By the Numbers: 2022-2023 Senior Exit Survey

The Senior Exit Survey is administered to all graduating students in the 098 Senior Assessment Course. Students are required to register for this course in their final semester before graduation.

The Senior Exit Survey seeks to measure students' beliefs about the quality of their education and provide actionable feedback for the faculty. The Senior Exit survey is also used to assess the ACEJMC student learning outcomes. It is an indirect measure as it asks students to self-report on their competency.

During 2022-2023, 237 students completed the survey – 51 in Fall 2022, 175 in Spring 2023 and 11 in Summer 2023.

ACEJMC Student Learning Outcomes

Students were asked to rate their ability to demonstrate each of the ACEJMC Student Learning Outcomes on a scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). The results of their responses were: 

Students rated themselves most strongly on statements related to Outcome 3: demonstrate culturally proficient communication that empowers those traditionally disenfranchised in society, especially as grounded in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and ability, domestically and globally, across communication and media contexts.

Areas of Concern

Students rated themselves least competent on five learning outcomes. The college has recently taken steps to address three of these outcomes and expects to see improvement in future years.

Outcome 1: apply the principles and laws of freedom of speech and press, in a global context, and for the country in which the institution that invites ACEJMC is located.

Outcome 2: demonstrate an understanding of the multicultural history and role of professionals and institutions in shaping communications.

In 2022-2023, Professors Matt Waite and Sharon Baldinelli adjusted the college’s introductory course, JOMC 101 Principles of Mass Media, to address learning outcomes 1 and 2. A summary of their adjustments is available here.

Outcome 7: apply critical thinking skills in conducting research and evaluating information by methods appropriate to the communications professions in which they work.

Outcome 8: effectively and correctly apply basic numerical and statistical concepts;

In 2022-2023, the college faculty approved a new requirement for each student to complete a research or data analysis course as part of their degree program. Students in advertising and public relations will complete ADPR 381 Applied Research in Advertising and Public Relations, students in journalism and broadcast news will complete JOUR 307 Data Journalism and students in sports media and communication are already required to complete SPMC 350 Sports Data Visualization and Analytics and students in broadcast production will chose among these three research courses.

Outcome 9: critically evaluate their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness;

In 2019-2020, we implemented a new requirement for all majors, JOUR 200a Fundamentals of Editing and Report 1. We further reviewed and updated the course in 2020-2021. The focus of this course includes ACEJMC learning outcome 9. This graduating class will be the first cohort to have completed this requirement. We expect to see improvement on this outcome in future years, but will monitor accordingly. 

General Feedback

In addition to the ACEJMC learning outcomes, students rated their satisfaction with the faculty, advisors, equipment, overall education and career preparation. They rated their satisfaction on a scale of Very Satisfied (VS), Satisfied (S), Unsatisfied (U) and Very Unsatisfied (VU). The 2022-2023 results were:

The college will seek to improve the overall scores on all five of these measures, paying particular attention to advising. A concerning proportion of students (18.6%) indicated that they were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with academic advising in the college. An annual advising survey, first administered in the spring of 2022, can provide additional insight into students’ advising concerns. After the departure of Andrea Gaghagen last year and the hire of a new advising director, Alisa Smith, in July 2023, the college will seek to improve overall satisfaction with advising services.

The survey also asks students to provide open-ended responses to three important questions:

1. What were your biggest successes at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications?
2. What were your biggest challenges at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications?
3. What, if anything, do you wish you had learned that you did not?

A review of students' responses to each of these questions provides insights into what students value and feedback we can use to improve the overall educational experience of our students. All comments have been included as they were entered into the survey. The only changes made to individual comments were the removal of individual faculty or staff member names.

Successes

A review of the responses related to student success resulted in the emergence of nine themes: Academic Achievement, Hands-On Experience and Real-World Application, Leadership and Involvement, Networking and Connections, Overcoming Challenges and Persistence, Personal Growth and Confidence, Professional Experience and Internships, Competition Wins and Skill Development and Learning.

Academic Achievement: Highlighting achievements related to grades, projects, internships and degree completion, showcasing the students' accomplishments within their academic pursuits.

• Graduating with what is looking like a very promising GPA.
• Graduating with a degree is huge all in its own.
• Excellent grades on the projects that meant a lot to me.
• Graduating
• get good grades at last year
• receiving my degree
• Graduation
• I think my biggest success at the College of Journalism was getting an A on my capstone group project.
• My capstone
• Maintaining a higher than 3.4 and gaining honors in certain semesters. Learning the necessary tools and skills to succeed in my internship and in my future job post-graduation.
• Dean’s list every semester, Jacht, trying new classes and figuring out what I want to do
• Good grades every year of school + gaining real world experiences through various internships
• Getting good grades while holding two jobs for most of my college career
• Being able to pass all my classes
• Being on the dean's List for six semesters
• Dean’s list and scholarship
• Receiving good grades
• Being a Brand Strategist at Jacht, working on the Global Eyewitness task force, social media for the CoJMC, Recruitment Ambassador, and I am the 2019 Anderson scholar.
• Achieving 4.0's and getting on the dean's list and being named account executive for my capstone.
• I passed all my class in the Journalism college.
• Completing all of the projects at a very high level.
• My biggest success was my senior honors thesis. It was a lot of work, but I am really proud of how it turned out.
• Graduating with a degree to prove a commitment. I probably will not get a job that pertains to it, however.
• Making the dean's list every semester and being able to intern with the Omaha World-Herald through the real word class.
• I was under academic probation after my first semester and now will be graduating with a 3.2 gpa.
• Being on the Deans List for two consecutive years.
• Hard work for good grades
• My GPA
• graduation
• I made the dean's list several times.
• Maintaining great grades
• Getting good grades, finding an interest in law through JOMC 486.
• Passing all my classes
• I learned enough to start working and investigating. I managed to finish the journalism degree in two years, become a student lead and work in the industry my entire senior year.
• Getting a perfect score on a semester-long project
• I think one of my greatest successes at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications was receiving the Reutzel Scholarship as well as the Mary Snow Scholarship this year.
• Passing my classes/learning
• Graduating
• Graduating
• High GPA
• My biggest success at the College of Journalism and Mass Communication was in my senior capstone our group received great honors from our professor and client as we put together our final client presentation.
• Surviving to graduation

Hands-On Experience and Real-World Application: Emphasizing the value of experiential learning opportunities and involvement in real-world projects to apply skills and knowledge in tangible contexts.

• I really enjoyed the hands-on experience of interviewing sources, organizing stories, and directing projects from start to finish. I was allowed a huge amount of autonomy and personal creativity at the CoJMC, and this helped me a lot throughout my college experience.
• Having the opportunity to announce a few Nebraska football games on KRNU, the student radio station at the college.
• My most considerable success was trying out everything related to sports media. The college gave me that opportunity and I feel like I am graduation with a clear mindset on what I want my path to be.
• Getting published by a Black-owned publication!
• I got to put together some really cool projects to use in a resume and reel for job searching.
• Working with Climate Change Nebraska, being able to connect with professors and build up my resume
• Getting one of my News Lab stories published in the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha Reader, and getting some of my photographs and creative writing pieces published in the Laurus magazine.
• Probably being par of the NSAC team & learning real work-like situations and expectations.
• Jacht
• Joining Jacht as a sophmore, being a peer mentor for COJMC.
• Jacht! It helped my professional and personal skills so much and helped me land a lot of interviews for more internships and jobs.
• My project was showcased to the college over African American football players and husker athletics.
• The opportunity to have work published through the Nebraska News Service and the ability to connect with quality professors who have experience in the field I want to work in have set me up for success.
• Joining Buoy and working with a real client to put my skills to use as if I was in the real world.
• Getting Nebraska Nightly off the ground, internships at 10/11 and OWH
• Working the spring game last year along with earning scholarships from the college
• Working for Jacht and gaining real-world training and experience I had not received in my video classes.
• My biggest successes were creating content while honing in on my broadcast abilities. A highlight of my time here was the special topics environmental podcasting course.. They brought in Bill Kelly from Nebraska Public Media to help us with our podcast episodes. I got to work with a team and create a detailed piece of journalism. This also led me to further connect with Bill Kelly, eventually landing an internship at Nebraska Public Media.
• I think that one of my biggest successes at the college of journalism and mass communications is yet to come. I am excited to present in my capstone class in the coming weeks. This is the most real life thing I have done in college so far.
• Experiential learning opportunities, leadership opportunities, ability to secure internships
• Being a part of Jacht Agency
• Working as an Account Executive at Jacht for two semesters.
• being able to use real world examples of the ad industry in classes
• NSAC. Easily the greatest thing I got involved in during my time at UNL. There has been no other opportunity - UNL affiliated or not - that gave me the independence to pursue creative challenges and real-world experience. None. Not a single one. I am disheartened that the University props up other opportunities instead of NSAC. Jacht is given 10x the press and praise than NSAC. It's just ridiculous to me.
• I think working on projects with UNLimited sports and having one of the highest-viewed articles on the NebraskaNewsService was a great accomplishment to have.
• Definitely the Beat Reporting summer class, the pigeon story in 200B with Chris Graves, and making a radio show for Advanced Audio with Kaci Richter!
• I had some print stories I was really proud of
• Countless work opportunities and the ability to build my portfolio.
• Probably my capstone, working with Charles Schwab
• My biggest successes were working with KRNU and landing a job at HuskerVision.
• Jacht Ad Agency
• I was able to host a sports radio show at KRNU on Sundays for a semester. I participated and helped produced a Nebraska Nightly Special Edition for sexual assault awareness month.
• Being able to write stories of diversity.
• I able to publish stories and get an internship at an advertising agency.
• I got to do hands on work a lot in classes. I also got to get real world experience with Jacht.
• Jacht Agency multimedia work and our NATAS nominations/awards
• Hands on experiences
• Joining Jacht and being a finalist for the Perry photojournalism challenge
• Jacht
• Being a part of Buoy.
• My time working as an Art Director for the National Student Advertising team was definitely the most valuable experience I had at the CoJMC. That was what prepared me most for my future and gave me the confidence to pursue a career in advertising. In addition, the two depth reports I worked on (Climate Change Nebraska and Being Black in Lincoln) were incredible opportunities that taught me so many important lessons and skills.
• I would say being able to call many of the Husker games was some successes that I will never forget.
• Being published on Nebraska News Service

Leadership and Involvement: Showcasing personal and professional growth through organizational involvement, leadership roles, mentorship and engagement with various opportunities.

• Attaining a leadership spot on the NSAC team, being the operating director for Ad club, and receiving academic distinction for my grades.
• working at the j school
• Lead Social Media Strategist at Jacht
• Helped contribute to the growth of Jacht Agency
• Was a mentor to underclassmen
• Accepted to the Clifton Builders Program
• Editor at the Daily Nebraskan
• Working as the Director of Communications at Jacht
• Getting into Jacht, graduating with a 3.9 gpa.
• Probably the work I did outside of it. Working at the Daily Nebraskan was my first chance to get any concrete experience in journalism, and it paved the way for me to land two internships in the past year, which was an absolute godsend given my existential dread about jumping into this journalism thing so late in the game. I enjoyed the podcast I did in a special topics class in Fall 2023 as well, but the major success for me was just clawing my way up from absolutely no background in journalism just a little under two years ago to getting where I am now.
• When I was in Jacht Agency I learned a lot about myself as a worker and a leader. I truly appreciate being the DEI Specialist because I got to teach and influence those around me about something good for our world. And to see the improvement from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester, was something I really appreciated and I felt accomplished.
• I became the director of account strategy of Jacht and I got an internship with Hudl.
• Director of PR for Jacht Agency in the Fall of 2022
• Being President of PRSSA for the 2022-2023 school year
• Being one of the very first students to be involved in Buoy!
• My work at the Daily Nebraskan
• Being on Leadership at Jacht Agency
• Joining Jacht
• I joined the 2022 Bateman Case Study Competition by PRSSA and won the national championship along with my five teammates.
• I feel like my capstone project will be my biggest success. I took charge and led my group because I felt like I understood what I was supposed to do.
• Joining organizations, meeting people, taking interesting courses
• Being selected for Global Eye Witness but other than that all of my success came from the DN. Being involved with committees and groups of students who were independent of the university helped me understand why journalism should stay independent and be freely led. Without having certain people tell us what to write and do at the DN gave us more power and more room to try things. We may not have been paid much but the experience alone was more than I could have ever gotten in a class! I loved it with all my heart.
• Being a lead for the Nebraska News Service, anchoring on Nebraska Nightly, getting to voicetrack on KRNU
• My time working as an Art Director for the National Student Advertising team was definitely the most valuable experience I had at the CoJMC. That was what prepared me most for my future and gave me the confidence to pursue a career in advertising. In addition, the two depth reports I worked on (Climate Change Nebraska and Being Black in Lincoln) were incredible opportunities that taught me so many important lessons and skills.
• Growing my skills in talking to clients and leadership skills within Jacht and Ad Club
• I was promoted in Jacht and learned a lot through there.
• being an outspoken leader in my classes, people valuing my opinion, etc
• Leading advertising campaigns in both ADPR 283, 489

Networking and Connections: Focusing on building relationships with professors, peers, mentors, and professionals to foster career growth, skill development and opportunities within the field.

• Networking with the faculty and students.
• The people that helped me understand concepts and ideas better outside of classes
• I really enjoyed the people I was able to connect with through my courses and the mentorship of a few of my professors. I've particularly enjoyed the experiences I've had working for the Nebraska News Service through my BRDC 400 capstone course this semester and the photography opportunities I have had in my JOMC 306 course.
• I think I have built a good relationship with my professors and my friends that can help my career.
• Going to New York and DC for professional development "
• The professors in the College of journalism have all treated me fair and given me a great experience
• I not only made many connections, but I have gained many skills that I did not possess before attending UNL.
• My biggest successes were the connections and contacts I gained. Through this, I was able to get my internship with the Huskers Radio Network and do some work with the Big Ten Network.
• I made really good connections with professors and capstone class gave me a some great writing samples to show to potential employers.
• Networking with so many great people.
• Networking and meeting so many great people while earning a top-notch education.
• Meeting amazing professors and teammates who helped me honed the skill of communication.
• The connections I made with staff and students and the opportunities I had
• In the Advertising Public Relations field, I found a lot of success with guidance and the structure of the courses and the various opportunities.
• Meeting so many new people, and advancing my skills in writing and media relations.
• connections through networking
• connecting with faculty and the hands on, collaborative learning

Overcoming Challenges and Persistence: Highlighting the ability to navigate difficulties, demonstrate resilience and succeed despite challenges encountered during the academic journey.

• Getting through COVID affected semesters.
• Finding out how resilient I am, and capable of overcoming adversity.
• My biggest successes were in my sports data class and intro JOMC class. They were extremely hard for me but seeing the hard work pay off was cool.
• Surviving to graduation

Personal Growth and Confidence: Emphasizing the development of self-assurance, creativity, and passions, leading to increased confidence and personal growth within the field.

• Being able to take on big projects outside of class curriculum
• Learning how to be more creative and come up with ideas on the fly
• My greatest successes have been becoming more confident in my work and my abilities.
• Getting to enhance professionalism and learn from peers.
• growing independence and also learning how to work with a team.
• discovering a love for web design and building
• Finding my passions and finally realizing what I wanted to do with my life post grad.
• Finding my career path and what I finally saw myself doing in the future.
• I loved having more projects than tests. I feel like I was really able to succeed with this system.
• My biggest successes are learning to be independent and getting involved in political reporting at all levels.
• Learning new passions I thought I'd never enjoy. Such as playing with adobe audition, publishing podcasts, and writing stories about rural Nebraska.
• Realizing I didn’t want to be a journalist
• Getting into Jacht and actually discovering my passion.
• My biggest success was the ability to gain confidence in public speaking.
• I felt as though I found a creative side in me that really needed to bloom and I was able to explore that here.

Professional Experience and Internships: Showcasing the importance of internships, hands-on learning, and real-world opportunities in shaping careers, skills, and personal development.

• Getting a job with Nebraska Athletics was my biggest success and CoJMC helped me get there.
• My biggest success at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications was finding a career path that I'm passionate about and being able to take courses related to that specific career path that have given me real-world experience and skills.
• Numerous internship experiences
• The biggest thing that the College of Journalism does is help to provide internship opportunities that give hands on experience to students. The internship I started my freshman year has turned into a full time job, and that was my biggest success.
• Applying for and receiving internships at the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World-Herlad. Later, receiving an offer for the position of Senior News Editor at the Daily Nebraskan.
• Getting an internship at HuskerVision helped me learn a lot of the video production field.
• Being a part of HuskerVision
• Nothing, I learned way, way more by getting jobs and shadowing real journalists outside of the college.
• Landing two big internships being Hudl and HuskerVision.
• Getting hired on to a publishing company due to my work and knowledge in AD/PR
• Getting an internship just after my Junior year.
• Discovering an interest in web design
• HuskerVision and commentate games
• An internship with Sporting KC. It was a dream of mine.
• Discovering my passions and creating content or projects that have had a positive impact on society.

Competition and Achievement: Illustrating achievements, awards, and successes attained through competitions, accolades and recognition in journalism and mass communications.

• Winning awards for my Ad Design project and PSA commercial I edited. Large group projects also seemed to come out well, such as 134 class and Fox Sports U.
• My biggest success was working with the Bateman Team and winning 1st place in the nation for the first time in school history.
• Winning second place at the Creative Nebraska ADDYS and developing a website for SustainUNL
• 2x NSAC 2nd places at districts
• Placing second at regionals for NSAC
• Addys, PRSSA positions, The mural (my connection with BL), making friends is probably the biggest one (I have friends a year older than me that got me through college and I met them at CoJMC).
• getting introduced to the AAF awards and other AAF opportunities
• In Our Nature: Nebraska was my multiple-award-winning podcast
• In no particular order; Receiving a couple awards for broadcast news stories I produced. Becoming a student lead for Nebraska Nightly. Being a part of the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new studio. Getting an internship through the connections I made within the experience lab.
• Winning best strategy at district NSAC compeition
• Being nominated for two NSPA awards for my work
• Receiving multiple awards for work I did while at the College.
• Winning the Bailey Lauerman contest
• Winning the Perry Photojournalism Challenge in 2022 and getting two different internships in the athletic department.
• When I won
• Being a finalist in the Bailey Lauerman Design competition

Skill Development and Learning: Encompassing the acquisition of diverse technical and practical skills, from graphic design to strategic planning, contributing to personal and professional growth.

• I learned quite a few skills on the abode suite that I didn't have prior to taking these classes.
• It helped me with my Graphic Design classes and to see things at a different light.
• My biggest success was learning about data visualization in sports and figuring out how to create my own website.
• The results of projects through ADPR 333 as well as classes centered on IMC. I was happy with our results for my ADPR capstone class.
• I learned how to do a comprehensive campaign, from client analysis to campaign planning, which I could complete successfully.
• Developing technical skills to be a better story teller.
• Creative and visual projects
• Growing skills that I originally struggled with such as using Adobe
• Gaining communication skills by working in group projects.
• I'd say my biggest success was really unlocking my skills as a journalist. I definitely was able to flesh out my skills as one through my four years here.
• The vis comm classes were very helpful and gave me a baseline of lots of different types of advertising work. However, I wish these skills were more integrated into more classes further in my college career so I could keep up to date on these skills.
• I really liked learning how to build technical skills through the JOMC 130 classes, and I feel like this did a lot for me as a professional. I also feel like my work in my capstone has been a success
• Developing proficiency with video equipment and editing programs along with growing in teamwork skills enough to apply them all in Jacht.
• Marketing Campaigns
• I knew nothing about Advertising and Public Relations prior to college so just learning all that I did.
• learning new skills
• Learning Adobe Creative Cloud, learning how to write in a multitude of ways, and creating campaigns.
• Coding class where I created my own website.
• Mastered some skills that I didn't know before, such as making posters, Photoshop, AI animation and so on.
• My biggest success at CoJMC was continually building my knowledge from course to course, becoming more skilled, and more able to apply my skills outside of the college as well.
• Learning how to create professional content, following guidelines and meeting deadlines.
• I learned how to do strategic writing and gained good entrepreneurs, Skills in regards to journalism and advertisement.
• I had the chance to explore various types of major in COJMC. I had classes from all of the majors available.
• Learning how to write in a journalistic style, learning different Adobe programs and how to work with them, learning how to work with a client and how to conduct an advertising campaign.
• The audio stories in my news lab.
• I believe working on the campaigns capstone was one of my biggest successes
• I learned a lot about digital media
• Working on campaigns and getting to execute them and stratetic planning.
• ADPR283 and ADPR350 projects
• The radio and photography was fun
• Learning and developing dozens of skills related to my field.
• Learning about digital design and applying it in my internship with Husker Athletics.
• Gaining skills in computers

Challenges

In addition to their greatest success, students shared insight into their greatest challenges. Comments fell into nine categories: academic environment and atmosphere, career exploration and guidance, remote learning and COVID-19, communication and connection, course difficulty and content, course structure and relevance, experiences with professors and advisors, personal growth and confidence and technical challenges and skill development.

Academic Environment and Atmosphere: encompasses challenges related to finding a personal fit within the college, a perceived lack of support and diversity, unclear expectations, and the competitive nature of the environment.

• The design classes and graphic classes were very difficult.
• Statistical data analysis and law
• It was hard to find something I really wanted to do in this college.
• I rarely was supported or challenged by my peers. I did not find professors who looked like me and invested in my personal growth.
• Although I started taking some j-school classes in my second sophomore semester, I essentially came in as a junior who didn't know anyone and hardly had a clue what I was doing there. The massively reduced workload compared to being a physics major threw me off for a long time too, before I realized that you're supposed to use that free time for other things like journalism clubs, internships, Daily Nebraskan, etc. None of this was made clear to me in the slightest and I had to figure it all out myself, but the "throw them to the wolves" mentality is something that seems somewhat universal across university.
• Connecting deeply with professors and getting involved with clubs or organizations.
• Competitiveness
• I feel that the College picks favorites and favors certain students over others. This is really discouraging for those students who are rarely recognized.
• Being surrounded by a lack of diversity
• Continuing to stay engaged with the material, as well as trying to learn as much as possible in a field not fully supported by the college.
• the lack of diversity was hard caused many issues

Career Exploration and Guidance: reflects challenges in identifying suitable career paths, securing internships, aligning classroom learning with real-world demands, and seeking tailored guidance for diverse job opportunities within the realm of journalism and mass communications.

• Finding a position I feel passionate about.
• Making connections in the job market
• My biggest challenge was being able to find an internship. I didn't get that opportunity in college, and I wish I had tried harder.
• It’s hard to fully prepare students for the reality of working in a newsroom until they have that experience.
• Freshman year, I wanted to be a sideline reporter, and we don't have any opportunities for that here.
• The hardest part for me was I wasn't able to pursue what I wanted to do in the broadcast. There were so many opportunities for any and all play-by-play and color commentators, but absolutely nothing for sidelines. I begged and pleaded for this to be an option, but it never was.
• Deciding what I wanted to do after college.
• Deciding what type of jobs I would be looking for in the future. I feel I ended up with copywriting kind of by default, and I wish there would have been more times when we would discuss with faculty or advisors to see what roles would be best suited for each student.
• Opportunities that actually excited me. For someone who wanted to work with film and create videos for clients I sure had to take a lot of jouralism classes and write a lot of papers that I will never do anything with again figuring out my biggest interest
• Realizing I don’t want to be a journalist.
• Not feeling like I learned enough to go get a job
• Figuring out what I really wanted to do.

Remote learning and COVID-19: challenges stemming from the pandemic-driven shift to remote and hybrid learning, encompassing difficulties in adapting to online coursework, maintaining engagement, feeling disconnected from peers and professors and navigating limitations in hands-on learning and equipment use.

• COVID-19 and the transition of a larger university to being allow to then being in a large university setting again.
• I was a fully remote student for a year due to COVID and I feel as if that was the most challenging part of my experience at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. A lot of the things I was learning were not very applicable to an online learning environment and it was difficult to fully grasp certain concepts or skills.
• Probably my biggest challenges stemmed from the pandemic and doing school remote. Even as many classes returned to in-person, mine really did not, and I did not live in Lincoln for a good portion of my college career. I felt disconnected from my professors and my peers.
• I went to school when COVID-19 hit I believe that was the hardest time.
• I think the biggest challenge that I faced was navigating and adapting to online school during the pandemic.
• Managing COVID and online school.
• 2020 in general really threw a wrench into my time here. No in-person classes and primarily being stuck in a room for hours on end just added an extra obstacle that forced me to improvise with the very little wiggly room I was given.
• Passing photojournalism classes during covid.
• COVID-19 & transitioning from all in-person to hybrid.
• Trying to learn during COVID-19 was very difficult. It was also difficult to listen to lectures/students that I disagree with.
• My biggest challenge was going through COVID-19 in my second semester at the university
• Dealing with remote learning and gaining experience during the the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Online learning during covid
• In general, I think that COVID-19 ruined a large chunk of my college career. It was hard to make the transition from in-person to online. Which, in turn, affected my success in several courses. covid-19
• COVID Semester
• Since I was doing the 130s during COVID, I didn't really learn to use the equipment (JVCs, cameras)
• COVID
• Dealing with a professor who I didn't have a great relationship with. Mass Media Law. Being motivated during COVID and towards the end of this spring semester as a senior who already has a job lined up and just wants her degree, lol.
• My biggest challenges were interpersonal conflicts and navigating difficulties with professors, magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Communication and Connection: challenges in effective communication, collaborative group work, forming connections, adapting to diverse academic backgrounds, and overcoming social obstacles.

• Writing news articles. I think I have strong writing skills but I did not realize how much I disliked doing the investigative part of journalism. I am definitely more of a behind-the-scenes person that takes information and works on creating visuals for it, or edits other people's content, or puts together a multimedia something. So biggest challenges were classes that forced me to pitch a news story idea and go out and investigate, interview and write some.
• I am not a native English speaker, so the biggest challenge for me is communication.
• Branching out and working in groups
• There is not good way to establish a friend group through these classes. There are no public spaces withing the college for us to collaborate.
• Meeting other friends within the college. Being overwhelmed by freshman year
• Working in groups with other students who were not academically motivated
• When I first switched from business, I struggled to find my place and understand what exactly ADPR was especially the PR side. Also when I found out more about design, it was difficult to get design opportunities in the CoJMC (but more have def opened up).
• the lack of diversity was hard caused many issues
• Finding the right professors who genuinely cared about you
• A LOT OF GROUP WORK. While, I believe this is useful, it is also hard because In almost all my group work i've done a majority of the work. It is not fair that the other students get a good grade because of other students work. I think a lot of students slide by because they don't participate and end up getting the same grade.
• getting involved with people similar to me
• unable to find connections
• Socializing with others, trying to find friends, time management.

Course Difficulty and Content: encompasses challenges related to specific courses such as Mass Media Law, the capstone courses and the JOMC 130s, highlighting the need for balanced difficulty levels, tailored instruction, and engaging subject matter in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

• JOMC 486
• Any class involving broadcast or audio, since that's not my area of expertise
• The JOMC30 classes
• The News Lab
• Taking Mass Media Law
• I truly did not enjoy Mass Media Law. I feel like the material was so much and I left the class not really learning much because the instruction was difficult to comprehend.
• The module classes were not it. Same with mass media law... if everyone is failing all of the exams, clearly something is wrong.
• Mass Media Law
• Understanding some topics in classes like Media Law that were more challenging to understand.
• Mass media law was graded differently
• At times the journalism side of things were challenging.
• First exposure to data collection and skills related to social media.
• Some of the courses were difficult but they challenged me in a productive way.
• When I switched majors, I was hard to take 131 and 132 at the same time, but I quickly found a way to manage my work.
• Honestly, it should be more challenging. The only "difficult" class I ever took was Mass Media Law, and I still got an A in it
• Not knowing how to use equipment, like a camera or a JVC or audio, I did all of that work on my phone. I think the 130 classes need to be restructured. Anyone can use a video to learn, when I want to forge a relationship with my professor and have the one-on-one guidance. Following the 130 classes there needs to be follow up classes to expand our learning.
• Getting through general news classes. They were jargon heavy and overly strict.
• Figuring out how to do the projects in JOMC 131-134. There are also a lot of people who are not as motivated academically as I am which made group projects difficult in many of my classes.
• JOMC131-134 modules
• going through the JOMC 130 modules. Worst set of courses I've ever taken,
• Mass Media Law
• Mass Media Law
• Probably the 101 classes
• I think I went through a lot of fun and exciting challenge in my Copy and Concept class. He presented us with a lot of challenging assignments to create simple and creative copy.
• SPMC 350.
• The News Lab, Media Law
• finding courses that continuously challenged me. I felt like a lot of the courses, especially the 130s, were created for those who had never held a camera or used adobe products before. I wish that there was two separate groups for the 130s: an advanced one, where those who have used cameras and adobe before can create advanced things, and those who haven't so they can learn the basics and slowly make their way up to where the advanced students are.
• Getting into Jacht and some of my upper level courses
• Special topics classes such as political campaign simulation
• My capstone courses
• Mass media law

Course Relevance and Structure: encompasses challenges related to course alignment with career goals, mandatory classes perceived as unrelated, double ACE requirements, and the need for specialized and updated coursework in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

• I struggled to find classes that focused on research and data analysis
• Actually learning material in online classes.
• Taking courses that I felt were unnecessary or unhelpful.
• My largest challenge at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications was taking more Ace courses than courses that go toward my actual major.
• Taking a lot of required classes that are irrelevant to my career and fall outside my skill set
• Spending time taking Ace classes instead of classes in the college that I was interested in.
• The general education classes and the module classes. The module classes did not offer much experience besides following a tutorial
• Finding more photography class options or being able to fit the ones offered in my schedule. Also just learning how to do news writing because my past experience was mostly in creative writing, fiction, poems, etc. I had to learn to be more concise and learn AP style.
• Finding a way to take classes that relate to what I want to go into
• The few classes that were available and the lack of experience truly gained in the college.
• JOMC mandatory courses, found them a waste of money if not applicable to any future plans
• The fact that I had no chance to do anything in the college that sounded interesting because I was too busy taking every other class that wasn't interesting but required. having to fulfill double aces
• My biggest challenges were the broadcasting classes. They felt outdated and were not curated to the changing media landscape we see today.
• Learning topics unrelated to my major
• adjusting to the major and having to do double ACE credits
• The double ACEs for ADPR alongside my double major
• Not getting any credit for running PRSSA- class credit would have been nice. It's so time-consuming and important to the college.
• I often felt that a lot of classes were partially insignificant for my career pursuits and because of that, I didn't feel very motivated in classes.
• The lack of specialized classes for research, creative briefing, art directing, and media. I only understand these things through my experience with NSAC. I worry some students come out of the college only equipped to be a copywriter or account executive. What about production? Media planning? Strategy?
• Completing the ACE credits/ supplementary credits that felt useless or completely unrelated to anything i wanted to be doing.
• Attending classes online and finding motivation to do coursework
• I feel as though I had to take a lot of classes that really did nothing for me and what I plan to do in the future.
• The way the first years are set up does not prepare students for success.
• One of the biggest challenges was completing two sets of ACE courses. I exhausted myself from classes I didn't necessarily care about. I felt I rushed the classes that pertained to my major that I enjoyed.
• I did not like the lack of course options.
• There aren't many classes dedicated to Broadcasting or video in general.
• Graduating
• Ability to relate to an evolving business based instead of journalism based industry in sports.
• Graduating
• Managing to complete work when I felt like it was unnecessary.
• When I first switched from business, I struggled to find my place and understand what exactly ADPR was especially the PR side. Also when I found out more about design, it was difficult to get design opportunities in the CoJMC (but more have def opened up).
• Getting through 2 ACE requirements for every outcome was tough, and I wished I could have taken more major related classes.

Experiences with Professors and Advisors: encompasses challenges and interactions students faced regarding faculty and advisory support within the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

• Advisors giving conflicting or just incorrect info
• Because I worked for the Daily Nebraskan, I was unable to get involved as much as I'm sure the college would have liked. I also felt that there was some underlying tension between COJMC and the Daily Nebraskan that, in my opinion, had a negative impact on a few of my classes and some of my interactions with professors. I also feel that I had frequent trouble operating COJMC equipment and some negative advising experiences early on in my UNL tenure.
• Our capstone was very difficult due to teaching. I, along with many other students, have been very unsatisfied and plan to bring this to attention in our student reviews.
• Having to work with some professors.
• Some of my biggest challenges included not receiving timely feedback and not feeling like I progressed with some of the projects I did.
• Advising
• Sometimes instructors seemed to care more about producing pieces for a awards more than actually teaching us the steps to get it done.
• Seeing staff come and go. I had amazing professions but I felt like none of them stayed for a long time.
• Dealing with a professor who I didn't have a great relationship with. Mass Media Law. Being motivated during COVID and towards the end of this spring semester as a senior who already has a job lined up and just wants her degree, lol.
• No one knowing anything, like how equipment works, or how to teach
• The fact that you all force students to take classes for thousands of dollars just for us to be given lackluster advice and get shown Youtube videos is something I could easily do from home. Not to mention some, if not all of the professors are classists and can't seem to understand that some students have outside obligations that make it close to impossible to met classroom standards.
• Often felt that I was teaching myself in learning the technical aspects of media production. It is important to be able to learn things on your own, but I felt the college could provide more guidance in what we need to learn before going into the video/media production field.
• Having a class with X. They should NEVER be allowed to teach a Campaigns capstone class ever again. It is an absolute joke, absolutely ridiculous that they are allowed to teach a class that is so important and something that we are supposed to be able to put on our resumes.
• The difficult classes/some professors
• My academic advisor didn't seem to know what I needed to do for my degrees and was a little reluctant to give me advice, so there was one semester where I could have taken an extra class but I didn't because I was miss informed about what requirement a class could fulfill.
• My biggests challenges were interpersonal conflicts and navigating difficulties with professors, magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Some professors I felt like critiqued us to the point where it was hard to find my passion enjoyable.
• Some professors were subpar and didn't care about their class.
• Advising
• Finishing graduation on time due to the minor requirement and poor advising.
• Mass media law. The professor made this course unbearable especially when I was excited to learn about that stuff. There was no compassion and I felt like they treated us like freshmen in high school and have no help.
• Advising, not much overlap between majors (Journalism and ADPR, broadcasting and ADPR)
• I had a run-in with a professor that caused me to switch majors within the college after my sophomore year so I would no longer have to take any classes with them.
• Being told by a professor that because of my age that I should have been doing better in a class. This made me shift emotionally and mentally when I already was uncomfortable. When I was failed in the same class by this same professor and one other professor. When half of my class failed and yet the class with the same professors still continues to teach and see me in the halls and make me and other students from that class feel uncomfortable. Me and other classmates reached out for help and nothing changed. I think a lot of my work was not acknowledged by the college since I worked for the schools independent paper.
• Some faculty did not provide meaningful learning experiences, specifically my capstone was not what i had hoped
• Some teachers were not understanding of our time outside of class and demanded attendance for 3-6 hours at a time.
• The professors were not great and I ended up taking a few classes that felt the exact same as other courses I had already taken. The work took way too much time outside of class which made it very difficult to get a job to pay for class and everything else.
• getting involved while working a job, getting good advice from advisor and help, also understanding what I wanted to do

Personal Growth and Confidence: challenges related to self-doubt, anxieties, creative expansion, adaptability and balancing workloads.

• Not many challenges, except just the fact that sometimes I doubted myself and my abilities.
• Solo projects were the greatest challenges for me personally.
• Deciding whether or not I could take showing up for another day
• For me, becoming a journalist was a challenge, but it was something that I took on, and I feel like I improved a lot.
• Putting myself out there to learn new things by myself
• opening up my creative side
• My freshman year was a really hard time for me, for a variety of reasons, mostly personal.
• Having anxieties about presentations.
• Sometimes when it felt like the classes were getting tough, it was hard to be interested in the topic. But, with that, I wanted to learn everything so it was fun to learn.
• Staying motivated throughout the year
• My biggest challenge was learning how to gain confidence in public speaking in the early stages of my academic career.
• Pushing my creative abilities
• adapting to various concepts i didnt know
• Staying away from drugs
• Attending classes online and finding motivation to do coursework
• Pushing myself further then what i thought i could
• All of it, I will never think of going to college again.
• Having a demanding workload with part-time jobs, internships, and school. Dealing with criticism and developing a unique voice.

Technical Challenges and Skill Development: encompasses struggles in mastering Adobe software, writing, coding, data analytics, video production, outdoor shooting and adapting to new technology.

• I am not very creative or artistic, so that was my biggest roadblock in my classes. I also didn't come in with a lot of experience.
• My biggest challenges were working with the adobe creative programs.
• How little we used the Adobe software in class such as Adobe Premiere. Never felt comfortable with that
• writing
• Creating videos and shooting them
• Learning the bare minimum of graphic design because I was pretty bad at it but enjoyed it.
• We need a class that focuses on mastering equipment, and we need more and newer equipment. Students writing for the Nebraska News Service also need professional emails.
• Learning programs with minor training
• Learning new applications
• Some journalism classes finding people to interview and topics to write about
• My biggest challenges were learning APA style writing, as it was difficult to learn all the rules.
• Writing has been my biggest challenge but I passed all of my writing classes.
• Learning how to use new equipment and do things like coding.
• Learning data analytics
• Having to go outdoor to get shots .
• Not having much experience with the creative aspect and adobe programs going into college.
• Learning all of the new technology/software and producing publishable work with them.
• Producing my own content and learning how to work with adobe programs
• Creating video packages and perfecting my sports writing.
• My biggest challenge was the journalism, writing aspect as that comes more difficult to me
• Writing news articles. I think I have strong writing skills but I did not realize how much I disliked doing the investigative part of journalism. I am definitely more of a behind-the-scenes person that takes information and works on creating visuals for it, or edits other people's content, or puts together a multimedia something. So biggest challenges were classes that forced me to pitch a news story idea and go out and investigate, interview and write some.
• Finding more photography class options or being able to fit the ones offered in my schedule. Also just learning how to do news writing because my past experience was mostly in creative writing, fiction, poems, etc. I had to learn to be more concise and learn AP style.
• Procrastination, coding.
• time management and learning adobe programs
• learning how to use equipment and adobe products

Time Management and Workload: captures the challenges of balancing coursework, extracurricular activities, jobs and personal responsibilities.

• The professors were not great and I ended up taking a few classes that felt the exact same as other courses I had already taken. The work took way too much time outside of class which made it very difficult to get a job to pay for class and everything else.
• Notes in class and lesson retention/ recall for exams
• I have taken classes in many colleges throughout UNL. In particular, the CoJMC is extremely demanding with deadlines and grades. My classes at the CoJMC were rewarding, but they were also some of the most stress-inducing.
• managing my workload
• Due dates
• I spent most of my final year being a full-time student while also working a full-time job. I have often felt overwhelmed, tired, and overall just burnt out which has impacted me greatly.
• Cost, balancing work/school as a self-supporting first-gen student
• getting involved while working a job, getting good advice from advisor and help, also understanding what I wanted to do
• Probably the first couple of years with assignments were the toughest
• Balancing class and athletics.
• Balancing reporting for class and work.
• challenging courses
• I honestly wish I would have devoted more time to my education and journalism classes and I think that sometimes the workload expectations were actually too low.
• Journalism is hard as a person with ADHD. Deadlines are scary, especially when they are so close together and dependent on interviews and connections with others. Although I have spent four years on the broadcast track, I have continuously failed at my attempts to use a JVC video camera to its highest potential. It was very challenging to use this specific piece of equipment over many projects. The camera quality is just inherently worse than a smart phone.
• The biggest challenge at CoJMC was balancing coursework from both of my majors and any other extracurriculars I was involved in.
• Balancing school and baseball
• Procrastination, coding.
• Time commitment with big projects.
• Balancing school work with outside commitments.
• Projects
• Time management.
• time management and learning adobe programs
• Meeting other friends within the college. Being overwhelmed by freshman year
• Socializing with others, trying to find friends, time management.
• Having a demanding workload with part-time jobs, internships, and school. Dealing with criticism and developing a unique voice.
• Trying to find the best personal balance between homework and doing prep for games and your personal life was something hard to learn.

What they wish they had learned

Students provided various feedback on what they wished they’d learned while in college that they didn’t. These comments may inform future curriculum changes or college programming. The comments fell into the following categories: knowledge they wish classes had covered, skills they wish they had learned, career guidance they wish they had, hands-on opportunities they want more of, greater differentiation they want in the curriculum and opportunities they wish they’d had earlier or taken advantage of and didn’t.

Career Preparation: encompasses guidance or job search skills students would like more exposure to. Several comments were related to developing a better understanding of the professional roles available within their chosen discipline and how their education relates to those roles.

• More technical equipment and practice using it before a full time job
• I wish I had learned earlier in college the importance of having a reel is when applying for jobs, specifically in the broadcasting world.
• How to apply our major to other degrees, and how competitive the workforce is.
• How to work in sideline reporting
• More about post grad and life after college.
• More practical life skills like Excel, in-depth interview skills, and resume skills geared to this profession and field.
• I wish I had learned more about broadcasting and the different roles. I felt like the classes I had didn't really apply what we were learning to the broadcasting environment outside of the class.
• How to do my taxes, resources specific to my major, what day-to-day work looks like for my major (what should I practice/prepare for)
• How to deal with people in public who recognize you
• How some of these skills could help me get a job.
• I wish I learned the job titles i could be looking out for while applying to the work force.
• More professional workplace skills.
• I wish there were more classes on what the interview process for our specific major and more information on what to expect when we start to do interviews and look for jobs.
• I wish internships and jobs could apply to my graduation a bit more. I wish the N2025 plan had been in place sooner. I think a lot of things were not realized but I’m glad the future classes will now get to learn in a more hands-on way. I wish we had played with more of the website tech in classes and known how to use Blox since all publications, including the DN, use it for everything.
• How to network more/make connections. More real world projects/campaigns vs textbook info
• how to build a portfolio and really nurture my creative aspect.

Knowledge: Students expressed a wide variety of topics they were interested in learning about or learning more about. Many comments were one-offs. However, a few areas of emphasis emerged, including a desire to learn more about business and management (4 comments), data analysis and research (9 comments), emerging topics and trends (4 comments) and graphic design (9 comments).

• More about advertising law
• More about advertising strategy everything I learned was outside of class
• More Sports Management classes.
• small business advertising. The creative side.
• I know I left the business college for a reason but I do wish I received more business management experience.
• Business.
• I wish I learned more about client communications. I feel like a class in that area would be so influential for those who want to be account executives/account managers. Communication is so important in this field that being trained in effective client communication with a majority of clients from different places around the world is so important. Everyone communicates differently.
• More emphasis on creative media courses.
• I wish I learned more about data analysis and market research
• I think it would have been nice to get a little bit more of sports data just because that was a big interest of mine.
• I wish I was able to further my knowledge of sports data and analytics. I feel that I have a good base of knowledge on the topic, but I want to learn even more in the future.
• Google Analytics Certification requirements! Also I would have liked more opportunity to work in print. I only got a few opportunities to print my work after the Core Module courses, and I always missed that.
• I wish I had taken more classes about data analytics.  I wish I could have gotten more into that.
• Social media analytics, more job exploration
• More data, more data, and more data. The absolute lack of data journalism curriculum being offered when I came in was kind of pitiful. Even for the classes that were on offer, only a couple were really qualified to teach them, and so there wasn't even a chance for me to take most of them since they couldn't fit them into their schedules (partially due to a lack of demand for those classes among students, which I believe is a two-way street since this college needs to be doing more to demystify data and show these kids that numbers aren't nearly as scary as they've been led to believe). For the one data journalism class I was able to take (JOUR 307), I had X in her final semester of working here in which she'd obviously already checked out, so the quality of the experience was middling at best. My biggest learning experience with acquiring data skills has far and away been X's sports data classes (namely SPMC 350, which basically taught the lessons of 307 except in an effective way that entailed actual learning, minus putting it in a journalism context), as well as a research project I've been working on with him and another student. That's pure absurdity. I'm heartened to see a gradually increasing focus on data journalism, with the data journalism class being added to the required curriculum, and hopefully more data-oriented staff will be hired in the future (We'll see though, with all these budget cuts), but I'm just disappointed I apparently chose the wrong time to come to college to fully take advantage of it.
• I wish we learned a lot more on data journalism. I got one class and we ran way behind, so I barely learned ggplot at best
• Sports Analytics and Data
• The use of AI and how to use it properly and ethically.
• drones
• More about esports
• I wish i have learn more on the Esports side of broadcasting.
• Graphic design
• Design technique, typography
• More about graphic design and 3D design
• Besides the JOMC 130s, I did not feel like I had the opportunity to learn much about graphic design. Part of that is because I am an advertising major so my class requirements didn't require that but I would have liked to be better educated in that. I wish we didn't have to do a full set of second ACEs- It would have been nice to have more credits free to take J-school classes.
• More design
• I wish i had a more meaningful capstone project, I wish the college offered more design classes
• I wish that I had learned more about design.
• I wish I learned more graphic design.
• I wished I learned more about design and art.
• More about the liability and legality behind advertising and journalism
• I wish the Magazine class had still been offered, I know a lot of people who were interested.
• More budgeting and marketing skills.
• More about marketing practices.
• more marketing
• Media planning & buying.
• More about the ad industry outside of Nebraska
• Something within the photography side of things. I really enjoyed taking photos in the one class I took and wished I had done more.
• More about player representation or like communication with sports people of high level.
• I wish I would've learned more about journalism and politics related fields
• More sales based advertising
• The marketing and sales side of the sports industry.
• More social media
• I wish I could’ve gone into the sports media side of things
• More UI/UX
• I really wish I had taken more classes about social media marketing and being more introduced into that.
• Multimedia storytelling, freelancing, and marketing yourself.

Skills: Students expressed a wide variety of skills they were interested in learning about or learning more about. Many comments were one-offs. However, a few areas of emphasis emerged, including a desire to learn more about software, particularly the Adobe Creative Suite (11 comments), video production (8 comments) and writing and AP style (3 comments).

• More audio skills for sure
• I wish I had learned how to contact difficult sources for stories
• I wish i had more experience with working with digital ads,seo, digital marketing and how to implement/execute them.
• One thing I wish that I learned was how to use paid social platforms like Meta.
• how to use equipment and what the jomc building has to offer
• More about handling tough situations, like upset readers or harder to write stories (like sexual assaults, crime, deaths)
• Practice interviews in class, do more on camera work.
• I wish I learned more about live streaming.
• I wish I would have learned more broadcasting and multimedia skills, though I am proud of all I was able to learn in my final year.
• More photography skills since the pandemic ruined that for me
• More on how to sell a campaign to agencies
• Media pitching and more PR-related material
• As I mentioned, I wish I could've done some sidelines, wither for KRNU or BTN Plus.
• More about how to use different softwares to produce content. (EX: Adobe Cloud, (better instructions; not just video demonstrations) website building platforms, Excel, etc.)
• more in depth on programs like After Effects or Premiere
• I didn't feel that the Adobe programs were taught very thoroughly. I would have liked to learned each program on its own more.
• Perhaps some more in-depth tutorials on Audition
• I wish I had learned more about the Adobe Programs and how to use them more. I feel like you have to teach yourself everything.
• How to do more than the most basic of things in Adobe. How to write beyond just grammar rules and inflammatory headlines.
• More in-depth use of excel
• I wish I was able to learn Adobe After Effects more thoroughly.
• More on after effects and other editing software besides Adobe premiere and audition.
• I wish I could've taken more courses on adobe programs.
• More on how to use creative cloud. And less YouTube videos. I don’t want to pay tuition to watch free YouTube. And y’all can’t even fort no ads
• I wish that the video production side was developed more in college I feel the actual video production side was very limited during my time
• Making and editing videos (how to work JVC cameras), creating a podcast, news broadcasts, ADOBE is the big one
• More graphic design and layout other than ADPR 333; audio EQ and dynamics; color grading for video; advanced video editing techniques; more motion graphic class options other than the basics; more intensive modules at the start of college career; bigger video productions with lighting setups and cameras meant for cinematic video that is helpful in advertising shoots;
• I had difficulty with video production. I wish that I had more consistent learning about JVC video cameras. While I had access to help and guidance, I wish I had taken videography class. I wish there were more video classes.
• More camera equipment, editing techniques, etc.
• I wished I had learned how to use a camera but also have more guided classes into different fields.
• More technical aspects of videography versus just having assignments.
• Learn more about how to handle video.
• I really liked my classes with a multimedia emphasis -- especially the ones that incorporated web design or professional portfolio resources into the syllabus. I feel like the CoJMC needs more classes that focus on web design from a more contemporary standpoint. We have classes that teach coding with HTML, which is valuable and useful. But I would've benefitted from more emphasis on websites like Wix or Squarespace, which are more aligned with what we'll likely be using in our professional experiences.
• more web building classes
• AP style. This has been huge in Jacht, and it seems to be the ad industry standard, but it seems this style was only really emphasized in Journalism classes.
• I honestly wish I would have learned more AP style editing toward the end of my time at the COJMC. After learning AP style sophomore year, I have honestly forgotten more of it than I'd like to admit.
• I wish I would have learned about to write outside of news l. For example, movie reviews, more profiles, trend stories, historical explainer, and etc.
• Get better with photography, had a class with a professor who had an impressive career as a photographer. But I guess being good at the skill doesn't translate to you being a good professor.

Hands-on Opportunities: Students expressed the desire to have more hands-on opportunities in a number of areas. The comments were varied, but several students expressed interest in more hands-on opportunities in live and video production.

• I wish I had more experience with sports anchoring on TV and with a teleprompter.
• I wish I would have gained more live production experience.
• more time to try out different classes and roles in Advertising, to gain more diverse skills. More time learning about applying for jobs and interviews
• Having the ideas and the "know how" is only half the battle. Being able to produce those ideas is something that we did not do much. Maybe cause of COVID-19.
• I wish I would have received some more hands-on work with the different cameras (DSLR and JVC) that the university offers. It's getting better, but I still don't feel very confident in those skills entering my professional career
• I think if this college can do more practical work, it would be much better. For example, you can maybe broadcast the huskers game. All we have here right now is just radio. I think it would be more helpful if you can send people on field or court, and broadcast it.
• I wish there were more classes available right away that gave students hands-on experience. I felt like there were too few opportunities until I got my job and capstone class.
• More real-life scenario classes
• I think more classes similar to capstones with real life experience and ad campaigns would be really beneficial and make the J School stand out from other colleges on campus.
• As a broadcasting student, I would've loved to have practice doing live shots, or practicing going live on air in the field. Even a standup assignment where we have to put together a number of different standups for different story ideas would be helpful in stretching creativity when it comes to those.
• More behind the scenes and photography work, making creatives.
• How to start our own media platform.
• i wish i had more information and experience with an ad agency
• More hands on, my hands on classes were during COVID
• More hands-on experience, but it seems they're doing that now with the Experience Lab programs. Although the 3 semester requirement shouldn't apply to students also getting experience in internships/other local media entities
• I think there could be more experience actually in the field. I had to do all that learning outside of classes with internships.

Earlier and greater opportunities: Several students expressed a desire to have more opportunities in a variety of areas or regret over missed opportunities while in school.

• Anything involving live sports broadcast production
• I feel pretty satisfied with the variety I was able to learn. I wish I could have started doing news writing earlier since I feel like I did the majority my senior year with Mosaic and the News Lab.
• I wish I had taken advantage of checking out a variety of equipment and getting involved with an internship/club to start applying my skills sooner.
• Lots of stuff. I wish I took broadcasting classes, I wish I could do design and UX, but there is no time to take those classes because I'm stuck taking just as many history and art history classes as major classes.
• Just more sections of certain classes.
• I wish I would have been able to take advantage of my capstone class.
• How to get involved sooner.
• I wish there were more opportunities for those majoring or interested in production. I think journalism, on-air broadcasters, sports media personnel and ADPR majors are prioritized far more than the Media Production major. There are not many classes that are only focused on production without some other aspect within the other majors; there is also no capstone specifically aimed toward those interested in production.
• I regret not being able to take some of the more in-depth 300, 400 level classes like data journalism out of the understanding that the class structure is not made to accommodate a full-time student with outside work/home obligations.
• I wish there were more major specific classes, I feel as if I have barely touched the surface of the information involved in my field
• I wish to learn more about broadcasting and be more involved in the organization provided under COJMC.
• I wish I had the chance to learn more PR classes available at the CoJMC. I finished all of my major requirements so I could not take any of the PR classes like Crisis Communication or other similar classes
• I wish that I would have been able to take more PR-based courses. The only true PR courses are 300/400 level courses, which is unfortunate. The degree is in both Advertising AND Public Relations, but I have only taken ONE PR-focused course, which I electively sought out. I also was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work on the Bateman project, but I also electively sought out that opportunity, and it could have easily been someone else in my place. I realize there are many similarities between the two, but there are also an equal amount of differences.
• I wished I had fully committed to writing earlier on instead of pursuing broadcasting/media production on top of solid journalism.
• I wish there was a bigger separation between advertising and public relations as they are very different in the field.
• I would have liked more classes like SPMC 464, where I got to learn in the public relations field of sports more.
• Push yourself to go to extracurriculars, as it's one of the only ways to make friends.

Specialization in the Curriculum: Several students expressed the desire to specialize more within their chosen discipline or to have more opportunities across the college.

• Honestly, a lot. There were so many things I learned in my internship that I hadn't in class. Based on my experience (ADPR), I feel like the J School does a great job in introducing you to the industry with the classes that are all required to take, but when it comes to upper-level electives, there's limited options so unless you have a set plan and are strategic about signing up for those, you end up being a generalist. Having general knowledge is great, but had I not found my niche in creative work and double-majored in graphic design, I would have a lot of trouble finding passion in my work.
• I wished i knew that i could take advertising courses as a broadcasting major. I wish there were more courses for journalism majors.
• I wish CoJMC focused on letting students excel in one thing, rather than trying to expose them to a teeny bit of everything.
• Many things, I wish the college had a greater emphasis on television news and reporter and so that I could have developed those skills further.