Pivot! Teaching Communications Online During COVID-19

When the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 hit, historically black colleges and universities were among the thousands of higher education institutions forced to pivot to online teaching. The pandemic has led to profound changes in social interaction and organization in postsecondary education. The pandemic required that institutions respond with “emergency eLearning” or remote learning protocols, moving quickly from face-to-face, in-person classes to online learning systems. This move disproportionately impacted HBCUs, which traditionally serve low-income, first-generation students, many of whom lack access to needed resources and technology. This article examines how communications programs at HBCUs have fared in the emergency move to online teaching while serving an at-risk population for the coronavirus. It will discuss the pedagogical approach and process by which these primarily ACEJMC-accredited journalism programs moved courses online and attempted to train hundreds of faculty to teach online within days of expanding lockdown orders in mid-March through the end of 2020. This exploratory research focuses on 10 HBCUs, including all eight ACEJMC-accredited HBCU journalism and communication programs.