Thanks to the hard work of leaders, faculty and staff, the School of Communication continues to deliver the highest quality of education to students in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over an extended two-week spring break, faculty worked to adapt weeks of in-person curriculum to an online setting. Two websites, keepteaching.osu.edu and keeplearning.osu.edu, compiled a wealth of resources for instructors and students, respectively.

Within the School, online course coordinator Bethany Barker, associate clinical professor Nicole Kraft and IT staff Jay Smith created special instructional videos, gathered resources and provided training, consultation and advice to faculty and graduate students who were moving their courses online.

“What has been accomplished in just a few weeks is just astonishing,” said Mike Slater, Director of the School of Communication. “The level of professional and personal commitment of everyone to make this work for our students is so very impressive. And everyone is continuing to try to refine their efforts and improve the online experience as the semester progresses.”

Barker served as an advocate for students and a resource for faculty.

“We know that our students deserve an Ohio State caliber education, regardless of the delivery method,” said Barker. “Our aim was to make sure instructors had everything they needed to translate their course to a virtual environment.” 

Faculty also shared best practices and resources as they worked to address the needs of students, some of whom had limited access to computers or internet and returned home to different time zones after campus shut down.

“The collaboration among colleagues who each brought a piece of expertise to the table enabled us to confront a variety of needs at once and allowed everyone to have a part in moving forward quickly to address areas of needs and concern,” said Kraft.

Nearly every facet of the School of Communication has adapted to meet students’ needs in a digital environment: Many classes and office hours now take place via Zoom. School of Communication faculty share best practices on a new Slack channel. The Lantern provides the latest coverage on the coronavirus. Student organizations such as PRSSA host professional speakers virtually.

“Our faculty genuinely cares about our students and they wanted to make this as stress-free, yet productive as possible,” said Barker. "We know our faculty are world-class researchers and educators and they have risen to the occasion.” 

With the announcement that all summer 2020 classes will be delivered virtually, faculty’s readiness to adapt and dedication to students will help in the months to come.

“In the end, it's about leadership, faith in community and a commitment to our students — all of which we have an abundance of in the School of Communication,” said Kraft.