Teaching journalism and mass communication during the COVID-19 pandemic: Zambian lecturers’ experiences of the transition to online instruction

The global outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) brought a myriad of challenges to higher education. At tertiary institutions worldwide, the closure of campuses and the migration to online instruction came as an unplanned consequence for faculty members and students. For lecturers teaching various journalism and mass communication (JMC) programmes in Zambia, moving to online course delivery meant abandoning the long-held policy of teaching these courses exclusively in person and navigating the various access, competence and resource challenges that many of their students also encountered. Today, it is still essential to examine how educators adjusted to the inevitable online shift and understand their experiences in the transition. This article examines the experiences of JMC lecturers at seven higher education institutions in Zambia on their shift to online instruction in the wake of the pandemic. By employing in-depth interviews with lecturers teaching both practical and theoretical courses, this qualitative study seeks to understand lecturers’ overall attitudes towards online teaching of JMC courses during the pandemic and ascertain any lessons, challenges, or opportunities arising from this transition. The paper provides examples of pedagogical adaptations implemented to maintain quality whilst supporting a more diverse and, at times, larger cohort of students. Results from the study provide insights on building better online learning environments as institutions and policymakers in higher education continue to adjust to the ‘new normal’. Further, it contributes to scholarship on the impact of online learning and the pandemic on JMC education, providing much-needed insight from the global South.