Wednesday, February 6, 2008

MediaBistro Offers Online Editing Class

High-profile editor Gaylord Fields is teaching an online editing class through MediaBistro titled "Grammar, Punctuation, and Meaning," starting February 25. The class meets between 9 and 10pm ET for four Mondays and costs $350. You can tell the instructor's got a sense of humor, because he ends his bio with this:

And while Gaylord has a definite opinion on use of the serial comma, he saves such discussions for parties.

What's cool about this class is that you can live anywhere and get a nice thing to put in the Education section of your resume. The class includes posted lectures, assignments, and weekly chats for the class as a whole.

MediaBistro has a varied selection of other courses to check out, such as intermediate copy editing, intermediate PR, and how to pitch articles to magazines.

7 comments:

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said...

Lori, your readers will also want to know about the spring lineup of courses offered by the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA):

*Grammar for Writers and Editors, online

*Marketing Your Editorial Services Online, online

*Succeeding as a Magazine Writer, online

*Breaking Into Travel Writing, at the EFA office in New York City

*Blogging 101, online

*Children's Writing Workshop, online

*Adobe InDesign for Editors: An Introduction to Desktop Publishing, Washington, D.C.

*Opportunities in Newsletters, Washington, D.C.

*Getting Started in Editorial Freelancing, Washington, D.C.

*Editing in MS Word: Beyond the Basics—Building Efficiency, at the EFA office in New York City

Courses are open to both EFA members and nonmembers.

Lori Cates Hand said...

Fantastic! Thanks so much for the great info!

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said...

You're very welcome, Lori. I'm happy to share.

There are also the workshops and audio conferences presented throughout the year by Copyediting newsletter.

Full disclosure: I'm a satisfied subscriber of Copyediting and also a copresenter of some of the audio conferences.

Anonymous said...

I have a question about courses like this. I am considering starting grad school in a year or so, for publishing, and was wondering if a course like this would be worth the money, considering I'll be in school in a year anyway.
Do you have any thoughts on this?

Lori Cates Hand said...

Hi!

I guess it depends on a lot of stuff. What is your target degree--MS in Publishing, or maybe just English or Journalism? Are you hoping to get a publishing job or do any freelancing before you finish this degree? If not, maybe it's not worth it. I think of classes like these as useful if you don't have a specifically related degree or relevant university classes. It's a good thing to help make your not-so-related degree look more relevant. They are also helpful if you already have a publishing job and need/want to brush up your skills and show evidence that you're continuing to hone your craft.

Anyone else care to weigh in on this?

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said...

Lori, I agree with your assessment.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! I think I will pass on the online class for now, and save my money for school. I wish I had enough money to do both...the class looks great!
Your blog is so helpful...thanks for sharing your expertise :)