Opportunities and challenges for initial implementation of solutions journalism coursework
by Kathryn Thier
As journalism schools continue to respond to industry disruption, some are adding curricula about practices that reframe traditional journalism. In this article, I examined experiences of some of the first university instructors of solutions journalism—critical reporting on responses to social problems—to explore the opportunities and challenges of initial coursework implementation. Using the nominal group technique and interpretative phenomenological analysis, I found two themes: (a) solutions journalism courses inspire and (b) teaching an emerging practice within an established field. Findings suggest this pedagogy is important as disruption continues and need increases to find effective journalism practices and education strategies.