth, six-year term in the Senate and has worked in Washington as either a congressional aide or a member of Congress for nearly a half-century, a career that had made him an icon in Kansas GOP circles. But Wolf, a 42-year-old Leawood radiologist, is running as a tea party candidate and attacking Roberts as a career politician. The primary is in August.
Hartman said 'towns' complaint was "an attempt to get a cheap headline."
The same federal law says that candidates who file their reports more than 30 days after their deadlines must pay a $200 penalty. Also, the committee can grant extensions of deadlines of up to 90 days, and Roberts himself received such an extension last year, according to records available online.
"It shows that they recognize that Senator Roberts has some very large vulnerabilities," Hartman
trust are two of the most import ant aspects of public service."
But Towns, a former Ethics Committee staffer, said the complaint is serious. Towns said the committee's rules will require Roberts to remove himself from the case if the panel investigates Wolf, adding that the complaint was filed with the panel because that's the appropriate venue.
said. "It shows that they're not going to campaign on the issues."
The complaint said Wolf is required to file the disclosure form, listing income and their assets "to provide the public an accurate assessment of his financial status." The Roberts campaign added in a statement, "Transparency and
According to the 30th Annual PNC Christmas Price Index, it would cost you $27,393.17 to purchase all the gifts from the "12 Days of Christmas" song, up 7.7 percent from last year.
POLICE REPORTS
- A 23-year-old female was arrested yesterday on the 1800 block of Louisiana Street on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence, no driver's license in possession and no insurance. A $700 bond was paid.
- A 21-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1200 block of Oread Avenue on suspicion of consumption or possession of liquor in public and criminal trespassing. A $200 bond was paid.
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
—Emily Donovan
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