Multimodality, Mediation and Communities of Practice: Developing a Sense of Belonging through Digital Communication Tools in a Final-year Journalism Course

Abstract

Newsroom Practice is a final-year undergraduate journalism course at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, which moved online due to the pandemic. Using an innovative teaching strategy drawing on research insight into online communities and the importance of multimodality of communication modes, a suite of communication tools and a revamped communication and teaching strategy allowed students to own the online space and produce and share editorial as well as user-generated content. The innovations introduced in the course demonstrate the learning potential of virtual Communities of Practice (CoP) and helped build a sense of belonging, which has long been viewed as an important pedagogical driver and metric.