Testing Tolerance: Addressing Controversy in the Journalism and Mass Communication Classroom(Master Class: Resources for Teaching Mass Communication)

Tough topics are inescapable for journalism and mass communication academics. If it’s in the news, journalism and mass communication instructors have to discuss it in class. In Testing Tolerance, Candi Carter Olson and Tracy Everbach of the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women bring together a broad range of perspectives, from graduate students to deans, in conversation about ways to address tough topics in and out of the university classroom. Helping instructors navigate today’s toughest topics through discussions of the issues and pertinent terminology, this book provides hands-on exercises and practical advice applicable across student and instructor levels and disciplines. Readers will gain an understanding of the issues and acquire tools to address these topics in sensitive, yet forthright, ways.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Testing Tolerance in the Classroom Tracy Everbach & Candi Carter Olson PART I: Confronting Tough Topics 2. Walking With Our Students: Turning Theory-based Courses Into Hands-on Media Production Opportunities Candi Carter Olson 3. Taking Heat: Navigating Diversity and Confrontation in the Classroom Tracy Everbach 4. Making the Invisible Valuable: Strategies for Translating Work at the Margins Meredith Clark 5. Pedagogy of the Stressed: Mental Health in the Mass Communication Classroom and on Campuses Chelsea Reynolds 6. Being a Female Public Intellectual in the Age of Social Media: Navigating Backlash, Mansplainers, and Trolls Rebecca Hains 7. A Communication Unit Administrator’s Perspective on Speech Controversies in the Classroom and on Campus David Perlmutter PART II: Fostering Tolerance 8. Flipping the Script: Difficult Dialogues and Blended Learning for Traditional and Online Journalism Courses Marquita Smith & Mia Moody Ramirez 9. Confronting “Bro Culture” in the Sports Journalism Classroom Steve Fox 10. Conflicted: Student Media Advisors, Sexual Assault Coverage, and Mandatory Reporting Under Title IX Meg Heckman 11. #NAJAEverywhere: “I” in Indigenous (People) is Capitalized Victoria LaPoe, Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, & Rebecca Landsberry 12. Wait…Hold on…Just let me explain this to you… Laura Castañeda 13. Graduate Student Instructors: Tackling Tough Topics for the First Time Khadijah Ejaz 14. An Intersectional LGBTQ+ Pop Culture Approach to Critical Pedagogy Nathian Rodriguez 15. Exploring Intersectional Approaches to Pedagogy Paromita Pain 16. Conclusion: Recommendations and Class Resources Candi Carter Olson & Tracy Everbach

About the Author :
The AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) encourages diverse research and conference programming on the status of women in journalism and mass communication education. Candi Carter Olson is assistant professor at Utah State University. Tracy Everbach is professor of journalism in the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas.

Review :
With the differing backgrounds and experiences students bring to the classroom today, the learning process must be ready to deal with controversial and, perhaps, uncomfortable situations that students and faculty will inevitably face both in and out of the classroom. This book creates a new awareness of viewing the world and those around us differently and realistically. It is a must-read for everyone in education. Compelling topics, insightful contributors, and practical pedagogical wisdom. Whether you’re an instructor, administrator, or even a student, this book is a valuable and challenging resource. This book touches all the areas that affect academic achievement few are willing to touch. The best practices offered are distinct. Classroom exercises provide opportunities to really challenge and change student thought and action. Written with solid scholarly grounding and empathetic finesse, it should be a must for every instructor’s toolbox. With hot-button issues confronting professors and their students in a changing, and often toxic, political, economic and social environment, this book should be required reading for teachers and administrators in every journalism/communications program. An excellent and much-needed resource. The pedagogy, lessons, and references outlined in Testing Tolerance are desperately need and vitally important for professors and students facing an increasingly intolerant world. A guidebook to help fortify the fragile minds and souls and dreams entrusted to us and our institutions.