How IIJNM continued to teach Journalism during a pandemic

Covid-19 upended social structures and wreaked havoc on a carefully measured education system. Schools and colleges were just one of many, which were shocked out of their routines. Fortunately, we at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media have been prepared to meet this strange new-world head-on.

As our method of teaching evolves, the subjects that are taught evolve with it. At IIJNM, we understood the importance of an influx of learning-focused applications and software making it possible to have online classes that mimic physical/on-site classroom environments. The fact that such technology was already in use at IIJNM well before the pandemic only strengthened our capacity to combat the challenges that the pandemic posed.

At IIJNM, we understood the importance of an influx of learning-focused applications and software making it possible to have online classes that mimic physical/on-site classroom environments.

Since very few schools and colleges in India deal with journalism as a practice-heavy course, those that do, like IIJNM have an upper hand when it comes to rethinking the curriculum for the pandemic. In the twenty years since its founding, IIJNM has focussed on a number of creative and technological ways to bring the world into its classrooms and provide a holistic outlook of the field. The flipped approach to the classroom, which has become a common occurrence at this journalism programme, has already laid the groundwork for a path-breaking online learning effort.

Through leveraging the array of resources available, not only the knowledge can be passed easily, but the experience can also be enjoyable. We began the year by involving students in the process by having them undertake guides and real-time surveys about a topic in class thus giving our students a truly immersive online learning experience. Our online classes also ensured their continued engagement by having them contribute to the in-house publications – Softcopy, Observer and Citycast. During this time, our students exceeded our expectations by successfully running a live-zoom bulletin as part of their course.

We began the year by involving students in the process by having them undertake guides and real-time surveys about a topic in class thus giving our students a truly immersive online learning experience.

Using an open-source learning management system like Moodle, IIJNM allows its professors to provide real-time personal feedback to the students in addition to grades and assignments. These platforms provide the option of instituting forums that the professors and students use to talk about topics discussed in class once the allotted hour is done. This is designed to ensure that the students have a semi-formal way to discuss doubts and find solutions like they would in a real classroom.

Controlled interactive sessions, real-time online quizzes and one-on-one online counselling are some of the ways we succeeded in building and implementing a coherent online curriculum to suit the demands of the pandemic and beyond. 

Using an open-source learning management system like Moodle, IIJNM allows its professors to provide real-time personal feedback to the students in addition to grades and assignments.

With the students reporting to campus for the remainder of their course, we turned our attention to helping them acquire industry-level skills by focussing on targeted workshops on emerging software in their streams of choice. The students went through a rigorous training period where they acquired shooting, editing, designing skills and were ready to enter the industry. During the rest of the course, our students also delved in-depth into their streams as they discovered the intricacies of fields such as Multimedia, Magazine Writing, Newspaper, TV News and Documentary. Special lectures and alumni discussion sessions were arranged, both online and offline, to provide wider exposure to industry practices and expectations.

The students went through a rigorous training period where they acquired shooting, editing, designing skills and were ready to enter the industry.

2020 has truly been a remarkable year for IIJNM; it has only strengthened our resolve to provide the best journalism training to our students.

About the author

Sangeetha Alwar holds an MA in English Literature and a B2 level in French from Alliance Française de Bangalore. She has worked as an Assistant Professor of English at Jain University and St.Joseph’s College teaching communication skills and core literature papers to degree students. She has volunteered for two years in the service-learning programme 'Srujana', teaching English language to underprivileged children in Bengaluru.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha