With the NAIT winter 2020-2021 term soon coming to an end, NAITSA gave a recap on how online events have gone.
Jorgia Moore, an events coordinator with NAITSA, believes that overall the online events have been successful.
“It was tough to transition because this was our first time doing this for a full semester. There are some times that we found just don’t work for students,” said Moore.
“Certain weeks, the more mid-term and assignment-heavy weeks, have been harder to get students involvement but we found students enjoy the events.”
Although they’ve had success online, Moore believes in-person events had more participation.
“I think some of it has to do with some of our events being held at the Nest. Sometimes, people are there not for the event. They’re just there for a drink or a snack, and they end up participating,” she said.
Moore said the transition to online events pushed the NAITSA team to come up with creative alternatives.
“I don’t know if it was as difficult as it was just different. It was really weird. All my events were very hands-on, and I wanted to find ways to be very interactive and innovative in an online environment. But our team came up with some cool and creative ideas, so it hasn’t been too difficult,” said Moore.
Moore believes the biggest challenge has been trying to reach students and inform them about events.
“We miss the opportunity to reach students through hallway promos and stuff like that. We don’t have that anymore. We’ve been relying a lot on our social media, which has been working, but obviously, humans love in-person interactions,” said Moore.
When in-person classes start up again, Moore believes online events will still be around.
“I think that not even just at NAIT, but everywhere in the world, even when COVID doesn’t exist anymore, a lot of places are going to be taking in that mixed platform and having a bit of both. I think that moving forward, having mixed events will be a good outcome,” said Moore.
Moore said events will still be going on until April 14, so there’s still time to participate.
“We will be doing events until April. We’re going to have an in-person event. It’s a scavenger hunt around Edmonton. It will be following all the COVID, social distancing guidelines, and it will be outside,” said Moore.
To find events or to learn more, check here.
