When programming is applied to other disciplines (e.g., media, digital humanities), it benefits from the students’ focus on a particular project as the broader objective [2] as well as the creation of a collaborative studio setting rather than a traditional lab [9]. For example, game design requires students to participate in “experimental, iterative, and creative processes that include coming up with solutions to complete problems and adjusting to unexpected changes” [9]. Using these models, schools of journalism are establishing labs to rethink the presentation and distribution of journalism content [7] which may be in the form of virtual reality documentaries [4], data visualizations, or other new modality.

Therefore, the purpose of this online book is to serve as a space for an ongoing dialogue for communication faculty engaged in teaching practices related to coding as described above. This may include coverage of both professionally skills and pedagogically-oriented platforms, such as App Inventor, which allows users/students to make functional apps in a hybrid drag and drop/block coding format [3] and learn the basics of coding during the process of making. Numerous examples exist and the book ideally will eventually cover as many of these as possible.

The current state of this book is just that—its current state. Any faculty or interested person (including students) wishing to add to this collection can contact the editor, Jeremy Sarachan (jsarachan@sjfc.edu) to inquire about the possibility of adding their own research or classroom case study to the site.

As an introduction to the current state of coding in the curriculum, a survey of chairs of communication departments associated with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) were surveyed (with an overall response rate n=48). The results likely represent greater participation from those departments that incorporate interactive media into their coursework at some level. Nonetheless, the data may still offer insight into the curriculum choices made by these departments that integrate code-based media production into a more comprehensive curriculum.

The size of the institutions varied, as seen in figure 1,

With n=45 for this question, the mode was between 100-499 students, although the main takeaway is that contributors to this survey spanned all sizes of programs.

Again with n=45, regarding the question of whether a department offers at least one course that includes coding, about half of the respondents did so currently, with only five schools not planning to offer a coding course in the near future.

When asked the name of their department, almost a majority (10 of 21—of the 22 who said “yes” in the previous question) stated Communication. Other selections included Media, Journalism, Interactive Media, Media Arts, and Strategic Communication; Video Game Design, Broadcasting, and Film and Television programs were not represented. While it’s possible that full-fledged video game programs don’t typically live in departments of communication, it was surprising that broadcasting and film/television programs do not include coding classes, despite the potential advantages of exposing students to alternative forms of media production (e.g., web design).

Taking the question of coding to a more granular level, figure 2 demonstrates the presence of various coding languages, libraries, and platforms within required and electives classes.

The individual totals, while relatively low overall (and non-exclusive—one particular school could be using Unity and JavaScript for both game design and to create VR experiences) suggest that traditional (HTML/CSS) web design continues to be the coding skill most likely offered and possibly required, with related soft skills like writing for the web, information design, and usability testing often incorporated into these courses.

Data journalism tools (web scraping and basic database usage) are the next most common technology included. This is followed by game design and VR building with Unity. Less common are the more advanced techniques like full-stack development and app creation (e.g, React Native or iOS apps using Xcode and Swift). This may be due to the advanced programming knowledge needed.

The question also asked participants about the problems of teaching coding. The response fell into three categories:

1. Student “disbelief” that coding could help them in their non-technical career.
2. A fear of learning technical skills and anything math related, compounded by a “machismo” sometimes found among students in technical departments.
3. A shortage of communication faculty able to teach coding courses. Similarly, those qualified to teach these course often have other course responsibilities.

And finally, in response to a question about model assignments, participants most often discuss requiring students to make HTML pages (sometimes completed in a content management system like WordPress or Wix), making games, or working with clients to conduct data analysis.

This last question parallels an objective for this book: to showcase course details and assignments used to teach media skills that require coding. This chapter serves as overview of the extent to which coding is included in Communication classes and the specific platforms and languages that are used.