The Ministry of Education and the Multimedia Center NGO have developed a New Media program for training of online journalists.
Preparation and publication of programs have been implemented under the project: “Improving teaching new media in higher education institutions” carried out by the Multimedia Center and the IREX with the support of the US-Azerbaijan Fund for Media Development under the U.S. Embassy.
IREX chief of party Angela Nicoara said that the development of new media is a priority for IREX in Azerbaijan. The developed training programs are targeted at both teachers of journalism schools and students.
The curriculum developer, head of Multimedia Center Osman Gunduz said that Azerbaijan developed a market of new media, which includes on-line TV and radio, news feeds, and online versions of print media. To work on these resources students should be trained on online journalism.
The training program New Media consists of 5 parts. “Introduction to New Media” is mandatory for all students. Furthermore, students can make a choice among “Multimedia Journalism” (for correspondent of online TV and radio), “Online journalism” (for print journalists) and “Social Media.” According to him, the latter is required by business entities. Online labs have been established at 9 universities as part of the project, where students can prepare multimedia materials
Deputy Education Minister Gulu Novruzov said that the training program New Media is officially approved for teaching in schools of journalism. New media expert from IREX-Azerbaijan Ulviya Asadzade reported that the New Media program can be accessed at az.irexlearning.org. Famous American journalist David Brewer is among the professionals providing knowledge on new media.
International expert Vitali Radsky shared his previous experience in teaching new media. Next, the panelists shared their views on improving professional development in the field of new media.
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