This qualitative, phenomenological study describes and analyzes the lived experiences of twenty five journalism students and recent graduates who worked on university publications and as interns for professional employers. The participants were all members of College Media Advisers and Associated Collegiate Press. They attended private and public universities across the country and were all members of generation Y or those born from approximately 1977-2000. Three main categories of journalism instruction were identified from the interview transcripts and literature. These categories were journalism and social media, experiential learning, and external networking. Themes emerged from the categories; they were relentless change, tainted journalism, faking it, working as a team, and understanding how things work. The stories that supported these themes offered fresh perspectives and insights on teaching journalism to generation Y students. The results indicated that the generation Y participants learned by experiencing a team dynamic while working on a university publication or as an intern. Covering tough or sad stories, negotiating for space with fellow section editors, and coming to the realization that journalistic work and meeting deadlines cannot be faked provided effective learning experiences, according to the participants. Although these practices are familiar to journalism educators, learning to produce effective journalistic work that can be distributed in a convergent media market is a new development. Generation Y students valued personal communication through mentoring relationships to support the learning activities. The results indicated that participants began to understand how things worked in this internet driven time and in the current climate of tainted journalism and social media. Overall, the participants defined effective journalism education as learning that took place while students worked in experiential learning settings. These experiences were enhanced by mentoring relationships which took place in person and were also maintained through social media relationships. Based on the results of this study, journalism teachers should consider revising instructional practices by integrating metacognitive writing assignments, establishing a culture of mentoring, and by creating experiential learning activities that prepare students to work as convergent journalists.
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