February 17, 2020

In an editorial in Yahoo! News, Associate Professor Bertha Henson (NUS Department of Communications and New Media) writes about Class Notes. It is a website conceptualised together with her students in her module, Election Reporting, to showcase their reporting, writing, and research work. Class Notes became a way for A/P Henson to fulfil her desires to ‘do’ reporting work and ‘teach’ young students at the same time – a reference to the phrase, “Those who can’t do, teach.”

With Class Notes, A/P Henson and her team of students aspire to turn “heavy” content surrounding political, economic, and social issues in Singapore into easy-to-read information palatable to the mass public. Its tagline, “For first-time voters, by first-time voters”, captures the fact that the content on the website is produced mainly by the students and is meant to equip citizens, especially first-time voters, with the knowledge to cast an informed vote in the upcoming general elections. Beyond online research, the students also have to do on-the-ground reporting; they often tag along with politicians at their walkabouts and Meet-the-People sessions to obtain information.

Given the politically sensitive nature of the work, A/P Henson makes it clear that the Class Notes will be more factual information than opinion. Past work has included pieces on parliamentary proceedings – such as which member-of-Parliament asked the most questions or proposed motions – and the amount of funding each town council receive across People’s Action Party- and Opposition-held wards. Class Notes’ current focus is on the Budget statement which will happen on 18 February 2020.

Read the article here.

Class Notes can be accessed here.