This case study examines the production of “The Call,” an episode of We Met U When…,
a podcast produced by journalism students at Toronto Metropolitan University. It
illustrates how a curriculum co-creation approach that treats students as colleagues and
a willingness to seize opportunities created by unforeseen events facilitated a pivot away
from a planned assignment and led to deeper learning. During an interview, a student
experienced a microaggression that was captured in the recording. The class
collaboratively decided to pivot from the original episode subject and instead produce an episode about
the impact of microaggressions. The instructor’s approach builds on the concept of radical
collegiality, which challenges the idea that students are not colleagues (Lubicz-Nawrocka,
2018). This case study, co-authored by the instructor and a student-producer,
demonstrates the power of going off plan, taking risks in teaching, and giving students
agency.
Key words: journalism, students as partners, co-creation, microaggression, podcast, audio documentary

The power of pivoting: How a students-as-partners approach transformed a microaggression into student empowerment in our podcast production

Author(s)

Shari Okeke and Leonor Carvalhal Dias, School of Journalism, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.

Year Published

2026

Publication Type

Journal Articles

Research Area

Equity, Diversity & Community, Journalism, Democracy & Ethics, Storytelling, Media Culture & Practice
Link to Publication
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