Earlier this year BCIT Communication faculty Chris Ganeff initiated an applied end-to-end project offering authentic learning for TV & Video Production Diploma students.
Communication Department faculty acted as “clients,” for whom first year student teams would develop classroom instructional videos. Students experienced the real elements of a client project while supported by faculty from the School of Business + Media and the School of Computing and Academic Studies.
Some of those involved told us what worked so well in this format.
Q: How did students work with faculty from different areas?
Chris Ganeff, Communication Faculty: “First-year students in the full-time TV & Video Production diploma program formed eight video production teams. They were then connected with BCIT ‘clients’ – eight full-time instructors from the Communication Department.
Each team worked with their client to produce a two-minute video that the client can use in their teaching, for example a video showing a sample job interview.
Throughout they were supported by their program instructors, Dave Griffiths and Ken Kaneko, assistant instructor, Gloria Ching, and me, their COMM 2212 instructor.”
“This video project provided me with excellent on-set experience that I was easily able to transfer into other projects” – Ethan Hart, student
Q: What kind of communication skills are needed for TV & Video Production?
Chris Ganeff: “Students had to be able to meet in person as well as communicate professionally with their clients through email, just like real clients. They did a rough version of the video, asked for feedback, and then integrated revisions for a final version.
In my Communication class, we developed producer-client communication skills through assignments, classroom activities like roleplay, team meetings, progress updates, and class discussion. This helped a lot in honing these critical workplace skills.”
Ken Kaneko, Broadcast & Media Faculty: “As video production is a collaborative process, good communication is vital. In this project the students not only had to work well with each other, but they also had to communicate well with their clients to ensure that the clients’ expectations were met.”
Chris Chow, student: “This project was a great way to consolidate the communication skills we learned, like how to write client emails, make pitch presentations, and in casting talent.”
Q: What did participants say about the experience?
James Peterson, Communication Faculty and project “client”: “I like that this project feels realistic. I am the client with a vision for a video, and a team of TV students bring that vision to a reality. I now have two high quality videos that I can use with my own classes.” (Videos: Designing an Experiment and Informational Interviews)
Chris Chow, student: “Although we are in a video and media-focused program, the communication skills we learned in COMM 2212 were crucial to the project’s success, and I will definitely take these skills with me going forward.”
Ethan Hart, student: ““The communication skills I learned for interacting with clients are skills I greatly value and am still utilizing in every major project I work on today. I feel as though this video project provided me with excellent on-set experience that I was easily able to transfer into other projects throughout my term.”
Q: Where did this idea for applied collaboration come from?
Chris Ganeff: “I wanted a real-life communication project for my students – what BCIT is best at – and an opportunity to collaborate with their main program instructors. At the same time, instructors in the BCIT Communication Department are always looking for creative, engaging, and more authentic ways to deliver content for students, and videos work really well. So this was a win-win way to work together. I was really pleased that Dave, Ken, and Gloria were so open to working together when I came to them with this idea.”
Teresa Lacuna, Communication Department Program Head, Curriculum (and client): “The opportunity to collaborate on a project with the Video and TV Production was excellent. Our communication department appreciates collaborative projects such as these with the programs we teach into. I look forward to participating in more of them!”
Chris and the TV & Video Production instructors plan to run this project again in the Winter 2025 term. Improvements for next year include proposal writing to further practice real-world communication skills.
The team would like to thank their respective Associate Deans, Daniel Getz and Patricia Sackville, for their support of this collaborative project.