News in the classroom

It’s our hope that we can re-engage students to start sharing the news.

We know that posting news articles can cause unwanted friction and that’s why we had to build Topico from the ground up to be a safe, friendly environment for everyone to begin to feel comfortable sharing news in the classroom.

This required us to make a foundational shift in how we share the news.

Mindful

Data protection.

Topico doesn’t ask for any personally identifiable information in order for every student to safely enjoy the experience of sharing news in the classroom.

Awareness

Online abuse.

There isn’t a way to message, comment, or even interact with other students on Topico to create a safe environment to share news within the classroom.

Responsible

Topical media.

To safely curate articles, we need to shift away from traditional methods and towards topics rather than social engagement, providing context and focusing on relevant content, rather than opinion.

The University of Texas at Austin.

‘The News of the Day’

At the University of Texas at Austin, the journalism class J301F has implemented Topico as an optional way for students to view the articles they’re sharing on international, domestic, state, and local news. Topico is a safe, friendly way for students to curate their own news in the classroom.

Watch our introduction video on how classes at the University of Texas at Austin are implementing Topico within their ‘News of the Day’ program.

Features: Insights and analysis

LOCAL NEWS

Students can share the articles that interest them in a comfortable, friendly environment.

• See what’s trending in the class.
• Recommend articles.
• Bookmark favorites.

LOCAL TRENDS

Topico aggregates every article to view which topics are trending within the classroom.

• Explore relevant topics.
• Subscribe to unique newsfeeds.
• Set push notifications.

RELATED TOPICS

Navigate the relationship of topics to freely explore their most relevant connections.

• Easily navigate connected topics.
• See what’s most relevant.
• Discover new connections.

Community in the classroom

Examples: Below are the aggregate Newsrooms for UTATX’s journalism class, J301.

#WORLD

#UNITED STATES

#TEXAS

#AUSTIN

The program called ‘The News of the Day’ requires every student to post an article on the (4) topics;

#WORLD, #UNITED STATES, #TEXAS, and #AUSTIN

Each student has their own set of Newsrooms, providing each student with their own personal space to curate the news.

Every student’s Newsroom is then aggregated (connected) to the main classroom Newsrooms (as seen above) to view news trends, and to easily discover what other students are curating as well.

No comments. No chat. No opinions… Just news.

Legacy project: ‘The News of the Day’

NEWS IN REVIEW: FALL22

^UTATX J301 AUSTIN FALL22

Classrooms can collect, reference and learn about what news was relevant to previous classes to create a legacy project of news and information that captures a moment in time.

• What were the big events of 2022?
• How were the issues covered?
• Where were they right?
• Where were they wrong?
• What can we learn?

A semester in review.

There are so many issues and events that unfold over the course of a semester that it’s easy to forget even the most compelling stories. Topico tracks the topics shared by a classroom over time, providing a valuable way to review the issues, events and topics that interest the students, classroom and school.

Some of the issues and events curated by the J301 classroom:

(Semester: October 1st. to November 5th. 2022)

#HURRICANE IAN

#ACQUISITION OF TWITTER BY ELON MUSK

#MAHSA AMINI PROTESTS (Iran)

#SEOUL HALLOWEEN CROWD CRUSH

#KANJURUHAN STADIUM DISASTER (Indonesia)

#FBI SEARCH OF MAR-A-LAGO

#QUEEN ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER

#JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, WATER CRISIS

#LIZ TRUSS (Resignation)

#MONKEYPOX VIRUS

#RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF DONETSK, KHERSON, LUHANSK OBLASTS

#2022 SASKATCHEWAN STABBINGS (Canada)

#TYPHOON NANMANDOL (2022)

#GIORGIA MELONI (Prime minister of Italy)

#2022 RALEIGH SHOOTING

#IZHEVSK SCHOOL SHOOTING (School shooting in Russia)

#2022 NONG BUA LAMPHU ATTACK (Daycare tragedy in Thailand)

#2022 WORLD SERIES

#ATTACK ON PAUL PELOSI

#KANYE WEST (cancellation in social media)

#ALEX JONES (settlement over Sandy Hook conspiracies)

#2022 MORBI BRIDGE COLLAPSE (India)

#MARTHA’S VINEYARD MIGRANT CRISIS

#CANNABIS POLICY OF THE JOE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

#BRITTNEY GRINER (Arrest)

#DOUBLE ASTEROID REDIRECTION TEST (NASA)

#STABBING OF SALMAN RUSHDIE

Reviewed by common sense education.

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Tap on the logo above, or visit their home page at https://www.commonsense.org/education for more insightful reviews.

Collaborate

Evaluate

Navigate

We want a safe place to collectively gather, share and discover news and information so we can start restoring our faith in journalism.

To properly evaluate the news we need to be able to view the source and weigh in on the validity of an article without being divisive. 

It’s equally important to easily explore, and to quickly discover the connections between topics to learn more about a specific event, or issue.  

Connections

Tagging

Relevance

The relationships between topics can build bridges instead of walls, and topics are how we connect the issues.

Topic tags connect stories, presenting us with additional context to explore new directions.

Features like trend surfing let everyone explore an issue to discover more related topics.

Creating the arc of a story

Contributing to the future

A legacy of perspectives

It’s often times important to study the entire arc of a story so we can fully understand all perspectives on an issue, or event.

By contributing articles, students are creating a reference to capture a specific point in time around an issue, or event.

Classrooms can learn from the headlines, viewpoints and perspectives of previous students to create a legacy project.

Encourage exploration

Connecting the dots

Discovering new paths

Topic tags can take students in directions they might otherwise have never explored, discovered, and gained a new perspective.

As students tag the articles they post, they’re creating connections to every relevant article to help connect the dots.

Easily surfing topics is essential to browsing and discovering new perspectives across the curations on Topico.