Second year student Trevor Graham operates a camera during eNEWS production day on Sept. 24, 2020 at Lethbridge College
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way students in post-secondary institutions receive their education.
Digital Communications and Media students at Lethbridge College recently completed their first “residency” of the semester. Although the main instructional method will be delivered online, students of the DCM program will complete several residencies throughout the semester in order to complete various assignments that can only be completed in person. Examples include on-air radio shifts, television broadcast production and newspaper production.
Derek Wipf, a second-year student in the DCM program, says he has enjoyed the residency because it gives him the opportunity to see his classmates again.
“I have enjoyed the residency because I get to see my classmates. Even though I did see them online, that first in-person meeting is better because the longer you don’t see someone, the better the greeting is”
Wipf says wishes there was more time available on campus this semester.
“I wish we got more bang for our buck with residencies, I think tuition is far too high for only being allowed on campus a few days a semester.”
The rapid switch to online delivery has changed the way many instructors have had to deliver their courses this year. DCM instructor Pete Gingras says the rapid switch to online classes has made him be creative when it comes to teaching his courses.
“I’m a more practical thinking person. It’s forced me to think outside the box. We’re not in a face-to-face environment for the most part, so I have to show things using video or Powerpoint presentations to get my point across.”
Gingras says the pandemic has set a new normal for the journalism industry moving forward.
“There’s no going back because they have accepted different looking and sounding interviews that would be seen as kind of weird looking before. The viewing and listening public are accepting it.”
The DCM program will complete two more residencies on campus this semester. The outlook on residencies in the winter 2021 semester is dependent on the college’s decision on in-person courses.