Three free e-training resources I find helpful

As a journalist, I love finding helpful online training seminars.
As a poor college student, I really love finding free ones.

So for today’s recommendations:

NewsU

News University has a slew of e-training seminars, and all but a few are completely free. Registration is required, but it is free, too, and they won’t spam your inbox with hundreds of silly e-mails.

  • Math for Journalists: This covers the simple stuff that’s easy to screw up. Things like: Is it 150 percent of the previous amount or a 150 percent increase? How do you calculate percentage change? Where can I go to find the adjust this dollar amount for inflation?
  • Cleaning your Copy: This covers the basics of Associated Press style. For reporters and photographers, this is a great lesson on the things you’re likely to come across in most any article or cutline: ages, addresses, comma usage, etc. I found it especially helpful as a refresher course, as it’s been a full year since I’ve taken any editing classes at UNL.
  • Telling Stories with Sound: Want to know the basics of recording sound for an audio slide show? Here’s an easy-to-follow, interactive lesson.
  • Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Creating Alternative Story Forms: Sometimes a 20-inch story just isn’t the way to go. Changing this up and displaying information in a nontraditional form — like a Q&A or an “charticle” — can help a reader understand the information better. This course gives tips on when to use alternative story forms and how best to pull them off.

Religion Newswriters

I struggled for months to find training resources on journalism and Islam. Finally, I found some here. 

  • Their000000; text-decoration: none;"> webinars include Covering Islam 101 and Covering Islam and Politics. They’re not interactive like NewsU courses because they’re just replays of e-seminars taught live months ago. However, you can download the complete audio from the seminars and the PowerPoint slides used.

Mindy McAdams

  • She’s kind enough to post PDFs and other resources she uses during presentations to journalists and educators. I particularly like her No Fear Guide to Multimedia, which has resources on editing audio and using Soundslides to create powerful slide shows.

That’s it for today. It’s certainly not a comprehensive list of all the training resources I’ve run into, but I think all three sites are worth checking out.

 

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