Notes on thoughts that have been bothering me

My beat is about education. Because education is a big, broad topic, and in order to combine it with the current situation, I chose to report on the impact of online education being developed under COVID-19.
But what I want to focus on is not the change of online courses, but the students’ perception and experience of online courses. Whether students find online courses more efficient, whether they think online courses reduce the pressure of study, etc.
Since I am an international student, I have been educated in China since my childhood, so I will interview some Chinese students, of course, there will also be some American students and even students from other countries，
but I don’t want to contrast the pros and cons of education between China and the United States, but I hope my interview object groups more widely, so the online education more universality and value of the subject reported.

One thing that still puzzles me is that I’m not sure if my beat is consistent reporting. Technically, online course is evolving all the time, but unlike soccer or presidential elections, it doesn’t change every week or two, especially since it’s been a long time since the COVID-19 outbreak, and students’ sense of novelty has passed.
So I might need the interviewees to recall the change in their thinking from the first online course to the present.
Therefore, I think what I pay attention to is not the continuous change of online courses, but the change of students’ acceptance and thoughts as online courses develop. Then, because the topic involves online courses and in-person lectures, the attitudes of Chinese and American students, there may inevitably be an element of contrast in the content.
Nick at TMN advised me not to write a comparative story, which I hope will clarify my thinking. If I am on the right track, I will proceed from this angle in my future story.

Notes from any journalists you talk to.

• I have got in touch with a Chinese journalist who is also concerned about the impact of online courses on education and student performance. I think communicating with her will be of great help to me.In the future, I will contact her more and try to analyze the topic of online education from different levels.

Notes on how you will cover the beat in person.

• I will go to the Internet to find some information about the development and changes of online courses and the advantages and disadvantages of online courses, and then sort out a set of interview outline. As for the process of the interview, the good thing is that my topic does not need to involve government officials or hard-to-reach people. My interviewees are all students who are my equals, so It is easy for me to get information. I’m going to start with my roommates and friends at FHSU school, which can be used for face-to-face interviews. Then as for my friends in China, I can chat with them online via WeChat video, which is very convenient.

A document with links to online resources.

• I would search the Internet for comments on online classes posted on bulletin boards to elicit my own Beat Story. For these resources, I prefer to use some websites I am familiar with, such as WeChat articles and weibo, and I may also use the resources of FHSU library.

A calendar you created of important events in your beat through the end of the semester.

• Because my Beat doesn’t update at regular intervals like a sports event, I don’t have a date to strictly follow in my calendar. However, if I need to make a schedule for the release of beat stories in the future, I took a look, there are four beat story stories in total, and I’ll probably post a new Beat story before each deadline. I think my interviewees should choose a few specific people, so that I can see their new experiences in online courses every period of time.

List the 5W’s & the H

• Who: Two people educated in China, a senior and a freshman; Two American college students with different majors, and two Chinese students studying in the United States.
• When: No time limit, any free time they have, just pay attention to the time difference.
• What: What effect does online course teaching have on students’ physical and mental health?
• Why: Why do they like or dislike online courses.
• Where: The interview place is basically indoors, through the Internet and telephone, I will go to the dormitory of some students who leave me to interview them in person.
• How: How they feel about online courses.

Write your lede

• As the epidemic sweeps through, each and every one of us has a responsibility to fight it. Postponing the start of school is a necessary measure to combat the epidemic. However, in the spirit of the “suspension of classes without suspension of study” concept, Online teaching has taken on a great responsibility in this special period. It’s a new way of teaching, a new challenge, and it’s being taken up by hundreds of millions of students around the world. Can students adapt to online courses? What effect does online teaching bring to students’ body and mind? Is it more pressure or more flexible learning mode that online education brings to the majority of students? These questions should not be guessed at at will. Getting into the inner world of students, understanding their ideas and lifting the veil of online teaching, that’s what we’re going to explore together.

Write your nut graph

• With the development of science and technology, hand-waving fans have become air-conditioners, letters have become telephones, and in the face of the rampant epidemic, our offline classes have also become online classes. Online courses can enable students to return to the track of learning within the prescribed time, avoid delaying the learning content, and can interact in real time, which is a new experience of education from traditional classroom to multimedia classroom.

Transcribe at least three quotes you can use from at least two different people.

• I communicated with all six of my interviewees for the first time, and because I knew them well,  they used very casual language when talking to me about these questions, and they didn’t want me to put what they said into the news. So we agreed that they should think a little bit about their wording, and I’ll quote them in the next interview.