OK, the big day is here…I get to sit in a university classroom as a student for the first time in 24 years. I’ll be blogging about the experience of working on graduate degrees in mass communications, with (I hope) special attention on the tools and technologies involved.

Last week was orientation, and I learned a number of interesting things. Among them:

There are over 10,150 graduate students at the University of Florida

Of those, 10,000+ students, 7 are entering the master’s program in journalism.

A number of people have asked why I’m doing this, and the simplest answer is that I’d like to be able to teach at the college level. I’ve always enjoyed working with young writers, and I believe I could help people become better journalists. There are other reasons, of course, and one of them is that this is a very exciting time to be a journalist. Heaven knows there are stories begging to be told, and the ways they can be told keep expanding. I’m fascinated by the “class warfare” that’s broken out between those who blog and those who don’t (I suspect you can tell which side I’m on), and would like to help figure out ways to keep everyone who commits journalism on the same side. Jay Rosen’s piece in the L.A. Times has good examples of the good work bloggers can do–we just need much more of the good work.

There will be more later in the day…this is going to be quite the adventure.

Technorati Tags: journalism, university, graduate, blog

Categories: Media, Grad School