We are just finishing the first quarter of 2020 and it has been demonstrated that despite the rapid advance of technology in the last decade, Higher Education is in its infancy when it comes to Digital Transformation. This opens up a world of possibilities, where it is essential to generate strategies to teach to learn in the new online modality.
Many specialists wonder what impact will have in Higher Education the forced immersion on currently available online learning strategies?
Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have reached a point where they must quickly take the existing tools because of the urgency, but at the same time, test them in order to later evaluate their effectiveness in the different formative contexts, such as the classroom, the support given to students and teachers, or the socialization among the entire educational community.
Initial impact of the change process
In a survey published in March 2020 by the EAB consulting firm to 257 universities, the potential impact of the coronavirus on the admission performance prospects of HEI (the percentage of admitted applicants who will enroll) was reflected. When respondents were asked to rate their prospects on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the worst, 43% of enrollment leaders responded 5, and 32% indicated 4 in their assessment.
In addition, 87% fear that future visits to the campus by potential students will decrease. This year, 36% saw a decrease in visits, 50% saw no decrease and 15% were unsure. In Chile, as reported by La Tercera media, this reality became apparent by showing the lowest enrollment in the last five years.
Given this concern, the survey indicates that 62% of universities have implemented video conferences for newly admitted students and potential applicants, which include a virtual tour (54%), streaming through social networks (46%), scheduling events through social networks in advance (43%).
Given the scenario of ending the year in the context of a pandemic, only 5% have a plan, while 65% are working on one.
On the other hand, another survey of 300 students by Quatromoney and TuitionFit revealed that 25% of high school seniors were reconsidering their college choice because of the coronavirus. Considering factors such as being closer to home (32.9%) or the fear of contracting the disease on campus (21.9%).
Teaching during the pandemic
Global higher education experts are reflecting on the role of education right now; Hamish Coates, professor at Tsinghua University's Institute of Education, highlighted to Times Higher Education the potential for improvements in online teaching as a necessity, "higher education will become more interconnected.
Online learning is the big winner from this, at all levels of education; so, demonstrating quality is now the center stage".
Todd Maurer, an education consultant based in Los Angeles, said that once people get used to a certain modality, they become more likely to use it, "there could be greater opportunities to expand online offerings as a result of this crisis. It will be worth questioning the extent to which the online experience within universities can be sustained".
However, there are many different types of courses, there is no way to make a single plan for all, the opportunities that teachers consider are conferences about videoconferencing, recording instructional videos, or trying some other modality; in the face of this, evaluations continue to be the basic problem. One of the questions that teachers and administration ask themselves is how they will achieve equitable assessments between sections with professors who assess their chairs with periodic assessments and those who built their planning with a large final assessment.
Jennifer Murphy, Brandman University's associate vice chancellor for educational innovation told Inside Higher Education that "if the institution does not have a robust LMS or if it does not have courses integrated into an LMS, it will need a big push".
For her part, Penelope Adams Moon, director of eLearning strategy at the University of Washington's Bothell campus, said that "a good online teaching requires a much more intentional arc of planning and learning around design and pedagogy. We need interim measures, but they are not the same as online teaching".
The new Higher Education: eLearning and bLearning
The specialized Higher Education media InsideHighered interviewed several specialists in the field. In their note, they highlight the importance of the LMS, but besides the measurement of learning results, the revision of the evaluation instruments in this new modality and rethinking the curriculum, in order to the virtual strategy makes sense with the student's profile of graduation. Below, a summary of the main reflections and advice on these topics:
1. The evolution of online education
While the contingency plans that universities have developed are perfectible, one side of the discussion points out that this moment is a precedent for improving the quality of online education. Universities that have invested in training for teachers and administrators in online teaching and design, as well as the development of web courses and academic programs in line with this modality, will be in a much more advantageous position with respect to their peers.
2. The need for protocols to work remotely
The specialist Deb Adair, executive director in Quality Matters, advises that a special coordination with the teams to know the individual situation that they are living in a remote way and to establish realistic expectations to face the contingency in the conditions that this one allows it.
It will also be of vital importance to provide guidance through communication protocols and establishing tools that facilitate tasks such as academic programming and measurement of learning outcomes through a consultancy.
3. Promote advisory, supervision and tutoring services
Kelvin Bentley, vice president of learning strategy at Six Red Marbles emphasizes the need to ensure access to counseling, supervision and tutoring services for students.
This may be difficult for some universities' budgets but will bring advantages in student engagement and post-contingency assessment of how teachers and students are prepared to participate in distance teaching and learning.
Similarly, Bentley stresses curriculum review annually as research to generate improvements in the impact of technology on student learning.
4. The importance of generating hybrid modes of instruction
Jody Greene, associate vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of California, Santa Cruz, warns about the learning that can take place at this stage, because they are not courses designed for the modality in which they are being adapted. However, she highlights how much will be learned about Blended Learning (Blearning) or hybrid learning and about the tools that will emerge to speed up teaching in a context with difficulties such as the speed of the internet and the device that students can access. This includes pre-recorded lectures and discussions through chats, where students can leave their doubts.
5. Scarcity of time and resources to cope with the crisis
Cameron Sublett, senior research associate at WestEd, disagrees that "once the crisis is over, universities will develop the capacity to serve their students through technology, and there is little reason for them to give it up". The specialist argues that it is difficult for universities to develop this capacity due to the scarcity of resources, the little training that still exists and the support for teachers that have not yet been adapted for these contexts.
However, he considers it important for the university to prevent this type of crisis by implementing online learning as a tool to manage it, but not as a vital organ.
"Policy makers and institutions have failed to develop the capacity and resources needed to develop effective and equitable educators and online courses. This time may be different; it is difficult to say. One can only hope".
The concern of governments for quality assurance will allow HEI, once their operational needs have been met, to be concerned with the measurement, monitoring and follow-up of the measures applied. An example of this is the guidance provided by MINEDU in Peru, where it specifies the guidelines for the institutions to make the relevant changes in their strategic plan while continuing to deliver a quality educational service.
Conclusion
Online education before the pandemic was not on the map of institutions to deal with a crisis, and this raises many questions and challenges for specialists to answer, especially regarding planning, effectiveness of lesson delivery, validity of evaluations, and consequently, the quality of education being delivered in the face of the crisis.
According to the different stages of maturity in the Digital Transformation of the institution, it will be possible to evaluate this semester in a more suitable way. However, it is urgent to acquire tools that will speed up these processes for the future, which is why one of the great benefits of orienting online and blended education is to reduce costs and increase enrollment by providing more convenient timetables for students and teachers.
