Learn a new skill. Advance your career.
Our professional education courses offer immersive, specialized training for nondegree students and meet Columbia’s rigorous standards. Courses are offered both virtually and in person. Join our mailing list to hear about upcoming courses in New York City, at our partner campuses around the world, and online.
Audio & Podcasts
Audio Essentials Bootcamp is an online course for journalists and storytellers of all kinds led by veteran audio journalist Kristin Schwab.
This course covers the basics of working in audio and is appropriate for those who are new to working in this format. As this course will be held online, participants should be comfortable participating in class and reporting via zoom and other online applications. Editing will be done in Adobe Audition.
Class time will be devoted to interviewing for voice, writing for the ear, finding and using hot tape, story structure, hosting and finding your voice, and group listening and critique. Classes will be held synchronously for three weeks from 6:30 to 8:30 pm ET via zoom on
- Monday, April 10, 2023;
- Thursday, April 13, 2023;
- Monday, April 17, 2023;
- Thursday, April 20, 2023;
- Monday, April 24, 2023;
- and Thursday, April 27, 2023.
Participants will need a stable internet connection, a computer with administrative access (you need to be able to download), and a smart phone. Actual reporting work will be done between classes, and participants should expect to work on assignments when outside of class.
This course is $500 USD. Alumni of the Journalism School receive a 10% discount ($50) while current students, faculty and officers of other Columbia University schools receive a 5% discount ($25). Contact Professional Programs Director Kate Kennedy, [email protected], with any questions.
Register here.
Video
Visual elements inform a story and engage an audience in powerful ways. Learn how to conceive and craft a compelling video story. All of our video programs are currently paused until we can safely host journalists for classes in person, on our campus.
Introduction to Video Storytelling is a six-week summer course for current college students earning credit. Students will learn to think critically about what makes for a good video story--what makes it newsworthy, what makes video the proper medium for conveying that story — and how to execute using the latest technology. This course is open to undergraduates in 2022. Learn more and register here.
Multimedia Storytelling Intensive is a five-day intensive program that teaches the fundamentals to telling a story and engaging an audience, using on-site equipment. Our instruction team, headed by Director of Digital Media, Duy Linh Tu, leads participants through five days on the best techniques in shooting, audio, lighting, post production, and editing. This course is designed for individuals with no prior experience.
The Columbia Journalism Video Workshop is a two‐week course that teaches the essentials of conceiving, researching and reporting a story through video. Students learn how to use and handle a camera, how to properly frame and light a subject or scene, how to structure a story and how to use post‐production software. Students learn from our faculty and from industry leaders, visit media labs and newsrooms and have their work professionally critiqued. Past visits have included trips to the New York Times, Bustle, and Vice.
No prior experience or course work is required.
Investigative Reporting
Learn new techniques and deepen your reporting skills. Our courses cover the fundamentals of investigative reporting. Participants learn to recognize when a story should be a long-term project, how to use data to form the backbone of a story and the multiple ways of reporting a long‐term investigation.
Summer Investigative Reporting Course meets in New York for three weeks in July and is appropriate for journalists worldwide who report stories, as well as editors who manage investigative projects or teams.
Latin America Investigative Reporting Course is conducted in Spanish over two weeks in either Santiago, Chile or Cartagena, Colombia. It is designed for journalists from throughout Iberoamerica who work in any news media platform. This course has been postponed until further notice, and as of now, no applications are being accepted.
El Curso de Periodismo de Investigación de América Latina se impartirá en español durante dos semanas en Santiago, Chile o Cartagena, Colombia. El programa en Chile solo está abierto a periodistas que trabajan en Chile; el programa en Colombia está abierto a periodistas en Iberoamerica. Está diseñado para periodistas que trabajan en diferentes plataformas de difusión de noticias. Lea la experiencia de los participantes y las lecciones que aprendieron en el programa. Este curso se ha pospuesto hasta nuevo aviso y, a partir de ahora, no se aceptan solicitudes.
Data
Use the skills of Big Data to investigate the stories you want to tell.
The Lede is an intensive, postbaccalaureate certification program that equips journalists and storytellers of all kinds with the computational skills needed to turn data into narrative. No prior experience with coding, data or computation is necessary. We start from square one.
Publishing
The Columbia Publishing Course is widely regarded as the best preparatory course for recent college graduates who want a career in book, magazine or digital media publishing. For 70 years, this six‐week course has been educating the industry's leaders who come back to lecture and go on to recruit from CPC's ranks.
Graduates can be found working as editors, literary agents, publishers, designers, publicists and more, at major magazines, websites and publishing houses across the nation. The compact, practical nature of the course allows students to hit the ground running in their first jobs while at the same time providing a comprehensive understanding of the industry that extends far beyond what can be learned in a typical internship.
The Columbia Publishing Course at Exeter College, Oxford was created in 2016 and continues to run through the month of September. Fully focused on book publishing, the four‐week course is designed after its New York counterpart but focuses on the British publishing world and is particularly recommended for U.K. and EU citizens.
Learn more about the Columbia Publishing Course in New York
Learn more about the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford University
Leadership
Executive education courses at the Journalism School teach core management and thought leadership skills tailored for the context of a fast‐paced news organization. We can help you and your staff broaden your vision, reach new audiences, develop resilient strategies and effect lasting change.
The Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program immerses high‐ranking news executives in the use of strategy, innovation, marketing, demographics, journalism values and other approaches to address challenges confronting their organizations and create long‐term performance and change.
The Google News Initiative Newsroom Leadership program trains rising leaders in news organizations living and working in India, over six months. This program is fully virtual.
Courses for College Students
We are proud to offer select courses for current undergraduate students earning credit through the Columbia University School of Professional Studies. All courses are offered exclusively during the summer session.
Political Reporting: On the Campaign Trail offers an overview and critical examination of political journalism and the interaction of media with the White House, Congress, campaigns and statehouses. It will explore how technology and polarization have changed coverage of politics, as well as ethical considerations, shifting newsroom expectations and the challenges facing journalists as they cover campaigns and American political institutions.
War Reporting is led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, C.J. Chivers. Students will read reporting covering different wars and conflicts from different eras in U.S. history and examine the ethical and legal concerns, the risks to journalists and sources, and the impact on the public discourse of such reporting.
Introduction to Video Storytelling teaches how to think critically about what makes for a good video story--what makes it newsworthy, what makes video the proper medium for conveying that story--and how to execute using the latest technology. This course is led by Washington Post video reporter Zoeann Murphy.
Custom Training
Columbia Journalism School custom training focuses on the tools and techniques necessary for media organizations to remain competitive in an ever‐changing marketplace and engage audiences in new and innovative ways.
We recognize that every organization is unique. Our custom training programs are designed specifically for your organization, with your staff, resources and well‐defined objectives in mind.
For more information, please email Director of Professional Programs, Kate Kennedy, at [email protected]