Stepping outside the (Zoom) box

"Note that in all cases, not every teaching moment will be in-person, just some. These will be hybrid classes. Details to come as planning progresses."

So wrote interim co-chairs Gavin Adamson and Asmaa Malik to students on July 30, 2021. The same email identified eight classes that would be offered partially in-person for the first time in a year and a half.

Returning to classes in the RCC is a reality only a fraction of students, staff and instructors alike are living. As we enter the second half of this hybrid semester, how are-person cohorts holding up?

The instructors

"Personally, there have been many ups and downs and challenges to figure out, but it's been a remarkable experience in so many ways," says JRN 270 professor Adrian Ma. "The amount of work it took to coordinate this reboot (as I call it) has been staggering, but so much credit goes to our technical and administrative staff for getting this off the ground at all and for keeping us going."

Ma says that while having a Jollibee "at the foot of campus" has expanded his lunch options, to him, the school of journalism still feels stuck at the halfway point.

"We're not all the way there yet. Trying to figure out hybrid delivery methods with students, staff and instructors who are both in-person and online at different times has been incredibly challenging. And abiding by our capacity requirements can add other difficulties."

For JRN 314 instructor and television host Winston Sih, the "breaking out of zoom squares" has been the best part of being back on campus.

"I think the enthusiasm is the easiest thing to get used to," says Sih. "People are excited to be here; people are excited to see each other and have some kind of level of human interaction, even with masks on. And I think for something as lively as journalism, it's nice to be able to have that newsroom-like environment and to really be able to emulate that which you can't have on zoom."

With the prospect of a nearly-total return in winter 2022, another considerable adjustment is only months away.

JRN 318 instructor and CBC journalist Naheed Mustafa hopes that the school will consider that not every student can return to their pre-covid routine.

"For a lot of people, being online is easier," says Mustafa. "The transition back into in-person, in our rush to do that, are we forgetting about some of the reasons why people might need different kinds of accommodations? And if they do allow that, as a university to let people stay online, how do we ensure that as instructors, we're doing our best to deliver both modes in the best way that we can?"

The students

For second-year students, the prospect of essentially reliving a “first-year experience” may seem daunting. 

Charlotte Pottier-Bonneville, a j-school second-year, says even one in-person course has been somewhat overwhelming.

"I don't really feel comfortable, like walking everywhere, because I don't really know anything much about the campus. I feel like it's just this building we're supposed to go in, but we don't know much about it. And we don't want to ask."

Half the students have experienced nearly two years of online-only university, while the other half knew what awaited them back on campus.

"Coming back feels like a breath of fresh air," says Naama Weingarten, in fourth year. "I missed seeing my friends and professors, along with the overall vibe of the campus. Studying at home alone sucked, so having the ability to sit around a desk and get distracted by my friends again feels amazing. Coming back feels like we never left. I'll never forget some rooms looking like an old-time capsule when we returned on the first day. There were newspapers from March 2020 all over the place, and even a year-old Tim Horton's order. I wonder who left that there." 

Despite the new array of obstacles that face the school of journalism come winter 2022, walking through the halls of the RCC is a feeling so close to many of us that we can nearly taste it.

Pottier-Bonneville sums up how she sees the end of this semester and the beginning of next.

"I think it's going to be a challenge, but I think it's a good challenge."