The JMC Innovation Project: A Pivotal Moment for Journalism,Media and Communication Education: Assessing the State of Innovation

A Pivotal Moment

If JMC education is to thrive, then we must innovate. This is a pivotal moment. We are more than two decades into the digital era, and millions of dollars have been invested by universities and foundations in new technologies and new initiatives aimed at understanding and adapting to the new communication environment. Yet, little attention has been paid to assessing the scope and impact of these initiatives. The overarching goal of the JMC Innovation Project was to gauge progress made in developing cultures of innovation that advance new ideas and practices in JMC education. As we say on the Project website, our intent was not to rate or rank individual schools or programs as most or least innovative or to compare innovation efforts between or among schools. Rather, the aim was to discover innovation wherever it is happening—on large and small, public and private, rural and urban campuses—and to identify gaps that need attention.

Programs, Process, and Participants

This self-funded project was completed over a 12-month period from August 2016 to August 2017. Deans and directors from the 91 schools and colleges who are members of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) and the Association of American Universities (AAU) and those with programs accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) were invited to share information about their programs. During September 2016 to January 2017, we completed telephone interviews with 70 JMC leaders, reflecting a participation rate of 78% (see Figure 2 and the Appendix for participating schools and colleges and deans and directors). Additional information was gathered in February 2017 during the ASJMC winter meeting and through school websites.

Who is leading JMC schools and colleges? According to the self-reported bios of deans and directors representing the 91 schools included in the Project, 66% are male and 34% are female. Forty-eight percent come from professional journalism backgrounds, with 2% from public relations. Forty percent are media and communication scholars, and 8% are advertising and public relations scholars. Two percent reported other backgrounds.

Views on Innovation

The Project found that JMC leaders define and approach innovation in numerous ways. (For definitions of innovation in their own words, see http://jmcinnovationproject.com/defining-innovation/.) The word cloud in Figure 1 illustrates common elements in how deans and directors define innovation.

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Figure 1.

JMC Innovation Word Cloud.

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Figure 2.

Participating JMC Schools and Colleges. Light dots, public school; dark dots, private school.

However they define it, JMC leaders view innovation as a key ingredient in successfully meeting the challenges of this time. In rating the importance of innovation as a strategic priority on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all important and 5 being very important, the mean rating was 4.65. Deans and directors from private universities rated the strategic importance of innovation slightly higher (4.72) than their counterparts at public universities (4.61). Those located in the Northeast had the highest mean ratings (4.81) with those in the Southwest the lowest (4.5).

When asked to identify initiatives that showcase innovation in their programs, JMC leaders reported that investments have been made primarily in eight areas: (a) program and curriculum development, (b) new operating structures and approaches, (c) interdisciplinary collaborations, (d) collaborative spaces, (e) new centers and institutes, (f) faculty hiring, (g) extracurricular activities, and (h) engagement with external partners. (See http://jmcinnovationproject.com/whats-working/ for examples of activities in each area.) The following excerpt from the report captures the scope and diversity of efforts going on across the country.

[JMC deans and directors] identified a wide array of initiatives ranging from a drone lab at Nebraska, to virtual internships at Kent State, to a social media command center at Tennessee, to a bilingual writing program at San Diego State, to a partnership on immersive media VR work with the Washington Post at Texas, to a gaming and journalism mashup at American, to a news literacy program at Stony Brook, to an innovation and technology outpost at Northwestern, to an entrepreneurial incubator at Howard, to a new technology lab at Marquette, to place branding through social media at West Virginia, to a collaboration in health communication with the College of Medicine at Kentucky, to a First Amendment institute at Columbia, to a production partnership with 60 Minutes at Elon, to a partnership with the music industry at Middle Tennessee State, to an events management major at High Point, to an online graduate program in strategic communication and innovation at Texas Tech, to a digital ethics symposium at Loyola Chicago, to an endowed chair in journalism innovation at Temple, to a SharkTank-like innovation contest at Ithaca, to Ipad journalism at Virginia Commonwealth, to a new center for communication and civic engagement at Oregon, to a new certificate program in ethical leadership at Loyola New Orleans, to a digital entrepreneurship program at Syracuse, to an innovation summit at North Carolina, to a new social journalism program at CUNY, and more.

These examples show that innovation is underway not only in large, well-funded institutions but also in smaller programs. Notwithstanding such efforts, deans and directors view the scope and status of innovation in JMC programs as limited. When asked to rate the innovation, they see going on in JMC schools and colleges across the country on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being poor and 5 being outstanding, they responded with ratings from 1.5 to 5, with most in the middle. The mean rating was 3.19, with deans and directors from private institutions perceiving a slightly higher level of innovation in JMC programs.

JMC leaders identified many challenges in efforts to innovate, including the fast pace of technological change and industry transformations, lack of funding and other resources, inability to identify and/or hire faculty and staff with special expertise in emerging areas, foundation support limited to a select group of programs, inadequate university level support, faculty resistance to change, bureaucratic roadblocks, shifting enrollments, and outdated tenure and promotion policies. In addition, some deans and directors reported that a reactive mind-set often distracts from long-range planning and that a lack of strategic focus has slowed the advancement of innovation in some programs.

When asked what schools and colleges could or should be doing to advance innovation in education and industry, deans and directors focused primarily on four ideas: (a) embrace an innovation mind-set, (b) collaborate with other JMC schools and colleges on common challenges and opportunities, (c) engage with other disciplines on and off campus, and (d) expand industry partnerships.

The State of Innovation in JMC Programs

Based on the interviews with 70 deans and directors, the state of innovation in JMC schools and colleges is mixed. The JMC Innovation Project found encouraging signs that cultures of innovation exist or are in progress in some programs. At the same time, a number of JMC leaders reported that they are struggling to innovate as they scramble to keep pace with technological disruptions and trends in communication education.

The good news is that the majority of deans and directors place a high priority on innovation in meeting the challenges in a dynamic communication environment. The broad array of investments in innovation indicates that many JMC programs promote and support innovative thinking, risk-taking, and experiential learning. Collaborative spaces have become innovation hubs in a number of programs. Interdisciplinary collaborations are important aspects of program and course development. New bilingual and international programs are responding to the rise of multiethnic media. Student competitions and other special events signal the importance of creative and entrepreneurial thinking. Significant efforts have been made in updating curricula, expanding faculty expertise in critical new areas, and providing students opportunities to train with emerging technologies. New centers and institutes are helping to address emerging issues and industry challenges. Finally, there is broad recognition of the importance of working with industry and foundations in improving communication education.

Clearly, on a collective basis, there are many noteworthy projects underway. However, the interviews also revealed some significant gaps in efforts to innovate, some of which were noted by JMC leaders themselves, including a reactive mind-set and general lack of strategic approaches to innovating. Although nearly all JMC deans and directors identified innovation as a strategic priority, in many cases it was unclear how this priority translated into definable goals and objectives. Some deans and directors were unsure whether innovation was a part of their schools’ mission statements and/or strategic plans. In addition, only a handful said innovation was part of their schools’ DNA and/or important to program identity.

Of course, strategic focus begins with leadership. A shared sense of vision and purpose clearly articulated by deans and directors is critical in creating cultures that foster and promote innovation. A strategic plan that defines goals and objectives and mobilizes faculty, staff, students, and alumni is essential to a school’s ability to distinguish its programs and develop identities reflective of mission, location, demographics, and local and global communities.

An important part of strategic planning is developing measurable objectives and then measuring them. The Project noted a general lack of formal evaluation in JMC programs to track the outcomes and impact of innovation efforts. Although this gap might be attributed to the fast pace of change and the constant need to adapt, measurement is needed to track the effectiveness of innovation activities, to inform and improve programs and projects, to focus resources, and to chart future directions.

In thinking about the future, the Project found that the perspectives of many JMC leaders reflect outdated J-school models that do not account for growth and demand in public relations and strategic communication. Such views might be attributed to a lack of diversity in the professional and academic backgrounds of school leaders given that the majority come from journalism and media. Collectively, JMC leaders seem to view innovation through the lens of journalism, media, and technology. Many deans and directors acknowledged increasing enrollments in public relations and strategic communication, yet, in many programs, these areas have not been a focus of innovation activities. Going forward, it will be important for JMC schools and colleges to take a broader view of communication education in addressing student interest and meeting marketplace demands.

A significant gap revealed by the interviews is a lack of research directed at advancing innovation in JMC. As we say in the report, if JMC schools and colleges are to play leadership roles in driving innovation, then research will be critical in creating new knowledge that helps to advance industry thinking and practices. In helping industry meet the challenges of a new time, creative and imaginative research will be invaluable.

Finally, there was little discussion during the interviews of the need for JMC schools and colleges and their leaders to serve as thought leaders who will shape the future of communication in all its many forms. In the past two decades, JMC programs, to a great extent, have been preoccupied with maintaining their relevance amid the digital transformation. Going forward, JMC schools and colleges must go beyond relevant—they must become innovative centers that generate big ideas. Proactive, forward thinking, inspirational leadership is critical to the future of communication education and practice.

Best Practices in JMC Innovation

Where innovation is happening, the JMC Innovation Project identified five core elements that stood out as essential to the creation and sustainability of cultures of innovation in JMC schools and colleges: (a) inspirational leadership, (b) strategic focus, (c) dedicated resources, (d) collaborative spirit and approach, and (e) curricular currency. Although, as we say in the report, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovating, these core elements provide a framework that can be used in evaluating and advancing cultures of innovation in JMC programs. Key questions to guide assessments in each area are outlined below and included on the JMC Innovation Project website (http://jmcinnovationproject.com/innovation-audit/).

A Final Word

The JMC Innovation Project provides a benchmark and offers recommendations (see below) for future efforts focused on assessing and advancing innovation in JMC schools and colleges. Our hope is that this work will help to inform future investments and future directions in JMC education. Most importantly, we hope the Project will encourage conversations within the JMC community about the need for new perspectives on and models of JMC education that are reflective of the time. In other words, a new JMC.