Scholastic Journalism 2000 Abstracts
Scholastic Journalism Division
What I Know, What I Think, and How I Feel: High School Journalism Experience, High School G.P.A. and Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Success in Newswriting Courses • Kimberly L. Bissell, Southern Illinois and Steve J. Collins, Texas-Arlington • This study identified variables that predicted achievement among students enrolled in introductory media writing courses at two universities (SIU and UTA). Self-efficacy was significantly correlated with writing ability at SIU and with performance on a grammar pretest at UTA. UTA students who wrote for a high school yearbook performed significantly better on the writing and grammar tests than did their counterparts. High school g.p.a. predicted success on the writing test at UTA and on the grammar test at both schools.
Teaching Interviewing Skills Through Multimedia Modules: A Case Study from an Undergraduate Mass Media Writing Course • Julie E. Dodd, Judy L. Robinson and Judy H. Tipton, Florida • The process of planning, designing, and developing a CD-ROM for teaching in an introductory course in writing for mass communication can be a daunting process. The case study shows the stages involved in planning, designing and developing one module on interviewing for the CD. The needed elements for success involve time, technological resources, funding, and teamwork as illustrated by the case study that chronicles the evolution from conception to development.
Nation’s High School Newspapers: Still Widely Censored • Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, Florida International University and J. William Click, Winthrop • It has been slightly more than a decade since the 1988 Supreme Court Hazelwood decision which reaffirmed the right of high school principals to censor stories in the student newspaper. That ruling caused advisers, principals and students to reevaluate the operation of those publications. This study investigates press freedom in high school newspapers at the end of the century. The findings paint a clear picture of a high school student press that is not free, that is controlled mostly by advisers, but also by principals, and that views editing of the paper by the faculty adviser as the norm.
Student Publications Experience of Journalism and Mass Communication Educators • Lyle D. Olson, South Dakota State • This paper presents the results of a random e-mail survey of college and university journalism and mass communication educators about their high school and college student publications experience. The study found that 61.5 percent of the educators had high school experience and 72.4 percent had college experience. In addition, 40.9 percent of the respondents decided to pursue journalism and mass communication as a career before or during high school.
Freedom of Expression Laws and the College Press: Lessons Learned from the High Schools • Mark Paxton, Southwest Missouri State • This paper examines two recent attempts to enact state freedom of expression laws for public college and university students and discusses the prospects for such laws in the context of state scholastic freedom of expression laws in six states. Based on research questioning the effectiveness of those state scholastic freedom of expression laws, it appears to be unlikely that similar laws protecting the First Amendment rights of college students will be as effective as proponents might expect.
Twenty-Five Years of the Fuzzy Factor: Fuzzy Logic, the Courts, and Student Press Law • Bruce L. Plopper and Lauralee McCool, Arkansas-Little Rock • This study applies the science of fuzzy logic, a fairly modern development in mathematical set theory, to court opinions concerning non-university, public school student publications, from 1975-1999. It examines case outcomes as a function of fuzzy logic, and it evaluates interactions between fuzzy logic and the following factors: court level materials involved, administrative action taken, and chronology of decision. Findings show that in general, courts using fuzzy logic favor administrators, while courts avoiding fuzzy logic favor students.
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