An online theoretical class

a micro-sociological approach to a Journalism teaching experience

Abstract

As the World Health Organization declared pandemics in March 2020, a good deal of classes, from junior schools to higher education, have suddenly became online. Teachers and students had to adapt themselves to a new way of teaching and learning. How is to teach journalism under such circumstances? This paper outlines some features of online journalism undergraduate theoretical classes. Drawing on Goffman’s micro-sociological approach, it gathers information both by informally shared experiences and reflexive analysis. Analysis has shown three main aspects an online journalism class: (1) there is an alteration in the class’ pace, which changes the ties between teachers and students, and among alumni themselves; (2) as everybody is at home, the border between ‘private’ and ‘public’ is frequently blurred; (3) the class’ dynamics is reconfigured, as the attributes of platform interaction calls for self-reference to what is happening at a particular moment.