Olivet School of Media and Communication (OSMC) has updated its graduate journalism programs for the academic year 2019-2020, placing more emphasis on multimedia skills training.

The existing Master of Arts in Journalism curriculum consists of the following courses under the required "Skills" category: JOUR540 Audio and Video Production, JOUR601 Multimedia Journalism, JOUR603 Feature Writing, JOUR609 Advanced Writing and Reporting and JOUR610 Newsroom Management. JOUR560 Photography and Photo Editing and JOUR606 Social Media and Audience Development, which used to be elective courses, will be added to replace the two upper-level writing courses.

There has been an ever-increasing demand for media professionals to have strong multimedia skills. Basic photography, photo editing and social media are essential rather than optional capabilities in the industry today. With some fundamental training in visual media, students can gain confidence in producing engaging and interactive digital contents for the audience.

The curriculum change also applies to the Master of Divinity - Master of Arts in Journalism Joint Degree Program, which is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between Olivet Theological College & Seminary (OTCS) and OSMC. The 5 courses under the required "Skills" category in the joint degree program will be updated accordingly.

The MDiv-M.A. Journalism joint degree program is uniquely designed to equip students with professional journalism skills and strong theological background to communicate the message of God effectively with the world. It offers diverse career paths for graduates to serve within the church in a pastoral role of media organizations as journalism professionals.

Each summer, OSMC faculty committee conducts an annual curriculum review to evaluate student learning outcomes in each course and whether overall program goals have been attained by each curriculum. The committee has concluded that over 80% of the outcomes and goals are satisfactorily met.

All curricula changes will be effective from 2019 Fall quarter.