Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how creative work is produced and what educators can infer from students’ finished artefacts. This study examines how students and educators in Vietnamese media and communication programmes understand the changing purposes of creative learning, distinguish AI assistance from substitution and sustain student authorship. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 students and 19 educators and analysed thematically. The findings show that creative learning is shifting from technical execution alone towards selecting, evaluating, revising and justifying AI-assisted decisions. Students located the boundary of acceptable AI use through ownership and cultural meaning, whereas educators emphasised visible evidence of critical engagement. Documentation and structured questioning helped make students’ decision-making visible, although fluent AI outputs could conceal reduced understanding. The study proposes the Reflective AI Constructive Alignment Framework and introduces the delegation threshold as its primary conceptual contribution. The designed threshold specifies what educators permit AI to support, whereas the enacted threshold captures what students actually delegate. The framework reframes AI integration as an alignment problem: AI should support rather than replace the judgement represented by intended learning outcomes.
Many of today’s undergraduate journalism students turn to social media first to cultivate sources for their reporting, as opposed to traditional reporting methods. In this international qualitative study of Gen Z college journalists, including one group from the United States and one group from India, the authors tried to uncover if students’ use of social media impacted how they practiced journalism. This study applies gatekeeping theory and finds that some of the student journalists operated as gatekeepers, as they chose to always start with social media to cultivate sources for their reporting assignments. The authors analyzed in-depth responses from 26 Indian and U.S. students about their use of social media, and found that the students, acting as gatekeepers, looked for “forces” within social media to determine whether a story idea or source was worth pursuing. The students’ routine use of social media, including engagement, “real-time” information (such as recent activity news), visuals (such as photos and videos), and frequency of posts, contributed to their reporting practices. These students also preferred the direct messaging of social media, which is similar to real-time texting, because they experienced faster responses. These “gatekeepers” used social media at the onset of their journalism practice, which potentially prevented them from using the best sources.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming journalism and creating challenges for journalism education. Guided by Diffusion of Innovations theory, this study examines AI integration in journalism education in Bangladesh. Using a qualitative multi-method design, the study analyzed 21 curricula from 17 universities and interviewed 18 journalism educators, including 12 faculty members and 6 department heads. Findings reveal limited formal AI integration despite educators’ recognition of its professional importance, reflecting a gap between individual recognition and institutional adoption shaped by infrastructure, expertise, funding, and policy constraints. The study highlights the need for context-sensitive curriculum reform, sustained faculty development, and practical AI training.
Global disasters driven by climate change, geopolitical conflict, forced displacement, and public health crises have fundamentally altered journalism operations. Journalists are increasingly interpreting complex, cascading crises amid eroding public trust. Drawing on the 2025 World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) Syndicate on crisis and disaster journalism, this article synthesizes emerging research and professional insights to examine how journalism’s role is expanding amid persistent crises. This piece identifies implications for journalism and mass communication education and addresses the question: How can journalism education equip students with the skills, ethical frameworks, and resilience needed to report responsibly and effectively in an era of continual global disruption?
Globally, journalism is shaped by persistent gender inequities, even as women now outpace men among university graduates. Drawing on discussions from the World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) 2025 Syndicate, this work assesses the current state of journalism and gender education and identifies emerging challenges and opportunities. Participants and experts illuminated how political pressures on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); industry shifts; technological changes; and rising threats are reshaping classrooms and career pathways. While these forces constrain engagement with gender and inequality in some contexts, educators are increasingly embedding these issues into core journalistic practices, emphasizing that inclusive reporting is fundamental to good journalism.
