It’s the tenth of March during the year 2020 and you’re on the final day of spring break. You’re preparing to return to your college campus to continue the school year when your mother gives you some interesting news. Due to the uncertainty of the situation surrounding COVID, you will have another week or two off school to ensure student safety. This seems like a great thing because you get more time with family and extended relaxation time. However, that week of school closure turns into two, that two weeks turn into a month, and by the end of the school year, you’ve spent half of it remotely learning from home.
This was the reality for many Olivet Nazarene University students during the beginning of the pandemic. It would take the rest of that school year and the summer before Olivet would safely reintegrate students on campus. However, student life isn’t the only aspect that a college must deal with. There were many personnel and faculty that had to return much sooner and continue their job in spite of the unfortunate pandemic. Many of the personnel and faculty had to navigate safety precautions, responsibility changes, and many other shifts in the workplace to do their job correctly. An incredible example of a team that did this flawlessly was the ONU Media Services Team.
(Submitted by ONU Media Services Team)
Unforeseen Transitions
As a team that operates to provide the best experience for others, Media Services isn’t meant to be heard or seen. This can lead to many individuals underestimating their importance, especially during the pandemic.
Media Services became the backbone of the education and the student life experience at Olivet. In an interview with Thane Moore, director of media services, he detailed the sheer importance streaming had on sports as well as remote learning. People were hesitant to return to learn and interact with one another because of COVID. This would leave the job of making that transition primarily to online services up to the Media Services team at ONU.
In a study published in the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Technology Enhanced Education, it speaks on multimedia and its impact on students and learning. This study found, “the development of multimedia technologies for learning offers new ways in which learning can take place in schools and the home. Enabling teachers to have access to multimedia learning resources, which support constructive concept development, allows the teacher to focus more on being a facilitator of learning while working with individual students”.
Closures and their Consequences
Closure of schools around the country put so many groups of people in unfortunate situations. There was shift in attitude about the work done, the world, the news consumed, and so much more. In an interview with Matt Steinacker, Assistant Director for Audio and Lighting Production, about the attitude surrounding the job during COVID, he stated, “Everything was stressful,” as well as, “There was a lot of unknowns”. He went on to speak about uncertainty with job security due to recent closures of certain departments because of safety concerns.
In an article by NBC News, it stated, “Numerous college sports conferences and universities have postponed fall sports for reasons centering on safety concerns for student athletes around Covid-19 — and now some college sports programs are being cut altogether”.
When one is uncertain if there are going to be events to perform a job, one might worry if he is needed. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case, as there was a great demand for media services in adjusting to the closures.
COVID provided a unique situation for Olivet’s Media Services Team. With the pandemic constantly changing their environment and set of expectations, they handled their jobs very well. Without them, there would be no streaming, videography, audio, sporting events, or any other multimedia experiences. Their importance through these difficult times can never and should never be overstated.
