If you’re considering a career in communications, traditional qualities like curiosity and strong writing skills will start you off on the right track, while an understanding of the shifting digital media scene will give you a competitive edge. Studying communications abroad at an internationally-minded university like John Cabot University is the ideal preparation for exploring these emerging opportunities. Our students have gone on to prestigious graduate school programs and to work and/or intern with major organizations across the globe—including The New York Times, Greenpeace, and Al Jazeera.
Here’s our guide to essential digital tools for future professionals.
New Innovations in Online Research-Gathering Tools
Your experience studying communications will equip you with the sharp critical thinking and analytical skills you’ll need to succeed. You’re made for this work if you’re already a curious person, and interested in experiencing other cultures when you study abroad. The research skills you develop in school can help you turn this curiosity into a career.
Research and fact-finding has always been integral to journalism. As the Internet expands and reshapes our communications landscape, it offers useful digital tools that take research far beyond Google.
When you study abroad, you can try CORE and BASE: open access search engines that generate trusted, peer-reviewed, and ad-free results. Or, consider exploring the online Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR) when looking for public international policy documents. Favored by professional journalists, these tools can help you find the precise information you need.
Futuristic Fieldwork: Study Abroad Students Practice Multimedia Storytelling
Today’s digital audiences want to engage with more than just text. With simple digital tools like your phone, you can improve your reporting with visually enhanced work.
While you earn your communications bachelor degree abroad, take advantage of site-specific multimedia reporting techniques like Storify and Co Everywhere. These tools make it easy to aggregate information related to a particular topic at hand, through search-engine optimized (SEO) keywords and ‘hashtagged’ data. You can also use them to add your work to the broader network of media in your area—creating ‘story maps’ digitally anchored to specific places.
You’ll also be able to access digital photography courses at JCU, which help communications career hopefuls hone their craft. Adding photojournalism to your skillset won’t only make for more interesting and professional work, but will also help you stand out on the employment and postgraduate application scene.
Video Production Tools to Master While You Study Communications in Rome
To make truly professional videos, today’s journalism grads are expected to have their own video footage editing skills. For example, JCU’s communication students get hands-on experience with 27-inch IMac computers featuring Final Cut Pro X, which allows them to do quick, clean video edits ideal for online video publishing—from short clips to extended creative media pieces and beyond. Since video production tools are as important as ever for prospective students to learn nowadays, visual communications, film and digital multimedia are all major components of JCU’s communications department.
With the right training and your finger on the pulse of this fast-paced industry, nothing can stop you from making your mark in a communications career of your own!
Would you like to study communications in Rome?
Contact JCU for more information or to speak with an advisor.
