Written by: Whitney Harris, Assistant Professor of Digital Media, University of the District of Columbia
About UDC & AU: the universities and the programs
The University of the District of Columbia, UDC, is a land-grant university and the only public university in Washington, D.C. It is a Historically Black College and University, or HBCU, although there are no demographic statistics on the schools’ website on how much of the population identifies as minority. According to the university’s Office of International Students Services, UDC hosts more than 500 international students from over 80 countries. There are approximately 1,800 undergraduate students and just over 300 graduate students who attend the university’s flagship campus, nearly 2,000 at the community college and 200 at the law school totaling more than 4,000 students at the university.
The Digital Media department at UDC consists of four concentrations: Broadcast Journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Documentary and Film Production, and Digital Video Production. Each Digital Media student must pick two concentrations. This article focuses on the Broadcast Journalism concentration capstone class, titled “TV Show Lab.” Since it is a capstone course, all students enrolled in the course were either junior or senior level.
The TV Show Lab class builds on the fundamentals of broadcast journalism, including pitching stories, shooting video, writing scripts, and editing video news stories. The students enrolled in the course have taken two prior courses designed to prepare them for the capstone. In this final course, they were tasked with putting those skills to use - creating their own student-run broadcast called the Firebird News which was recorded in the UDC-TV studio; a public access station. The class was divided into two parts: time spent in a classroom where students prepared for the show, and time spent in the studio recording the show. Students went on campus for in-person instruction for about half of the semester before the Coronavirus pandemic forced all UDC classes online. After that, students received hands-on experience working from a “virtual” newsroom - creating content at home and reporting via online platforms like Zoom, in a similar fashion to how news began to be reported in professional news stations across the country. The students were instructed to continue their reporting “out in the field” only if they felt safe, and to utilize alternative methods for reporting, like conducting interviews remotely.
It was a similar scenario for students enrolled in the “Backpack Video Journalism” class at American University, taught by the same professor (the author of this article).
American University, AU, is a private institution located in Washington, D.C. It’s a much larger university than UDC, with enrollment of more than 14,00 students (compared to UDC’s 4,000) including more than 8,500 undergraduate students and nearly 5,800 graduate students. AU is a predominantly white institution and as with UDC, no demographic information is available on AU’s website about the number of students who identify as minorities. However, an article in the Washington City Paper states that the university has just over 500 Black undergraduate students, making up about 7 percent of the student population (Sani, 2018, para. 6). According to the school’s website, sixteen percent of AU’s undergraduate students and 13 percent of graduate students are international.
Students in the master’s degree journalism program at American University take six weeks of courses, on Saturdays, for two years to earn their degrees. The Backpack Video Journalism class is a required course in their series.
The Backpack Video Journalism course provides students with an overview of the fundamentals of video production in multimedia journalism. Students enrolled in the course had taken prior journalism courses including a photography class that immediately preceded the Backpack Video Journalism course. But this was the students’ first video production-related course. During the course students were introduced to the basics of audio and video journalistic storytelling, shooting digital video, and editing the video into succinct newspackages. The course focused on both the editorial and technical skills involved in video storytelling. Most of the class was spent in the classroom, but students were expected to be “out in the field” reporting on stories during their free time as homework. The COVID crisis moved all AU classes online before the course began. The lessons that would have been in-person in a classroom were moved to remote classes conducted via Zoom. Yet, students were still expected to report from “out in the field,” if they felt safe doing so, and they were given the option to do most of their reporting via online channels like Zoom and FaceTime.
Overall, both the TV Show Lab course at UDC and the Backpack Video Journalism class at AU had similar student learning objectives, and required nearly identical course materials such as cameras, tripods, and memory cards (see tables 1-5 below). Students in both classes learned to edit video using Adobe Premiere software, and the students engaged in similar projects.
Once the transition to remote learning took place, both classes were conducted using Zoom.
Tables
How the Courses Were Conducted Before COVID
The Backpack Video Journalism course had been taught in-person for two years prior to the spring of 2020 by the same professor. The TV Show Lab course at UDC was taught in-person by that professor for several months before the transition to remote learning. In both cases, the goal of the courses was to give students “hands on” practical training as broadcast reporters; simulating a local TV newsroom as much as possible. The focus was not on textbook learning, quizzes and tests as much as experiential learning “in the field” out shooting, writing, and editing video news stories (packages).
The coursework was conducted with assigned articles to read, slide presentations on journalism terms, how to shoot, how to write, etc. discussions, and hands-on activities.
In an effort to run both classes like a newsroom, students were required to pitch relevant stories, they were given time in class and outside of class to shoot those stories, they would then write scripts and have them approved before being given time in class and out of class to edit their video news stories using Adobe Premiere non-linear editing software. The classes both also consisted of having students watch and critique other’s news packages and giving them a chance to re-edit them. Both classes also included natural breaks and time to check-in with the professor about any issues they were having.
How the Courses Were Conducted After COVID
After the COVID-19 crisis forced classes online across the country, class lectures for both the Backpack Video Journalism course at AU and the TV Show Lab course at UDC were moved to remote learning via Zoom. In both cases, the course materials were delivered synchronously, meaning students were still required to report to class during their designated class times, but they would logon to Zoom at those times instead of coming to class in-person. The professor was able to share her screen so that videos and slide show presentations could be presented remotely via Zoom. Students could still ask questions, share and critique videos, and even meet with partners using the breakout rooms feature on Zoom. The students were required to submit their assignments via the learning management system (LMS) Blackboard just as they had prior to the transition to online learning due to COVID.
Some skills, like video editing, were actually easier to teach online. The lessons on editing were accomplished by the professor sharing her screen on Zoom. It made it so each student had a “front-row-seat” from their own computer screens to watch the editing process, instead of trying to watch from a projector different parts of the classroom.
Other hands-on lessons, like how to use a DSLR camera, were not as simple. To teach camerawork, the professor would hold her camera up to the screen which could be difficult for students to see. Luckily, other resources such as slideshows and videos on shooting with a camera were also available and utilized in class as well.
Natural breaks were still provided in both classes, although it was harder to gauge student interest and understanding, especially when their cameras were off while using Zoom. For this reason, the professor began urging students to turn their cameras on during virtual class time.
A new aspect of the class created during the COVID crisis was providing students with a forum on Blackboard (the LMS for both UDC and AU) for students to check-in and share resources with each other on the discussion page. This Blackboard discussion page thread was a place where students could share anything class-related or non class-related as long as it was appropriate and respectful. There students from both courses shared poems, blogs, and COVID resources. It was a great outlet for connection especially when that connection with student peers seemed to be lost at a moment’s notice.
As with in-person instruction, students in both courses were provided class time during virtual sessions to shoot, write, or edit their stories with professor assistance and supervision.
There were guest speakers in both AU’s Backpack Video Journalism class and UDC’s TV Show Lab Course, and they were also able to easily join via Zoom (avoiding the cost and time of traveling and parking to meet students in-person).
A downside to conducting both courses online, however: sometimes videos lagged, making them harder to watch. This was a frustrating challenge considering how essential video sharing and critiquing was to both courses. It was also difficult to discern if such issues were due to internet connectivity problems or errors with the students’ actual videos.
In previous semesters, there was an emphasis on students using their own original work, capturing themselves “out in the field” in order to maintain journalistic integrity. Students often requested to incorporate media from outside sources, like YouTube videos, and were turned down unless there was a serious reason why their story would benefit - and even then only with proper credit, of course. But with the move to remote, students in both courses were allowed to use free video archives to incorporate file footage into their work instead of shooting everything themselves, since it would often be unsafe to do so (again, with proper credit). Students were also encouraged to shoot interviews via online channels like Zoom and FaceTime for their own safety. Not only was this practical, and in line with public health guidelines, it was also the same technique taking place in professional (non-student) newsrooms across the globe.
Overall, with events cancelled, people staying indoors, and their own health and safety on the line, many students in both courses found it more challenging to find stories that would be realistic to cover first-hand during the COVID crisis. However, the pandemic also provided the opportunity to cover stories with a global impact; stories that they would not have otherwise been able to cover. Instead of covering community events, functions on-campus, and new businesses opening, as was the case in prior semesters, students in the spring of 2020 were able to get creative to find unique stories that they could report from the safety of their own homes. They interviewed family, friends, and neighbors, or even chronicled their own experiences. The stories that they covered were profound, unique, and provide a glimpse into this unprecedented time. And students in both classes seemed pleased overall with what they were able to accomplish even amid a pandemic and a rushed transition to an entirely new way of learning.
Student Perspective: How Moving to Online Learning Worked at UDC and AU
At the end of their courses, students at both UDC and AU were asked to fill out a brief survey on their experiences taking the TV Show Lab and Backpack Video Journalism classes online. The survey was proctored via the online tool “Nearpod” which had been used during class to present interactive slide presentations, and allows students to engage through activities and short answer responses to questions. The survey was not anonymous however names of students have been redacted in the table below, and will not be used in this article. The American University students were given a second survey assessing the teacher and the content of the course. That survey was anonymous. No credit was given for taking the survey and it was not required, but students were highly encouraged to participate. Since student feedback is a regular part of the courses, no IRB approval was obtained. All students in both classes participated with UDC N=5 and American N=7. The survey asked two simple questions and allowed students the opportunity to provide open-ended responses: “Would you prefer to take this class in-person or online?” and “What do you think are some of the pros and cons of taking this video journalism class online?” The results are in table 6 and table 7 below.
For the first question (“Would you prefer to take this class in-person or online?”), all students in the TV Show Lab course at UDC said they’d prefer to take the class in-person, although one later said a hybrid model might be the best option in their mind:
“I think I personally prefer the class being taught in-person because I would like more hands-on experience. I think what might be helpful is possible to have the class be a hybrid (half online & half in-person.) which might be the ideal situation”
Other students also mentioned the hands-on nature of the course, as well as interaction, and getting a chance to practice their skills in a studio as reasons they’d prefer in-person instruction.
For the same question (“Would you prefer to take this class in-person or online?”), 6 out of 7 students at American University said they’d prefer to take the class in-person, with statements like:
“I thrive with people around me that I can engage with easily. Once the class got settled we were able to engage with each other with more ease. But, the beginning was -understandably with a pandemic going on and the sudden switch- a bit uncertain.”
The student who did not say they’d prefer in-person instruction actually did not specify either way, simply saying:
“I was hesitant about taking this course online. After completing the class, I'm glad to say that, even online, it exceeded my expectations for what I had anticipated from an in-person course.”
For the second question (“What do you think are some of the pros and cons of taking this video journalism class online?”), students in the TV Show Lab course at UDC expressed several pros and cons. One student mentioned getting to work on their own time, independence, and getting real-world practice as some of the pros of taking the course online. Several students also mentioned “convenience” as a benefit, with one saying: “The only pro I can think of is the convenience of learning remotely without the hassle of leaving your home.”
That same student, however, went to express the cons of taking the class online as well, saying “...the biggest con to me is the lack of in-person learning interaction with professors.” Indeed, that was a common theme, with another student noting that they couldn’t ask for help at times and another mentioning “no in-person interaction with professors or classmates.”
The students in AU’s Backpack Video Journalism course had a similar response to the second question (“What do you think are some of the pros and cons of taking this video journalism class online?”), with many of them also noting convenience as a pro to taking the class online. As one student said: “waking up later and not having to drive from Baltimore :).” In fact, another student expressed that the convenience of the online learning environment was the only pro in their mind, saying “Other than the comforts of your own home, I don't really see any pros to taking this course online, again I'd have preferred an in-person class.”
Many of the students also expressed another pro, though - that taking the class online forced them to be creative and as a result they did stories that they otherwise might not have: “one of the pros was being able to shoot and tell stories in different ways than if we were all on campus” one student said. “We learned that we can be very creative in a lock down,” another said. “Being able to do Zoom interviews allowed me to do a story I may otherwise have not been able to do,” said a third student.
In terms of the cons, one AU student mentioned technological interruptions with the internet and Zoom and several mentioned missing out on face-to-face interaction especially when it came to learning some of the more technical aspects of the class. As one student put it:
“The one con would be that I didn't get to practice much video shooting because everyone was stuck inside. But, that became a choice rather than a limitation as time went on since I learned so much about making/getting b-roll with limited resources.”
That student went on to point out another con of taking the class online: “miss seeing my classmates during lunch!” they said. Two students mentioned learning the editing software Adobe Premiere virtually was a con that perhaps was overcome. One saying: “One of the cons was not being able to get in-person instruction on Adobe Premiere, but I thought screen-sharing instruction worked almost as well.” And another saying “I definitely think the "share screen" function made it easy to learn more features of Premiere.”
Conclusion:
The swift transition to online courses in March of 2020 during the beginning of the COVID crisis posed many obstacles for students and professors alike, including some issues that were unique to broadcast journalism production classes. Given the hands-on nature of these courses, it was difficult to navigate with limited in-person interaction and it was also hard to share hands-on information like how to use the cameras online.
Tools like Zoom for video conferencing, Nearpod for interactive slide presentations, YouTube for video tutorials, and Screening Room for video sharing and critiques made it easier to tackle some of the challenges of online teaching. And in some cases, as with sharing the screen during lessons on Adobe Premiere, perhaps even more effective. As noted above, editing lessons were enhanced by screen sharing which gave each student a front-row-view instead of the classroom model where they learn by watching what is being projected in the front of the room, which may give advantage to those sitting closer. As noted by both the professor’s and students’ observations, there were several pros and cons to switching to an entirely online learning environment. In the future, more online tools that allow screenings and hands-on tutorials would be helpful.
It actually might be most beneficial, however, for hands-on video production courses to utilize a hybrid model whereby students get in-person training both online and inside the classroom, access to equipment, and an opportunity to practice inside a TV studio, but they also get to practice their skills “out in the field” more as well. Long after the COVID pandemic, TV newsrooms may continue allowing their staff to work remotely - saving money for the stations and time for their employees. Perhaps a hybrid model will be adopted by these professional studios as well - continuing to allow field reporters to work remotely at times instead of in-studio long after the COVID pandemic is over. And as journalism students preparing to enter these newsrooms - their ability to adapt to either scenario is key.
References
Andrews, D. (2019). Benefits of online teaching for face-to-face teaching at historically black colleges and universities. Online Learning, 23(1), 144-163. doi:10.24059/olj.v23i1.1435
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Hensley-Clancy, M. (2015, November 07). Black Colleges Are Going Online, Following Their Students And The Money. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/black-colleges-are-going-online
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Sani, C. S. (2018, March 15). Bananas in nooses. Racist attacks on social media. Cotton affixed to Confederate flag flyers. Black students at American University speak about experiencing hate. Washington City Paper. Retrieved 2020, from https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/186797/black-students-at-american-university-speak-about-experiencing-hate-on-campus/