So, I came in and showed them things like Memeorandum, Digg, WordPress, Channel 9, Community Server, ZVents, and had an open and frank discussion about what the journalism world is going to look like in five years.

They are making sizeable changes to their curriculum in response to these changes. They asked me what I’d do. I said I’d merge the radio/TV/newspaper classes and programs together. I showed them Eric Rice’s blog. He writes, does podcasts, and does video blogs. That’s the prototype of the new journalist. Then I said I’d partner with the computer science department. Why? Cause journalism students need to know how to work with geeks to build new media properties. If a journalist doesn’t know what RSS, OPML, CSS, is how can they expect to get a job at, say, the BBC where there’s already RSS feeds on their home page?

There’s lots of market for people who create content, I said. It’s just that you’re more likely to work for a guy like Craig Newmark than working for a newspaper brand.

If you were teaching tomorrow’s journalists, what would you be teaching them?

Update: Steve Sloan recorded the session and put a picture and a report on his blog here. Student Ryan Sholin reports on the meeting here.