InQueensland Media Academy

InQueensland Media Academy is a twelve-week online extension course in critical thinking and journalism for student from Years 9 to 12, designed by the UQ Critical Thinking Project in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Education – IMPACT Centre.

InQueensland Media Academy empowers young Queenslanders to tell important, local stories through a professional, high-profile digital news service, by giving them the opportunity to join a state-wide network of youth correspondents and publish on the InQueensland online newspaper.

Benefit

Students completing InQueensland Media Academy benefit from:·    

  • Improved critical thinking, writing, and news media literacy skills;
  • Close mentoring by professional journalists and first-hand experience of the news production process.
  • Getting their voices heard by a state-wide audience;
  • The opportunity to explore university and career pathways in journalism and communications.

Target audience

InQueensland Media Academy is designed for students from grades nine to twelve and it is open to all Queensland schools. The course is recommended to students who

  • Display an interest in story-telling, news and current affairs; 
  • Possess time management, perseverance and teamwork skills; 
  • Be achieving an A-B grade for English/Humanities subjects.

Course outline

  1. Welcome news correspondents: induction, direction and prior knowledge 
  2. What is news? What makes a great story?
  3. Constructing truth and preparing a pitch
  4. Finessing your pitch and editorial conferences
  5. Groundwork, fieldwork and how to gather data
  6. Identifying stakeholders and perspectives 
  7. How to ask questions of your interviewees and understand their perspective
  8. Confirmation bias and prioritising information
  9. Text structure and journalistic writing styles 
  10. Information quality 
  11. Social themes in stories  
  12. Conversational denouement and career pathways

How it works

The course comprises:

  • Twelve weekly, one-hour online lessons;
  • Twelve weekly club sessions, to be held at school and facilitated by a school teacher;
  • Independent work for interviewing subjects and developing stories;
  • Online events including project launch, expert interviews, and final celebration.

 

Learn more

Current offering

Round 1, 2021: February 14 - May 6

Round 2, 2021: May 16 - August 19

Round 3, 2021: August 22 - November 25

 

Through Youth InQueensland, I’ve become more equipped with communication skills, particularly in terms of writing more objectively, and increased knowledge about the inner workings of journalism. I’ve certainly noticed that I’ve developed better confidence interacting with external sources and people – especially terms of contacting them for interviews requests and comments.

Year 11 Student – Brisbane State High School – Metropolitan Region

 

It's been an eye opener as to how the world of journalism works, and has taught me to more carefully consider the context and bias of what I read, and what I write. My journalistic writing skills have definitely improved, and I've learnt how to communicate in different writing styles.

Year 10 Student – Roma State College – Darling Downs South West Region

 

This has been very helpful and I feel like I can use this knowledge in other subjects like English and Science. Learning how to interview people is a great skill to have and being forced to do it has helped us come out of our comfort zones to achieve greatness.

Year 9 Student – Tannum Sands State High School – Central Queensland Region

Our Partners

 

The InQueensland Media Academy was launched on 22 April 2021 following the success of the 2020 pilot of Youth InQueensland.