Education as innovation

This chapter discusses cooperation between media education institutions and the media industry as a way of introducing and making space for innovation in the newsroom. Journalism students from Volda University College in Norway have collaborated with newsroom staff at the regional newspaper Sunnmørsposten on innovative projects in online feature journalism. The chapter outlines a possible model for learning projects focusing on how to organize academia-media industry collaboration in a way that is viable and fruitful for both parties with respect to time, resources, competence levels and learning outcomes. One of the findings is the importance of involving the entire newsroom organisation in order to optimize learning outcomes for the professional partner. The concept of ‘sandbox thinking’ is used to understand activities designed purposefully for working with innovation: trying out new ideas and approaches in a risk-free setting and creating a space for innovation and experimentation in a workflow that is otherwise stretched on time and personnel resources.