AJE Summer Conference 2024 shows importance of transition and transformation to journalism education

The potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality to transform journalism education, the importance of creativity in the classroom and newsroom and the challenges facing students as they transition to the media industry were among topics explored at this year’s Association for Journalism Education (AJE) Summer Conference.

Scores of journalism educators and practitioners from the UK and beyond descended on Liverpool John Moores University for the two-day event (on June 27 and June 28) to discuss the themes of “transition and transformation” in the media industry more widely – and the effect of this on journalism education.

This was preceded by a one-day symposium focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and its incorporation into the teaching of journalism in higher education, marking three days of critical discussion and engagement at the university’s Redmonds Building.

The keynote speaker on day one of the AJE Summer Conference 2024 was the Guardian’s north of England correspondent, Robyn Vinter, on why the lack of social diversity is a problem within the media, while day two saw a panel (featuring Peter Houston and Joanne Cummings from the Grub Street Journal; journalists John Gibbons and Josh Sexton of The Anfield Wrap; and University of the West of Scotland Journalism and Sports Journalism programme leader Margaret Hughes) explore how to future-proof opportunities in the journalism industry in a changing world of work.

More than 30 speakers presented their ideas, research and practice during the two-day event, which covered a range of topics within both the media industry and journalism education. To see the full schedule, visit the programme here.

Testimonials from the conference:

– “Diverse talks and experiences. Good to share ideas with like-minded people”.

– “Great to bounce ideas / plans / thoughts on teaching”.

– “Warm and supportive atmosphere – very welcoming. Fabulous range and depth of papers and presentations. Networking very important”.

– “The talks were engaging – good to share knowledge. Sharing of good approaches to immersive teaching”.

– “Lots of great work being shared – research and practical practices”.

– “All the presentations have been interesting and relevant. Great theme that brought everything together. Really well organised and smooth schedule. Great chairs in every session – kept things on track… Will persuade more colleagues to attend next time – thank you all, it has been fantastic!!!”.

– “Shared best practice. Lovely people”.

– “Very interesting papers. The range of topics / papers was very useful for teaching practice”.

See a selection of updates and photos from the event on the AJE X (formerly Twitter) page here.