Not putting a foot in it. Student Ektaa’s podiatry video diary

One University student hasn’t let lockdown get her down by creating a video diary to make sure her peers continue to see the lighter side.

Ektaa Vadgama is soon to start the second year of her degree in Podiatry. When lockdown hit, face-to-face teaching and learning the length and breadth of the country was suspended.

Like most university students Ektaa found herself learning virtually and at home and found the experience isolating and, at times, lonely.

To head off feelings of cabin fever and loneliness, she reached out on social media with short videos about her reflections on the current situation, her experiences of being a student and some wry observations about podiatry and what people know – or, more to the point, don’t know – about the profession.

She explains: “A lot has worked well during the pandemic but what has not – and something I never thought I’d experience – is being this isolated. I hope to never go through this again!

“I can be a bit antisocial but staying this physically apart from other people was truly something else…which is when I had my lightbulb moment about the videos.

“No matter how passionately my peers and I feel about podiatry, when people ask what I’m studying, I see bafflement on their faces when I mention the word! There is a lot of confusion out there about podiatry, what it is and what we do. So, aside from being a fun way to ‘vent’ and get things off my chest – such as the many, many jokes about the profession – the videos are also my form of positive podiatry PR.”

Ektaa talks in this video about her top podiatry-related puns and jokes. Some will have podiatrists running for the hills, but even she finds a few of them stand up hilarious.

Aside from the diary, Ektaa has continued with her normal degree studies with relatively little hinderance: “When lockdown was announced, I wasn’t massively impacted to begin with. I’m not that big on going out and was quite deep into my studies, so my social life remained as it was.

“In fact, ‘lockdown learning’ has really worked for me because I can go at my own pace. During class, it’s much harder to go back a few slides without feeling you’re disturbing the other students and slowing down their learning potential.

“Also, the University team have been really supportive. Given the impact the fallout of coronavirus has had on coordinators, tutors and heads of faculties, they’ve still had time to respond to any concerns I’ve had in a timely manner.”

You can follow Ektaa on Instagram and see her videos there and on her Youtube channel.

See our course page for more about Podiatry (BSc).