FORCED CHANGE: PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY AND JOURNALISM EDUCATION
CHANGEMENT FORCÉ : PÉDAGOGIE DE LA PANDÉMIE ET ENSEIGNEMENT DU JOURNALISME
Teaching journalism after 2020
Listening party materials curated by Trish Audette-Longo and Nehaa Bimal
As schools shut down across Canada in March 2020, journalism educators grappled with how to make experience-based courses work remotely.
“In a course that I teach where we are in a newsroom and in a studio where students are using industry-grade equipment, we really had to adapt … quickly,” instructor and journalist Winston Sih shares in the second episode of the Forced Change podcast.
“And in some ways, we never really fully adapted to that.”
Throughout this special issue of Facts and Frictions, educators reflect on how they changed courses and pose questions for the future.
These “listening party” materials are meant to accompany episodes of the Forced Change podcast, providing additional resources for teaching or for offline conversations in local journalism programs.
Enseigner le journalisme après 2020
Alors que les écoles ont fermé leurs portes dans tout le Canada en mars 2020, les formateurs en journalisme se sont demandés comment adapter les cours basés sur l’expérience à distance.
« Dans un cours que j’enseigne, où nous sommes dans une salle de rédaction et dans un studio où les élèves utilisent du matériel de qualité industrielle, nous avons vraiment dû nous adapter rapidement, » explique le formateur et journaliste Winston Sih dans le deuxième épisode du balado Changement forcé. « D’une certaine manière, nous ne nous sommes jamais vraiment adaptés à cela. »
Tout au long de ce numéro spécial de Faits et Frictions, des éducateurs et éducatrices réfléchissent à la manière dont ils et elles ont modifié leurs cours et posent des questions pour l’avenir. Ces documents d’écoute sont destinés à accompagner les épisodes du podcast Changement forcé, en fournissant des ressources supplémentaires pour l’enseignement ou pour des conversations hors ligne dans les programmes de journalisme locaux.
In this issue
- Podcast episode: “Technology and what we changed during the pandemic”
- Written introduction to the podcast: Duncan, N., Hunter, A., Martin, R., & Sih, W. (2023). Forced Change: Technology and changing course delivery through the pandemic.
- Resource list: Ma, A. & Hanna, L. (2023). How to create a virtual newsroom.
- Commentary and syllabus: Salas, A. (2023). Getting their mojo back: A solutions approach for first-year journalism students.
- Podcast episode: “Mentorat, gentillesse et journalisme de données en temps de pandémie”
Discussion questions for teaching teams
- Looking back on how you and your program pivoted to meet the demands of teaching through the pandemic, what worked well? What needs improvement in the event of other short- or long-term crises that might keep students away from campus?
“Technology and what we changed during the pandemic”
- In this podcast discussion led by Nana aba Duncan, educators talk about digital divides that were evident in their remote classrooms. For example, not all students had access to equipment that would elevate their story production. How are you thinking about digital divides among students now? What kinds of programs do you have in place — or what do you need to have in place — to address challenges you see?
- In the podcast episode, “Technology and what we changed during the pandemic,” Winston Sih says, “We are a product of the environments that we live in and the technology we have access to.” What does that mean to you?
“How to create a virtual newsroom”
- Adrian Ma and Lindsay Hanna note the online tools we learned to use in the pandemic can benefit post-pandemic classrooms too. How are you working with online tools or materials now? How are students responding to these tools?
“Mentorat, gentillesse et journalisme de données en temps de pandémie”
- In the first podcast episode, Jean-Sébastien Marier discusses the power of data journalism — before, during and after the pandemic. How do you approach data journalism in your program? How has pandemic reporting of topics like science, healthcare, and the economy affected your approach? What challenges and opportunities have you observed?
How to bring this into your class
- “How to create a virtual newsroom” is a text- and video-based resource list co-developed by Ma and Hanna with more information about online platforms that are ready to be used for virtual collaboration and news production.
- In “Getting their mojo back,” Aphrodite Salas highlights how mobile journalism training can prepare students to turn their editorial focus to close-to-home solutions-based stories. She shares her syllabus, which shows how to put a mix of asynchronous and synchronous meetings, lectures and materials to work in a reporting class.
- Include a mix of pre-produced video tutorials and live tutorials in your production training, allowing students space to reflect on and review key lessons, and ensuring they have real-time room to ask questions.
Open Access / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0