Media Studies in a Changing Society

Teacher: Dr. Lo Wai Han (Janet)

Department: Department of Journalism, HKBU

Email: janetlo@hkbu.edu.hk

The course GDCV 1027 Media Studies in a Changing Society employs Flipped Classrooms, asynchronous online discussion, e-service-learning and VR videos as teaching and learning strategies to enhance students' understanding of the theoretical relationships between storytelling techniques and their effects. Students need to engage in a critical reflection on the impact of storytelling and ponder how it shapes current practices in news making and beyond. They gain practical knowledge on how to effectively apply storytelling techniques to media practices in real life. Students also have opportunities to interact with overseas counterparts to exchange ideas. Moreover, students are required to prepare teaching materials and give mini-lectures of digital storytelling techniques and medical literacy to local secondary school students.

To collect students' feedback, Dr Lo uses Course Feedback Questionnaire in HKBU, the results of the short quizzes, and students' reflections on their learning journey. Based on these data, Dr Lo finds that students treasure the opportunity of e-service learning. They are eager to share what they learned about digital storytelling and hope to have more interactions with local secondary students.

When asked about the difficulties encountered, Dr Lo reports that the COVID-19 pandemic prevents HKBU students from returning to campus in using professional VR equipment to experience the 360 degrees of videos prepared. The COVID-19 pandemic forces the service-learning element to be completely online, reducing the learning opportunities of both HKBU and local secondary school students. Finally, Dr Lo hopes to re-run the course with more face-to-face elements that can be added to the service-learning opportunity.