The students of the Bachelor 3 Information-Communication, mention “Innovation, Design and Digital”, took part in a workshop on a topical subject: the COVID-19 and its impact on communication within the Saint-Etienne metropolis. They were supervised in carrying out their project by Sarah Rakotoary, a doctor in Information and Communication Sciences (ICS) and a teacher in Communication for the Licence 3 and Master’s courses at Télécom Saint-Etienne.
What does this workshop consist of?
25 students divided into groups of 2 or 3 people were able to take part in this workshop. The general theme was “communication forms around the COVID-19”. The aim of this workshop was to demystify this health phenomenon and to allow the students to understand it from other aspects. Their main constraint was to stay in the city of Saint-Etienne as part of their investigation. They therefore thought about a sub-theme, according to the actors or the forms of communication, the places, etc.
The workshop lasted three days, spread over two weeks in order to give the students time to reflect. Each session alternated between presentation of methods and practical cases
Focus on one of the projects
Océane Besin, Mathilde Bodet and Mélissa Ghellam, all three students in the Bachelor 3 Information-Communication program, focused on adapting Télécom Saint-Etienne’s recruitment policy for the start of the 2021 academic year. Let’s find out what they have to say.
How did the workshop go ?
Océane : “This work was carried out in four stages.
- Defining our subject of study. Our problematic was: How did digital technology enable the adaptation and evolution of the recruitment policies of the grandes écoles in the context of the Covid-19 crisis? Case study of Télécom Saint-Etienne
- Conducting our fieldwork. We chose to interview several members of staff, including Elodie Streque, communications officer at Télécom Saint-Etienne
- Make an oral restitution at the halfway point of our work. At the end of the three-day workshop, we presented our first results to our class and our supervisor
- Write the survey report. It includes all our reflections, the definition of our field of study and survey protocol as well as the presentation and analysis of our results
Why did you choose this subject?
Océane: “I find it interesting to analyse and try to understand how institutions – in this case schools – are coping. COVID-19 is also a very new subject for all of us, so being part of the “first investigators” makes the investigation more exciting.”
Melissa: “By focusing on our school, we were able to get another view on the situation that we don’t perceive as students. Having the chance to interview the main actors of Télécom Saint-Etienne was very enriching. We were able to see the school’s future communication possibilities and the complexity of the communication plan to be put in place to reach a maximum number of students”.
Mathilde: “Working on Télécom Saint-Etienne gave me a new point of view on the situation experienced by higher education stakeholders. As future communicators ourselves, it was exciting to study the crisis communication put in place by one of our everyday actors and to glimpse a small window on the communication of tomorrow where probably more and more events will be able to take place virtually.”
What is your review of this workshop ?
Océane: “Conducting a survey is not easy, there is a methodology to apply and notions to respect, that’s why I find this work very enriching and useful! This workshop is a good exercise to prepare us for our thesis: conducting interviews, transcribing them, understanding and analyzing results, analyzing a web presence, …”
Mélissa: “Thanks to this workshop, I learned how to conduct a survey. I was able to put into practice all the advice and methods announced by our teacher. The fact that the workshop was spread over two weeks allowed us to come up with several ideas.”
Mathilde: “I particularly appreciated the cooperation of the Télécom Saint-Etienne staff in our work. I felt a real interest from all these people who are directly concerned by our investigation”.
What did the students discover during the workshop?
If at the beginning, the students seemed sceptical, they were very quickly interested in the subject. The first results of the oral feedback were very rich. Some groups did not spare any effort, and pushed the investigation much further. The interviews and observations made enriched their perceptions of what is regularly said in the news
Thus, through the realization of a collective survey on a common subject, the students were able to discover a panorama of survey methods in Information and Communication Sciences (ICS) and Human and Social Sciences. At the end of this workshop, initiated in the framework of the “Thematic Research Project”, the students are all able to mobilise and implement methods in the framework of a ICS research.