Effectiveness of Online Education for the Professional Training of Journalists: Students’ Distance Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background. The necessity to introduce digital technologies in education and in the professional training of journalism students in particular has been widely discussed in the theory and practice of education over the past 20 years. From the point of view of both future research and training, it becomes very important to study the development of journalists’ professional competencies and professional identity in the online environment. Objective. To study the experience of distance learning by students in the faculty of journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University during the period of restrictive measures in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic (Spring 2020). Design. A two-stage empirical project studied the opinions of students about distance learning, to identify its effectiveness for the formation of professional competencies and identity. In the first stage, a qualitative (investigative) study was conducted on a small sample using semi-formalized tools. In the second stage, a formal survey was conducted on a representative sample (N = 576). Results. We found that in order to achieve the social, educational, and cognitive presence necessary for effective online education, an important condition is the communication environment and stable communication among all participants: students, professors, and academic departments. However, the communicative environment of the traditional training process is not transferred to the online environment in its original form. With Internet technologies, it is difficult to provide a strong teaching presence, which is a catalyst for the development of social and cognitive presence and a key component of traditional professional training. In the online learning mode, students are overloaded with self-study and written assignments, and mastering the necessary professional knowledge, competencies, and skills becomes their own responsibility. Not all components of the traditional educational process (types and forms of classes, educational materials, etc.), remain effective when transferred to the online environment. Conclusion. The formation of professional competencies, as well as the social, cognitive, and behavioral components that determine the further development of professional identity, is difficult in distance education. Online learning cannot be regarded as a full-fledged alternative to the traditional higher professional education of journalists.

Psychological Microclimate of Student Groups, Studying in Different Instructional Formats

“…As we know from the research literature, psychological microclimate of a student group is important for educational motivation and, as a result, for the academic performance of students in face-to-face education [28][29][30][31]. The literature also provides data on the influence of a specific instructional format on students' learning [8,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Therefore, we next addressed the question of the influence of an instructional format on the microclimate of student groups in higher education institutions.…”

“…The lack of eye contact, physical interactions, facial expressions and gestures, etc. can lead to a decrease in students' interest and motivation for learning and, as a result, impede the effectiveness of education [20][21][22][23]. Deprivation of contacts with fellow students and teachers entails subjective perception of the lack of real support and mutual assistance, increases feelings of loneliness, disappointment, and elevated anxiety.…”

Fostering Cognitive Presence in Online Courses: A Systematic Review (2008-2020)

“…A large portion of the literature (Bissessar et al, 2020;Choo et al, 2020;Ice et al, 2011;Joo et al, 2011;Kucuk & Richardson, 2019;Leader-Janssen et al, 2016;Morueta et al, 2016;Patwardhan et al, 2020;Pillai & Sivathanu, 2020;Poluekhtova et al, 2020;Saadatmand et al, 2017;Sağlam & Dikilitaş, 2020;Shea et al, 2010;Shea & Bidjerano, 2008 looked at CoI in a holistic fashion, utilizing the CoI survey (and variations thereof) to measure cognitive presence in courses. While some studies viewed how students experienced and perceived CoI (Bissessar et al, 2020;Leader-Janssen et al, 2016;Poluekhtova et al, 2020;Saadatmand et al, 2017;Shea & Bidjerano, 2008;), other studies sought to determine the interplay between other various factors.…”

“…A large portion of the literature (Bissessar et al, 2020;Choo et al, 2020;Ice et al, 2011;Joo et al, 2011;Kucuk & Richardson, 2019;Leader-Janssen et al, 2016;Morueta et al, 2016;Patwardhan et al, 2020;Pillai & Sivathanu, 2020;Poluekhtova et al, 2020;Saadatmand et al, 2017;Sağlam & Dikilitaş, 2020;Shea et al, 2010;Shea & Bidjerano, 2008 looked at CoI in a holistic fashion, utilizing the CoI survey (and variations thereof) to measure cognitive presence in courses. While some studies viewed how students experienced and perceived CoI (Bissessar et al, 2020;Leader-Janssen et al, 2016;Poluekhtova et al, 2020;Saadatmand et al, 2017;Shea & Bidjerano, 2008;), other studies sought to determine the interplay between other various factors. Overarching themes included the study of CoI and course satisfaction (Choo et al, 2020;Ice et al, 2011;Kucuk & Richardson, 2019;Patwardhan et al, 2020;Sağlam & Dikilitaş, 2020), CoI and enrollment (Ice et al, 2011), the different presences within CoI (Joo et al, 2011;Kucuk & Richardson, 2019;Pillai & Sivathanu, 2020;Shea et al, 2010;Shea & Bidjerano, 2009), CoI and engagement (Kucuk & Richardson, 2019), CoI and course design (Patwardhan et al, 2020), and cognitive and social presence within higher cognitive tasks (Morueta et al, 2016).…”

Disrupted Delivery: Demythifying Remote and Online Instruction in Times of Crisis and Emergency

“…Recent research shows that despite the COVID-19 quagmires, journalism education at Jakarta Indonesia's Dr. Press Institute Soetomo (LPDS), a national center for journalism training, is thriving, taking advantage of the continued online offerings (Mustika & Khotimah, 2021). Calling the pandemic a "catalyst" (p.4), United Kingdom-based researchers Fowler-Watt et al (2020) also highlight the opportunities for journalism education including the uncovering of innovative ways of teaching arguing before the pandemic many had not considered these approaches while Russian research measuring the effectiveness of online education for media students during the pandemic showed online teaching presented severe challenges particularly in relation to protracted communication concerns between students and faculty (Poluekhtova et al, 2020). Critically, more debates on the future of journalism research have emerged in the wake of the pandemic.…”