Two further big steps for COPE
New digital formats in journalism education on EU Institutions and EU Cohesion Policy
Acknowledged Higher Education Institutions for journalism education from 27 EU countries, led by the project coordinator TU Dortmund University, convened in Vienna on 19 October 2023. The workshop aimed for implementing profound digital education of journalism students on EU Institutions and EU Cohesion Policy reporting. The European student organisation Forum for European Journalism Students (FEJS) supports the COPE project as important roll-out partner.
More than 50 participants from 27 EU countries met on 19 October 2023 in a workshop in Vienna to discuss new forms of journalistic education dedicated to EU institutions and EU Cohesion Policy reporting.
Already since 1 January 2023 the Institute of Journalism at TU Dortmund University is developing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on EU Institutions and EU Cohesion Policy reporting under the direction of Prof. Susanne Fengler, team leader, and Isabella Kurkowski, managing director. The project is run together with 27 European universities and acknowledged journalism institutions.
The digital content of the online course which is entitled “Covering Cohesion Policy in Europe – Training MOOC for European Journalism Students” (COPE) has been developed by 35 researchers from the following institutions: TU Dortmund University (Germany), AP Hogeschool (Belgium), the renowned organisation ARENA for Journalism in Europe, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania), the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA), University of Porto (Portugal) and the University of Wrocław (Poland).
In 14 Modules BA journalism students acquire knowledge, amongst other, on
- Basic knowledge – EU Institutions and Cohesion Policies
- Covering matters of EU and Cohesion Policy: The role of (local) media
- Journalistic skills and innovative concepts
- Practical application
This first version of the COPE MOOC is currently being implemented in English. The huge challenge of the biggest contemporary EU media project is to transfer the content into all other EU languages and to produce so-called “local windows” which provide perspectives on EU Cohesion Policy from the local angle of every EU country. Richard Brandt and Juliane Niepert, academic researchers at the Institute of Journalism at TU Dortmund University, supervise the translation process as well as the production of the “local windows”. Apart from the COPE consortium members, overall, 21 regional partners have taken the challenge and translated the English content into their specific national languages as well as produced the “local windows”.
The meeting in Vienna with all partners on the spot provided the space for an open dialogue and for a vivid information-exchange. This dialogue is even more important as all 27 partners will provide in spring 2024 a pilot-test-teaching phase of the online course content at their universities.
Susanne Fengler states: “The project COPE is co-funded by the European Commission with one million euros and enables all universities in the European Union to train journalism students at Bachelor level with the same highest standards of journalism education while highlighting also relevant differences from the individual national perspectives.”
The feedback of European journalism students plays an essential role in the COPE project
IJ researcher Richard Brandt presented current developments in the COPE project at the General Assembly of the Forum for European Journalism Students (FEJS) in Marseille on 21 November 2023. The European student organisation supports the COPE project as important roll-out partner and will also review and evaluate the online course after the pilot-test-teaching phase in all 27 EU countries.
This evaluation will be of importance for the further development and finalization of the COPE MOOC, which focuses on the specific needs of BA journalism students. So far, journalism students could rarely find the full knowledge on EU Institutions and EU Cohesion Policy reporting on one digital platform.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Susanne Fengler, COPE Team Leader: susanne.fengler@tu-dortmund.de
Isabella Kurkowski, COPE Managing Director: isabella.kurkowski@tu-dortmund.de
