Wirecast and Other Technology
During the lockdown imposed by the spread of Covid-19, institutes of learning the world over grappled with various software platforms and logistical issues to conduct online classes. ACJ overcame this huge challenge in delivering a curriculum that was no different from the one delivered over the years in offline classes, particularly in imparting production techniques across the three platforms to students working from their homes across the country. Classroom lectures by faculty members and domain experts were delivered through Zoom, the teleconferencing and distance education software. There were guest lectures by experts located all over the world in different time zones.
Planning and producing a live television news show in a digital world using internet connectivity is not only exciting but also poses challenges. ACJ used the latest technology to train students and enable them to produce live/online bulletins with students reporting live simultaneously from different parts of India and South Asia.
ACJ was successful in using Wirecast, a popular live video streaming solution, in combination with other software such as Team Viewer, to train students online in all aspects of camera technique, video and audio editing, and studio roles and protocols; and to enable live fail-proof production of live television news and other programmes by students located in remote locations. This complex project, involving live multi-sourcing, multi-participation and multi-operation of the equipment by the students, was successfully executed, monitored by the faculty on the campus in Chennai.
Using Zoom and Team Viewer to access page-making software in the labs on the ACJ campus in Chennai, students were also able to write and edit reports; and design and produce a 16 page broadsheet, Covering Deprivation, containing stories from a wide range of locations such as Noamundi in Jharkhand, Sitamarhi in Bihar, Kolhapur in Maharashtra, Siliguri in West Bengal, Sahranpur in UP and Kochi in Kerala.
Now the college is in a position to switch easily between the offline and online modes of delivering the content or deliver the content simultaneously in both modes.