Systems Thinking
What’s at Stake and How to Address It
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Using the map created in Capture, Cluster, Connect, students will use the SAT Model to analyze the forces in their system.
View Exercise
Develop a North Star
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Students are given the opportunity to think about what constitutes success for their work, and the role and impact reporting has in communities.
View Exercise
Surfacing Underlying Patterns In a System
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Students will discover the feedback loops that drive the systems they will be reporting on.
View Exercise
Longreads Analysis
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Students learn a new framework for understanding and analyzing stories through a systems thinking lens by reading and analyzing a long-form piece of journalism.
View Exercise
Stakeholder Mapping
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Students continue to apply systems thinking to their reporting by identifying key stakeholders in a story and recognizing how that can deepen their understanding of an issue.
View Exercise
Capture, Cluster, Connect
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Students learn how to dig deeper into complex issues, to better understand the different forces at play and how those forces are interconnected.
View Exercise
Questions to ask + habits to build
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
It can be challenging and overwhelming to try and unpack the complexity of issues in your reporting, particularly on deadline. Illuminating the larger systems at play in the events and issues you're c...
View Exercise
Uncover Assumptions + Beliefs Driving the System
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Conscious or not, we all hold assumptions, beliefs, and ideas about how systems work, or should work. While often unspoken, these individual and shared ideas, which we call "mental models," shape the ...
View Exercise
Uncover patterns in your story
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
During the reporting process, we see how the issues we cover are often perpetuated by cyclical patterns. We call these patterns feedback loops, which are a series of forces that connect to one another...
View Exercise
Map Your Story as a System
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Journalists cover incredibly complex issues, and it can be challenging to offer deep context for newsworthy events and trends—especially on a deadline. This exercise offers a simple tool for mapping...
View Exercise
Identify Key Stakeholders + Information Needs
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Who is your reporting for? Whose voices are you centering? Taking the time to consider the stakeholders who are connected to and affected by a specific issue can help you understand how you can more d...
View Exercise
Visualize the systems in your reporting
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
News coverage is often dominated by reporting on current events—a demonstration, a murder, the government's response to a pandemic. It's vital for journalists to take a step back, provide context...
View Exercise
Create a guiding vision for your reporting
Theme: Systems Thinking
Type: Exercises
Even while many journalists don't feel comfortable prescribing change, we routinely talk about having impact. Regardless of where you fall in this debate, no reporting happens in a vacuum. As journali...
View Exercise
General
Developing Community Agreements
Theme: General, Community News
Type: Exercises
Students and faculty create a set of classroom guidelines for effective communication in person and virtually, with the goal of building inclusive, equitable and trusting learning environments.
View Exercise
Style Guide, Style Hunt
Theme: General
Type: Exercises
Students will understand why journalism makes use of style guides and how to sort through various online style guides for different topics.
View Exercise
Journalism Ethics
Theme: General, Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students explore a professional code of ethics and think through scenarios for how and when these principles apply.
View Exercise
Mind-Mapping and Storyboarding
Theme: General
Type: Exercises
Students create “mind maps” of their stories, look for new ideas and connections, and create a storyboard based on their findings.
View Exercise
Mapping and Observing
Theme: General, Design
Type: Exercises
Students explore how deep observation can be a powerful tool for journalists and practice different methods of observation.
View Exercise
The Elevator Pitch
Theme: General, Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students hone their ability to pitch a compelling story and learn how to give focused and effective feedback.
View Exercise
Journalism Basics
Jacob’s Ladder Ledes
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students use a different aspect of their stories to rewrite their ledes, learning how to be flexible and gaining a better understanding of narrative structure.
View Exercise
Meet the Audience
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students learn about the importance of knowing their audience and incorporating an audience perspective into the reporting process.
View Exercise
Story Development: Look, Listen, Map
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students develop story ideas by closely observing an environment or subject and applying different information-collecting techniques.
View Exercise
Interviewing 102: The Transcript
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students practice turning an interview into an original story by separating important ideas from trivial ones, identifying key quotes, picking up on nuance, and recognizing when to paraphrase.
View Exercise
Interviewing 101: The Vox Pop
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students experience street reporting and develop a collaborative approach to conducting on-the-spot interviews with strangers.
View Exercise
Interviewing 101: The Sit-Down
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students observe interviews and understand what makes a good, empathetic interviewer, what makes a good interview question, and how to encourage an interview subject to open up.
View Exercise
What is News?
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students explore how to filter hard news from feature news, straight news from commentary, and fact-based journalism from opinion.
View Exercise
Fairy Tale Ledes
Theme: Journalism Basics
Type: Exercises
Students use classic fairy tales to learn what makes a good headline, what makes a good lede, how to judge which information is the most important in a story, and the role of perspective in news reporting.
View Exercise