And here is how we will wrap up the semester:

Continue to work on your last news packages, if you have not finished, yet. Be ready to give an update at the beginning of each class. Please complete the packages the latest by Wednesday, May 8. Remember that if you are already done with your third package, I let you consider to substitute your final exam with a fourth news package. It will be due the latest on May 8 as well. The final exam will also be due that day. You need to decide whether you will do a fourth news package or the final exam by May 2, the day the exam will be made available.

On Tuesday (April 30) we will meet at 9:30 a.m. on the first floor of Shafer Court for coffee. We’ll discuss your social media portfolios. Be ready to present your portfolio for five minutes. Make sure to bring your iPads.

On Thursday (May 2) you will have your final portfolio presentations in front of several social media experts at 1 p.m. in  our classroom. Expect to be there until 3:30 p.m.

The following social media experts will assess your portfolio. Each of you should expect to present to at least three of them.

Scott Wise, director interactive media CBS 6
Lorenzo Hall, anchor/reporter CBS 6
Karri Peifer, editor Richmond.com
Phil Riggan, new media specialist Richmond.com
Bill Farrar, VCU PR professor
Ashley Shoval, VCU advertising professor

After you receive the feedback from the experts, you will have until May 8 to polish your portfolio for final grading.

To conclude the class, you need to complete a survey that will ask you about your experiences in the class. You need to complete it by the end of day on May 1. This is different than VCU’s course evaluations, which you should complete of course as well.

If you have already completed your assignments, you need to return all equipment on May 2. You can make individual arrangements, if you need it longer. Failing to return equipment will result in a hold on your grade.

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Here are some of the tasks you need to complete during our 15th week.

This is our last week of regular class. Next week you will prep and present your social media portfolios.

This week, you should wrap up your third news package and start polishing your social media portfolios. If you are doing a fourth news package, you should get started on it this week.

On Tuesday, we will visit Community Idea Stations (Richmond NPR/PBS) at 10 a.m. Make sure that you are in the lobby at 23 Sesame Street, North Chesterfield, VA 23235 (Yes, that’s the real address) on time. Give yourself about 25-30 minutes to drive from campus. We will meet with Social Media Manager Ami Kim. Dress is business casual.
Make sure that you check out their online sites and follow/like them before we go. Listen to them on the radio on the way there as well.
Website: http://ideastations.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wcve
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCVE.VA

On Thursday, we will use class time for news package and portfolio production. I will be available for individual help in class.

By the end of Sunday (April 28), your social media portfolio needs to be in its best possible shape. I will check everyone’s portfolio on Monday and will provide feedback on Tuesday in class. The final presentations are next Thursday (May 2) from 1 to 3:50 p.m.

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Journalists from the Richmond-Times Dispatch spoke to the iPadJournos on Tuesday morning about the changes the newspaper has undergone this past year since billionaire investor Warren Buffett took over and ab out the important role social media is playing in the news business today.

By Lesli White (@ELAtimes)

Our visit to the Richmond-Times started with a newsroom tour with office manager Andrea Bedson. She started with an overview of the newspaper’s history. Next, she helped us get acquainted with the newsroom structure, showing us the reporter, writer and editor stations.  After she walked us around the newsroom, she answered questions about her experience with the newspaper, the positive changes that have come out of the newspaper being pulled out of debt by Warren Buffett and how social media affect what the newspaper publishes online.

“We’re not just a paper anymore,” Bedson said. “But we’re still geared towards a printed product.”

The major news of the day continued to be the explosions at the Boston Marathon. Bedson explained that Twitter was a valuable tool in the newsroom because it alerted editors and reporters that the explosions were happening. While Twitter isn’t a “trusted source,” that doesn’t mean it can’t assist journalists, Bedson said.

“Anybody anywhere can tweet something and that doesn’t make something true but that doesn’t mean we can’t check it out,” Bedson said.

The next phase of our tour was sitting in on a newsroom meeting with some of the newspaper’s key editors. We first introduced ourselves to the group and they did the same. Next, they started the meeting with a critique of the morning’s newspaper. Senior editor Paige Mudd started the meeting off with a look at the front page photo selection. They then went through the newspaper page by page. Because of the importance of full-scope coverage of the Boston Marathon explosions, the newspaper included two additional pages on Tuesday.

After reviewing the paper, the editors talked about story ideas for the next newspaper, which would possibly include anything from a new school board superintendent being announced to immigration reform proposals.

When they were done with their meeting, the editors were open to answering any questions we had. One question was about how the newspaper stays relevant with so many competing news sites. Editor Daniel Finnegan explained that because the Times-Dispatch has been around for more than 150 years and has more reporters than any other newsroom in Richmond, it gives the newspaper breaks and edge. Finnegan and the other editors explained again the value of Twitter and the need for more attention when it comes to social media.

The last phase of the tour was a discussion with social media editor Bryan DeVasher (@Bryandevasher) and web producer Melanie Gibson who both talked about the impact of social media on the newspaper, from raising viewership to keeping readers actively engaged in a conversation about news.

“Social media allows us to tap into what Richmond’s thinking,” Gibson said.

Engaging on platforms like Twitter and Facebook helps journalists not only come up with content, but know what issues readers are interested in reading about. There is also an aspect of customer service that can come along with using social media, because you can deal with conflicts readers are having right then and there, explained DeVasher.

Both ended our discussion with tips to help us move forward as journalists in a world in which social media is playing such a dominant role.

“Tweeting will help you do your job better,” DeVasher said. “It allows you to stay on top of the story.”

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The iPadjournos visited WTVR-CBS6 (@CBS6) on West Broad Street on Thursday for a tour of the studio with Scott Wise (@Scott_Wise), Director of Interactive Media. The tour started off with Wise telling the us about the station’s setup and showing.

By Jessica Dahlberg (@JRDahlberg))

Next stop was the video editing bay, where Wise told us how things were done before digital technology was available. The editing bays were strategically placed next to the control room, because staff used to run tapes over to the control room. A lot has changed since the 1990s, because now everything is transmitted over the Wi-Fi connection within CBS6’s building. However, one thing has not changed. According to Wise, photographers still wait until the last second to file their news stories.

As the iPadJournos stepped into the production room there was breaking news happening at that moment. Greg McQuade, a reporter and anchor, stopped the iPadJournos during their walk through the building and asked each one what they wanted to do upon graduating. Most said journalism or multimedia journalism, but a few of us were still unsure. McQuade’s imparting words were that there are fewer and fewer photographers teamed up with reporters. He said that everyone is now needs to be a multimedia journalist and to be able to function as a “one-man show.”

Last stop for the iPadJournos was the studio, where they met Carrie Rose, a meteorologist with the station and social media extraordinar. Rose’s use of Facebook and Twitter has gained her the title of the “most liked” member of the station. She told the iPadJournos that she doesn’t only post updates about the weather. She also posts about space exploreation and cherry blossoms because those are things she is interested in. She said posting about personal things lets her have a deeper connection with her audience.

“When you get to be you, that’s what people like,” Rose said.

View a photo gallery of our visit to CBS 6.

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To Thomas Grasty, a start-up company in its beginning stages looks just like an entanglement of yarn. A bunch of yarn that is of different colors and lengths and all tangled together, Grasty said at his Mass Comm Month lecture at the School of Mass Communications on Tuesday afternoon.

By Alix Hines (@AlixHines)

Grasty’s involvment at VCU was made possible through a Knight Bridge Grant by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, which was awarded to Dr. Marcus Messner at VCU to help bring technology developed through the Knight News Challenge into college classrooms. Grasty worked with Messner’s “iPadJournos” project this semester via Skype and Facebook sessions and also met with the students on Tuesday morning to explore various online video editing platforms to create a “tool kit” for mobile reporting.

Read the full story on the website of the School of Mass Communications.

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Here are some of the tasks you need to complete during our 13th and 14th weeks.

During these two weeks we are planning and producing our third news package. Also continue polishing and expanding your social media portfolios.

On Tuesday, April 9, Tom Grasty will visit our class and will give a lecture on building a media start-up at 2 p.m. in Temple 2219. Please also attend the afternoon event.

On Thursday, April 11, we will visit CBS 6 and have a discussion with Scott Wise. Please be in the front lobby of the station (3301 West Broad Street) at 9:30 a.m. Please familiarize yourself with the news team before our visit: http://wtvr.com/contact/people/

On Tuesday, April 16, we will visit the Richmond Times-Dispatch, do a newsroom tour, sit in on the morning news meeting and will have a discussion with social media editor Bryan DeVasher. Please be in the front lobby (300 East Franklin Street)  at 9:30 a.m. In preparation, make yourself familiar with the Times-Dispatch and its newsroom structure: http://www.timesdispatch.com/about/staff/. Also read the printed paper that morning before the visit.

On Thursday, April 18, we will meet again in our classroom to wrap up the third news packages and discuss career perspectives.

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Here are some of the tasks you need to complete during our 12th week.

This week we are wrapping up our second news package and start working on the third one. You will also start polishing and expanding your social media portfolios.

For class on Tuesday, please bring your laptops in addition to your iPads. We will work on your blogs and develop them based on your own ideas. Also, be ready to give an update on the progress for your second news package.

For class on Thursday, prepare a quick presentation on your social media portfolio. We will exchange ideas on how all of your portfolios can be improved. Also decide on two additional social media platforms you will use and have the accunts/profiles set up before class. Post the links in the file in our Facebook group.

The final day to turn in the second news package is at the end of day on Friday (April 5).

Please plan ahead for next week as well. On Tuesday (April 9), we will have Tom Grasty speaking to our class at 9:30 a.m. and at an event at 2 p.m. Please plan to attend both.

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Here are some of the tasks you need to complete during our 11th week.

Make sure that you have signed up for a Storify account and downloaded the app to your iPad (if you haven’t done so, yet).

For class on Tuesday, please complete the following:

Be ready to give an update on the progress for your second news package. Start thinking about topics for your third news package. You also need to have signed up for a week to manage all of our social media accounts and produce Storify packages (see file in our Facebook group).

You will have Thursdays class to report and produce your second news package. There will be no class session. You need to file the first draft by Friday.

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The following are the links to the multimedia tool kits and work flows you developed in the online discussions with Tom Grasty:

Jessica Dahlberg and Caitlin Puffenberger

Evelynn Escobar-Thomas & Toria Vaughan

Shelby Mertens and Sam Isaacs

Dana Carlson and Emily Satchell

Lesli White and Scott Wyant

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Here are some of the tasks you need to complete during our 10th week.

Make sure that you have posted the work flow for your tool in our Facebook discussion group, so that Tom Grasty can give you some final advice.

For class on Tuesday, please complete the following:

We won’t hold a class session (please see my e-mail on that), instead post your pitch for your second news package in our general Facebook group. Once I sign off, wait for Scott Wise’s feedback. Then start reporting. Also, be on the lookout for the final edits of your first news package on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For class on Thursday, please complete the following:

Polish your social media accounts before class for the second portfolio check (extended deadline from Tuesday). Create an account on Storify and download the app to your iPad (if you haven’t done so, yet). Also take a look at the readings on Storify and news curation.

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