Virtual Reality becoming a reality in J-school curriculum

Assistant professor Adrian Ma will be including virtual reality technology in his Advanced Multimedia course at the Ryerson School of Journalism. Ma, who teaches digital news reporting to j-school students, says they will be exploring how reporters and filmmakers are using 360 video technology, as well as virtual reality to produce exciting forms of journalistic storytelling.

“The students will have an opportunity to use different 360 video cameras, and more advanced VR editing software to create stories in ways they may not have experienced or thought of before,” said Ma.  

To date, the course has emphasized Ryerson’s high standards of reporting in order to develop strong narratives. It has delved into different ways of creating complementary multimedia content in order to support quality journalism.  

By adding virtual reality, students will be producing immersive video pieces that are meant to be viewed through through VR headsets, as opposed to website-based experiences.  

“This is a first step into developing a more comprehensive course dedicated to the burgeoning field of immersive journalism,” said Ma.   

“As technology like 360 cameras, VR-specific editing programs and more powerful smartphones become more widely available, we're really keen to give our students more opportunities to learn about virtual, augmented and mixed reality forms of storytelling,” said Ma.  

Ma expressed that journalism schools like the RSJ should aspire to not only keep up with technological developments, but to see where they could become leading practitioners. For young journalists, he believes learning to use new technology or new approaches can help broaden their perspectives and open their minds to other creative possibilities.

“Beyond the flash and, let's face it, novelty of VR, there are some genuinely exciting and compelling stories being told using this technology,” he said.  

The school has seen success from incorporating virtual reality through courses like the “Hong Kong 360” summer class. For the past two years, a small group of students has travelled to Hong Kong to experience what it’s like to be international journalists. They’ve filmed virtual reality videos (external link)  that have captured the city’s culture and history.  

Previous projects have earned awards such as the Google News Initiative-sponsored AAJA-Asia Digital Journalism Student Award 2019, as well as a runner-up spot at the 2019 Emerge Media Awards for Best Multimedia project.

“We really want this course to be a collaborative learning experience where we can try different approaches to VR reporting,” said Ma. “This is a form of storytelling still in its infancy and we're still discovering what works well and what doesn't.”

Ma says it’s easier to adopt new technology in smaller classes like in his Advanced Multimedia course. As production technology moves towards cloud-based, smartphone-optimized platforms, he says media technology will evolve to become more user-friendly and widely available.  

Ma graduated from Ryerson’s two-year masters program in journalism in 2008. He worked as a digital producer for CBC before teaching at Ryerson, and has had over 15 years of experience in digital reporting, writing, and content creating. He joined the journalism faculty in 2015, and said he has loved the job ever since.  

“Teaching the students at Ryerson is seriously the best job I've ever had or could hope to have,” he said. “There's so much talent, inspiration and perseverance among the students, it never fails to energize me.”  

Through the course, he hopes students will gain experience with new media tools, and discover new paths to producing stories.  

“My hope is that students will...have discovered some different approaches to crafting and presenting narratives, and broaden their thinking about the kinds of storytelling they can accomplish,” he said. “I think that's where the real value is.”