EWA is the national professional organization of education reporters. Their intent is to improve education reporting for the public. Currently membership is open and free to anyone. Journalism students get access to their server, free annual seminars and regional workshops, bimonthly newsletter, and other EWA publications for free. Membership used to cost journalists a monthly fee, but now EWA takes donations instead.
On the home page there are featured stories about EWA involvement and other education issues. Beneath “Featured Story” there is a section labeled “News & Events.” This section is similar to the first section with education issue stories and EWA announcements. To the right of “News & Events” is a column of recently published stories featuring resources involved with EWA. The left column of the home page contains press releases sent to the organization mainly announcing seminars.
The top of the screen contains seven sections to open: resource center, membership, conferences/events, publications, contest, and the educated reporter. The tabs are pretty much self-explanatory from their title. The most helpful section to reporters is the “Resource Center.” This section contains lists categorizing resources that can help an education reporter or anyone needing education answers. The lists are divided like schools meaning K-12, higher education, etc. Once you click on an issue a page with various sections pops up including an overview, reporter stories, sources, and publications. The tab labeled “The Educated Reported” is simple a blog that comments on education coverage, writing, and other things. Linda Perlstein, the public editor for EWA, publishes it.
One last tab worth mentioning is located at the top right of the page. The tab “Jobs” has a current list of jobs available for education reporters. It also has fellowships and grants listed as well.
Overall I barely give the site a 3 out of 5. For education reporters this site seems to offer more news about EWA then actual education issues. In order to find education issue stories, it takes some searching because they are kind of buried in the sections. The site organizes things maybe a little too well. Therefore, it is easy to overlook what you need by searching in other sections. The reason I gave this site a 3 is because of the “Resource Center” tab. This section is mainly what I would use, if I were an education reporter. I also thought it was impressive that EWA has podcasts and can be found on all major social networking sites.
I agree that the site definitely is more about promoting the group rather than offering current education issues. I expected more issues in this site. My favorite section on the site was the blog section. I found really good insight into hot topics going on in education. I agree that the EWA is almost too organized. The purpose of the EWA is to improve education reporting, however, it's so hard to find the issues that it seems like they are not living up to their purpose at all. It would be better if the issues were easily visible on the homepage or tabs section.
ReplyDelete