Is grad school today a place to learn or to hide?

Or is it a great place to experiment with new ideas, new techniques and pick up new skills?

This morning's guest on mediabistro.com's Morning Media Menu is doing all of the above.

It's worth a few minutes to listen to Vadim Lavrusik who has started grad school after experience as a contributing writer at Mashable.com, a contributor for Poynter Online's E-Media Tidbits, and a journalist who has written for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Minnesota Daily and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

He discusses how grad school is a good place to explore the new journalistic landscapes as well as traditional issues.

On his blog yesterday, Vadim explained:

I personally think that journalists have an opportunity to not only gain valuable skills at journalism school, but also experiment in ways that they might not be able to in the workforce.

You also can follow Vadim Lavrusik on Twitter.

10 ways J-Schools teach social media

Mashable writer, Vadim Lavruski outlines 10 ways that journalism programs across the country are preparing students to use social media as a tool in their writing and reporting.

Released today, the post outlines processes that schools such as Columbia University School of Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and New York University to gage the curicculum adjustments.

Lavruski finds that professors are encouraging students to use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to build a source list, do background research and promote content.

View the article here.

Are you utilizing social media to work the biz beat? Tell us about your experiences in our comments section.

Reuters and SABEW team up for discussion session

It comes as no surprise that our industry is changing.

To help prepare for the needs of the future, Reuters and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers are teaming up to host a discussion with some of the top producers in business journalism.

The dicussion, being held Tuesday, June 30, will include the following panelists: 

Chrystia Freeland, US managing editor, Financial Times
Larry Ingrassia, business editor, The New York Times
Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs & new media professor, Columbia Journalism School
Laurel Touby, founder & CEO, Mediabistro.com

The discussion will be moderated by
Betty Wong, global managing editor, Reuters.

Get full details here.