https://zenodo.org/record/3804014#.XsvfomhKiUl
Abstract
Employing a design-based research approach, this paper examines student reactions to an online graduate-level course on leadership and management principles constructed using chaos leadership theory and heutagogical learning principles. Chaos leadership theory shares characteristics with heutagogy, most importantly the emphasis on the development of learner capacity to prepare them for the complexities of today’s workplace, where traditional conceptions of leadership are becoming anachronistic. To teach chaos leadership and management requires a heutagogical learning approach, where the instructor relinquishes ownership of the learning path to mature learners capable of co-creating the learning environment, from curriculum to assessment. Learner autonomy takes place in a collaborative system with a flexible curriculum and negotiated assessment. The learner-generation of content provides both the learning process and the learning product, so the curriculum is unknown and unpredictable. This level of chaos can be disorienting for students accustomed to a greater level of structure. Design-based research is the methodology of choice for technology-enabled learning because it focuses on the pedagogical design at the course level, providing validity to the research because results can be used to improve practice in the immediate context (and likely others). A mixed methods analysis of student evaluations of teaching can illuminate how students react to heutagogical learning experiences, and inform further efforts to enhance course design.
Keywords: instructional design, student engagement, learning analytics, online learning; leadership education
Openo, J. (2020). Chaotic by design. Student reactions to a graduate-level leadership course designed with self-directed learning principles. Paper presented at World Conference on Online Learning (pp. 699-713). Retrieved from https://zenodo.org/record/3804014#.XsvfomhKiUl
In:
Brown, M., Nic Giolla Mhichil, M.,Beirne, E., & Costello, E. (eds.) (2020). Proceedings of the 2019 ICDE World Conference on Online Learning, Volume 1, Dublin City University, Dublin. http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3804014
The Covid-19 pandemic has generated a ton of information to consume for everyone involved in higher education, especially online and distance learning. I have been collecting pieces since the pandemic began, and the pieces I have collected are listed chronologically. They fall into 3 broad categories:
Making the best of a bad situation - This emergency shift to online (remote) instruction sucks, but here are some tips and tricks to make teaching online more palatable to get through this. You were given Covid-lemons; here’s how to make virtual lemonade.
The broad structural impacts of emergency remote instruction on postsecondary institutions. When the “new normal” arrives, will it validate online learning or will there be a backlash? Or both? Who will survive (literally and figuratively)? What has online education transformed? What has it not transformed?
Who is hurt by this shift - Some students haven’t liked it, some want their money back, and International students in the US are getting kicked out if they learn online. Future budgets will place intensified pressures on contingent faculty, and there is a dawning recognition (perhaps) of more tenured faculty that they can’t stand by and watch their colleagues be forgotten.
AND THEN THE CONVERSATION WENT BACK TO WHAT IT WAS BEFORE THE PANDEMIC:
Bengfort. J. (2023, May 2). Q&A: Michelle Pacansky-Brock humanizes asynchronous learning. EdTech. https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2023/05/qa-michelle-pacansky-brock-humanizes-asynchronous-learning
PACANSKY-BROCK: It’s terribly concerning to me when I look at the conversations happening in higher education, even in community college contexts where asynchronous online courses have been part of what we’ve been doing for more than ten years. In the California Community College system, if you look at the 10 years of enrollment before COVID-19, our asynchronous online course enrollments are the only enrollments that have grown. But that’s not a conversation we are having.
Instead, we are saying online is not high-quality, and we’re making this assumption that it can’t be high-quality. What we need to be doing is saying, “Folks, we need to lean into this and figure out how to do this in a way that supports all students,” because all the research coming out right now points to the need to create flexible experiences for our students. So, how do we break that mindset?
Abrams, S. J. (2022, July 14). Don’t abandon virtual learning options. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/07/14/dont-abandon-virtual-learning-options-opinion
Over the best part of two years, students adapted to studying remotely. They orientated their lives such that returning to campus would now mean losing something they value,” such as flexible time to work or spend time with family, or simply the ability to save money by being off campus. There is now a clear demand for and real change in thinking about virtual learning options among students.
Alvi, F. H., Hurst, D., Thomas, J., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2022, May 1). 4 lessons from online learning that should stick after the pandemic. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/4-lessons-from-online-learning-that-should-stick-after-the-pandemic-179631
Adachi, C., & Tran, L. (2022, March 3). International students are back on campus, but does that spell the end of digital learning? Here’s why it shouldn’t. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/international-students-are-back-on-campus-but-does-that-spell-the-end-of-digital-learning-heres-why-it-shouldnt-177545
Donaldson, S., & Long, C. (2022, January 13). As COVID cases break records, Instructors are asking for more flexibility in the classroom. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/as-covid-cases-break-records-instructors-are-asking-for-more-flexibility-in-the-classroom
“For most of us, studying on Zoom is not that bad. It might not be as good as studying in person, but it’s almost as good,” Rub said. “To say, something that is almost as good and I can also help the health-care system, help the community, then why not?”
Klaf, S., & Irvin, A. L. (2022, January 5). Putting teaching on the agenda. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2022/01/05/how-chairs-can-sustain-positive-changes-teaching-and-learning-opinion
Egan-Elliott, R. (2021, September 19). UVic students with disabilities campaign for online-learning options. The Times Colonist. https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/uvic-students-with-disabilities-campaign-for-online-learning-options-1.24358919
Online options benefit students who face physical barriers getting to class, or who are immunocompromised and don’t want to risk being exposed to COVID-19, as well as international students who are unable to travel to Victoria, Papp said.
The UVic Faculty Association supports the campaign’s goal to improve accessibility, said Victoria Wyatt, a member of the association’s executive committee.
However, concerns have been raised about privacy when it comes to posting class discussions online, as well as the potential to increase faculty members’ workload by requiring them to moderate both in-person and online learning, said Wyatt, an associate professor in the department of art history and visual studies.
Hillman, N. (2021, September 8). Has Covid changed everything in education? Don’t bet on it. Time Higher Ed. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/has-covid-changed-everything-education-dont-bet-onit. (subscription required)
“Don’t bet your horse just yet on the claims of all those educational futurologists.”
Martin, R. (2021, July 30). A college leader takes his first virtual class. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/07/30/former-president-who-took-online-course-has-suggestions-current-higher-ed-leaders
Kelly, S. (2021, July 16). Some parents are seeking out permanent virtual school for the fall. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/16/tech/online-school-permanent/index.html
There is nothing earth-shattering about this article, but it drives home the point that online education is superior for some people in some cases. Online education will fragment the postsecondary marketplace, and institutions that don’t offer these options will limit learner opportunities.
McMurtrie, B. (2021, June 24). Online, every student is not in the front row. Teaching.
Many faculty members are teaching heavy course loads, have high service requirements, or are adjuncts, making it impossible to devote as much time as he did to developing and running his course. They may have few or no teaching assistants and many students who struggle with spotty technology, making it nearly impossible to have meaningful discussions in Zoom rooms.
Danisch, R. (2021, June 13). The problem with online learning? It doesn’t teach people to think. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-online-learning-it-doesnt-teach-people-to-think-161795
McMurtrie, B. (2021, May 27). Online, everyone is in the front row. Teaching. https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2021-05-27
“I have never been able to offer a course of the quality that I'm offering now,” he [Eric Mazur] says. “I am convinced that there is no way I could do anything close to what I'm doing in person. Online teaching is better than in person.”…
None of this has been easy, of course. As Mazur put it, he spent a “monstrous amount of time” putting the course together this year.
Thomas, K. (2021, May 19). COVID-19 has changed how Canadian universities teach, possibly forever. Montreal Gazette. https://montrealgazette.com/news/postpandemic/covid-19-has-changed-how-canadian-universities-teach-possibly-forever
“Getting over that initial sort of ‘no, not interested, don’t understand it, impossible to deliver the quality that I want in an online space’ — that initial reaction, we’re now well beyond that,” he said. “We’re now sort of talking, ‘OK, what makes sense to put online? What are the pedagogical strategies that work best online?’”
McKenzie, L. (2021, April 27). Students want online learning options post-pandemic. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/27/survey-reveals-positive-outlook-online-instruction-post-pandemic
Veletsianos, G. (2021, April 19). What has COVID-19 taught us about the barriers to online education? Policy Options. https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/april-2021/what-has-covid-19-taught-us-about-the-barriers-to-online-education/
policy-makers, faculty and administrators alike need to move beyond simplistic binary comparisons of in-person versus online education, and recognize that both can be good, bad, poor, empowering and so on. Online learning is part of a toolkit. Just like in-person learning, it works in some contexts, for some people, some of the time.
A persistent barrier to the full implementation of online learning, made stark during the pandemic, has been instructors’ lack of preparation to teach online. Faculty members rarely receive pedagogical training during their doctoral program, let alone preparation to teach online.
Mintz, S. (2021, March 15). Reimagining the LMS. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/reimagining-lms
Ho, C. (2021, March 9). Three ways to achieve meaningful online student learning. University Affairs. https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/three-ways-to-achieve-meaningful-online-student-learning/
Nowak, Z. (2021, March 3). Creating compassionate video-on and attendance policies. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/03/03/how-create-video-and-attendance-policies-encourage-student-engagement-opinion
Anderson, G. (2021, March 1). Report: Students think value of college declined. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/03/01/report-students-think-value-college-declined
Darby, F. (2021, January 13). 8 strategies to prevent teaching burnout. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/8-strategies-to-prevent-teaching-burnout
Farooqui, S. (2021, January 12). Post-secondary students consider skipping fall semester amid pandemic. Time Colonist. https://www.timescolonist.com/post-secondary-students-consider-skipping-fall-semester-amid-pandemic-1.24265985
Greene, J. (2020, December 13). The strange case of the exploding student workload. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/guest-post-strange-case-exploding-student-workload
many of the changes we’ve made during COVID are ones that experts in teaching and learning have been trying to get instructors to make for two decades. These are the practices that make up universal design for learning, active learning, engaged learning and student-centered learning -- research-based approaches to the design of courses and curricula that aim to ensure that all students can stay motivated, learn and succeed.
Unfortunately, the context of the pandemic and of 2020 more generally makes it virtually impossible for us to study in any meaningful way whether these changes have led to improved student learning in the way we’ve been promised. It’s simply too hard to control for all the other factors that have impeded learning in this time, including trauma, bereavement, lack of access to technology, lack of a designated place to study, increased family responsibilities, hunger, homelessness, political upheaval and repeated waves of racialized violence against Black Americans. With the background cacophony of the past year, it’s a miracle that anyone has learned anything at all, notwithstanding the enormous and dedicated work put in by so many educators to keep teaching and of students to keep learning.
Post-pandemic, we’ll need to begin to figure out, at a minimum, which of these much-heralded and now somewhat field-tested approaches to course design and delivery we should hold on to and which will need to be rethought.
Mintz, S. (2020, December 5). It’s time for a radical rethink of the role of university professors. Times Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/its-time-radical-rethink-role-university-professors
OCUFA. (2020, November). OCUFA 2020 study: COVID-19 and the impact on university life and education. Retrieved from https://ocufa.on.ca/assets/OCUFA-2020-Faculty-Student-Survey-opt.pdf
A large majority of Ontario university students and faculty agree that the adjustments to course delivery and campus life compelled by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have had an overall negative impact on the both quality of education and students’ general educational experience. Specifically, 62% of students and 76% of faculty members feel that online learning has negatively impacted the quality of university education in Ontario.
McMurtrie, B. (2020, November 5). The pandemic is dragging on. Professors are burning out. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Burnout is a problem in academe even in the best of times. Shrinking budgets, growing workloads, and job insecurity in a profession where self-sufficiency is both expected and prized put many faculty members at risk before Covid-19 placed higher education on even shakier footing.
If the pandemic has stripped teaching of what makes it invigorating, it’s also exacerbated aspects of academic life that were already challenging professors’ mental health, such as the impulse to work hard to meet students’ needs, even at the cost of depleting themselves.
Many faculty members are still grappling with the fundamentals of online teaching. They say that technical problems, students’ reticence in online classes, and a host of other issues are wearing them down.
Kim, J. (2020, November 3). 4 reasons why every course should be designed as an online course. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/4-reasons-why-every-course-should-be-designed-online-course
Every instructional designer knows that there is fundamentally no difference in the design of an online and a face-to-face course. There are not residential and online courses. Instead, there are well-designed courses and poorly designed courses.
Contact North (2020, October 7). Online learning at a tipping point. TeachOnline.ca. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/online-learning-tipping-point
The impact of large-scale, global unemployment and recessionary forces will likely be medium to long-term for higher education, especially in terms of demands for existing programs and qualifications. For example, given restaurant closures and the challenges faced by those who run hotels, travel organizations and large events, where will demand be for a degree in hospitality and tourism?
We are experiencing what is known as a “K-shape recovery” with some industries doing very well (technology companies) and some looking at long-term distress (airlines, hospitality and tourism). There is a clear need for rapid reskilling and upskilling of large sections of the workforce and a rethink of key components of learning and training (i.e. apprenticeships, degrees, diplomas and the role of continuing education).
More rapid deployment of technology — artificial intelligence, robots, drones, 3D manufacturing — across a variety of industries aims to make the workplace and services “safer,” more cost-effective and efficient.
Significant new levels of debt assumed by all levels of government will force them to recast their finances and reimagine their budgets. Universities and colleges may have to reorganize and collaborate more to “make ends meet.”
Supiano, B. (2019, April 7). Digital distraction is a problem far beyond the classroom. But professors can still help. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/digital-distraction-is-a-problem-far-beyond-the-classroom-but-professors-can-still-help/
Students aren’t digitally distracted in class because they’re students. They’re digitally distracted in class because they happen to be in class.
the best response to digital distraction is moving from a straight lecture format to active learning, said Steven Volk, an emeritus professor of history and co-director of the Great Lakes Colleges Association Consortium for Teaching and Learning.
Lang said, “you could argue that teaching is a form of getting people to pay attention to things that matter.”
More and more people, he said, are coming up with strategies to be more thoughtful about the way devices intrude on their lives.
Mintz, S. (2020, October 12). Remote learning isn’t going away. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/remote-learning-isn%E2%80%99t-going-away
Online learning is going to be a permanent fixture in how institutions deliver high-demand lower-division undergraduate introductory courses. We need to face up to the challenges.
As much as many undergraduates complain about the quality of current online courses, at least as many who work, commute or care for others appreciate online learning’s convenience and flexibility. It’s a particularly popular option for students who regard required courses as boxes to be ticked off.
For all that’s lost when faculty and students interact remotely, something is gained in well-designed, highly interactive online classes that feature personalized adaptive courseware; online tutorials; synchronous interactive lectures with frequent polls, surveys, questions and answers, and whiteboard sessions; and breakout groups.
Remember: for students who sit in the back rows of an auditorium, every large face-to-face lecture class is a distance ed course.
McMurtrie, B. (2020, October 7). The new rules of engagement. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-new-rules-of-engagement
Online learning during the coronavirus pandemic has proved to be a particular challenge for some lower-income students and students of color, whose communities have been hit hardest by the virus. Technical and personal challenges can make it difficult to connect with their classmates, literally and figuratively. If students are logging on with data plans and phones, have little privacy, or are caring for others, turning on cameras for online classes can be awkward, even impossible.
“For too long teachers have thought about attention as the norm, and distraction as the deviation from the norm. Both history and biology teach us that the opposite is true,” writes James M. Lang, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, at Assumption College, in Massachusetts, in a recent essay on distraction. “Periods of sustained attention are like islands rising from the ocean of distraction in which we spend most of our time swimming.”
Astin, A. (2020, September 30). Meeting the instructional challenge of distance education. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/09/30/pedagogical-practices-might-enhance-student-involvement-online-learning-opinion
In sum, since distance education severely limits the opportunities for students to interact personally with fellow students and with faculty, online instructors in traditional colleges and universities face formidable challenges in their efforts to offer students an impactful undergraduate experience. Findings from research on traditional undergraduate education suggest that distance education can be made more effective if it provides students with opportunities to interact more frequently with each other and with faculty members. Moreover, since most college faculty are currently employing Zoom, FaceTime or similar software in conducting their online instruction, they should strive to use any apps or other features that might facilitate either student-student or student-instructor interaction.
Flaherty, C. (2020, September 14). Burning out. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/09/14/faculty-members-struggle-burnout
Some of the biggest institutional interventions would also be some of the most expensive, such as offering course load reductions to faculty members who request them and hiring new instructors to pick up those classes. But institutions also could look long and hard at their course offerings and eliminate “redundancies,” to reduce the overall number of courses offered where possible, he said. They could also cut out nonessential meetings, so that professors aren’t making up for time lost to Zoom at night and on the weekends.
Friesen, J. (2020, September 11). Students enrolled in China may not be able to access course content, Canadian universities warn. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-students-enrolled-online-in-china-may-not-be-able-to-access-course/
Marquart, M., & Russell, R. (2020, September 10). Dear professors: Don’t let student webcams trick you. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/9/dear-professors-dont-let-student-webcams-trick-you
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). (2020, September 1). Re-opening colleges and universities: Fall semester plans. Retrieved from https://www.caut.ca/latest/2020/09/re-opening-colleges-and-universities-fall-semester-plans
The majority of institutions (55%) will be delivering their courses primarily on-line for the fall semester. Most instances of in-person learning in these cases are limited to course components that cannot be held virtually.
Twenty-five percent of institutions are going forward with blended learning, meaning a mix of online, hybrid (i.e. online and in-person components) and in-person classes.
Sixteen percent of institutions will hold courses fully online.
Fanshawe, M., Burke, K., Tualaulelei, E., & Cameron, C. (2020, August 31). Creating emotional engagement in online learning. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/creating-emotional-engagement-in-online-learning
Betkowski, B. (2020, August 31). Why remote learning takes new ways of thinking. Folio [University of Alberta blog]. Retrieved from https://www.folio.ca/why-remote-learning-takes-new-ways-of-thinking/
The major shift to remote online learning means students, left largely on their own without in-person instruction and classrooms, will have to be more self-aware of the questions they’re asking themselves as they navigate their lessons, Thomas said.
“Most of this self-communication happens without us being aware of it, like when you’re making a grocery budget. You ask questions like, ‘What are my absolute needs? Can I afford that ice cream?’ But it’s when we’re faced with new situations, like online learning, that we might need to learn new ways to think to suit the new situation.
“Students don’t have the immediacy of an instructor in front of them, so a lot of responsibility falls back on them to be more independent in what they do.”
That means making the decision to actively monitor their own learning.
Deer. J. (2020, August 31). ‘We are already at a disadvantage’: Indigenous college students concerned about online learning. CBCNews. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-college-students-montreal-1.5706707
Supiano, B. (2020, August 28). How the pandemic is pushing professors to improve their pedagogy. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-the-pandemic-is-pushing-professors-to-improve-their-pedagogy
Laurie Schreiner had long been skeptical of online learning. Schreiner, a professor of higher education at Azusa Pacific University who is in her 38th year of teaching, thought that online courses were impersonal — and that colleges offered them primarily as a way to make money.
Then, like her counterparts across the country, she was suddenly forced to teach online when colleges moved to emergency remote instruction this past spring.
It went a lot better than she’d expected. While Schreiner still believes from decades of experience that there’s something special about teaching in person, she found that teaching online stretched her as an instructor and led her to refine her practices.
That’s in keeping with what other professors have found, said Mike Truong, digital-learning architect and executive director of the Innovative Teaching and Technology office at Azusa Pacific. Online courses, Truong said, are built by closely linking activities, assignments, and assessments with learning outcomes. There’s no way for professors to walk in and wing it — they have to plan. This is how instructional designers think, Truong said, and “that’s now becoming almost an essential mind-set that faculty have to adopt.”
Various. (2020, August 27). The future of the academic work force: How will the pandemic change the way higher education works? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-future-of-the-academic-work-force
Adrianna Kezar, A Grim Future Beckons: The pre-pandemic gig economy made it acceptable, to administrators at least, to render faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and staff increasingly contingent, changes that have resulted in a “gig academy.” In managementspeak, academic workers have been “deprofessionalized” and “unbundled.” The pandemic will only make matters worse.
McMurtrie, B. (2020, August 27). Some colleges planned early for an online fall. Here’s what they learned. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/some-colleges-planned-early-for-an-online-fall-heres-what-they-learned
“I’m not proud, but I’m also not embarrassed. I did what I thought I could do,” says Golub, an American studies professor at California State University at Fullerton. “I was more worried about my students’ well-being: getting them across the finish line rather than trying to construct a curriculum.”
Fall will be a different story. Because the Cal State system decided early that the semester would largely be online, professors like Golub were given plenty of time to prepare. Over the summer, after taking a few weeks off to regroup, he signed up for two courses on effective online teaching, which encouraged him to rethink not only what he will teach but how.
He learned how to use ed-tech tools to foster online discussions, prepared an introductory video, and made course material accessible to students with tech challenges or learning disabilities. He’s also planning a group project, where students put together a podcast, for example, to keep the feeling of isolation at bay.
Zamudio-Suarez, F. (2020, August 27). Covid-19 renewed the energy, and need, for faculty organization. Your Daily Briefing Newsletter.
Last spring the pandemic prompted panic among instructors. That fear became anger and resentment by the summer. By the start of July, more than 51,000 higher-education employees had been furloughed or laid off, or not had their contracts renewed. Even tenured professors are now feeling the sting of insecurity that contingent faculty members have long learned to live with.
Pettit, E. (2020, August 26). Will Covid-19 revive faculty power? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/will-covid-19-revive-faculty-power
as millions of students around the world head into a very different fall term where most teaching will be online, this virtual learning experience can, through innovative approaches, benefit students and society at large. These virtual environments allow universities to add an important dimension to the transformative impact of higher education. …the summer is too short to develop every university course to its full online potential. But the lessons learned from working in a virtual format will enhance both future online learning and the next generation of in-person course design.
Carr, G. (2020, August 25). Equipping students for a digital future. Montreal Gazette. Retrieved from https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-equipping-university-students-for-a-digital-future
Caldwell, J. (2020, August 24). The faculty experience during a pandemic: Survey results. BCcampus News [blog]. Retrieved from https://bccampus.ca/2020/08/24/the-faculty-experience-during-a-pandemic-survey-results/
Darby, F. (2020, August 24). The secret weapon of good online teaching: Discussion forums. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-secret-weapon-of-good-online-teaching-discussion-forums
online discussions are the equitable and inclusive workhorse of online teaching. Using assistive technology, students with disabilities can use an LMS forum more easily than a Zoom discussion. And the low-tech nature of the forums can diminish inequities in other important ways:
Students can submit discussion posts at any time of the day or night, and they don’t need a fast internet connection to do so.
They’re not required to show their physical surroundings to participate.
Forums get students to interact with one another, which is crucial to helping them feel connected and engaged in virtual classrooms.
Canadian Association of University Teachers. (2020, August 20). Post-secondary staff concerned about remote teaching, research, health and safety and jobs. Retrieved from https://www.caut.ca/latest/2020/08/post-secondary-staff-concerned-about-remote-teaching-research-health-and-safety-and
About 1 in 10 have seen their work eliminated or reduced since the pandemic;
68% of respondents are worried about the challenges of remote teaching;
Two out of three are researching less or not at all due to the inability to hold or attend conferences, dependent care responsibilities, inability to access labs or offices, not being able to conduct in-person research, and increased teaching demands;
Only 1 in 4 feel that they are consulted before decisions that affect them are made; and,
Respondents identified safe childcare, more access to mental health services, and technological assistance among the resources most needed.
Shipp, J. E. (2020, August 19). Back to the basics: Revisiting the ABCs of teaching online courses. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/back-to-the-basics-revisiting-the-abcs-of-teaching-online-courses/
The following is a summary from A to Z of the fundamental things online instructors should remember to create an engaging, inclusive, and equitable learning environment for all students.
Contact North. (2020, August 18). Engage your students in your online courses: 20 proven ways! TeachOnline.CA. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/engage-your-students-your-online-course-20-proven-ways
Different kinds of teaching require different kinds of activities. A drawing class, a music class, a science lab, or a land use course are all different and each has unique design needs. The twenty design ideas may be helpful for a range of course subjects, but not all.
Mintz, S. (2020, August 11). 8 ways to improve your online course. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/8-ways-improve-your-online-course
Anxiety is in the air. So, too, is anger, depression, bewilderment, and disappointment. With their lives in limbo, college students, with good reason, fear that their family’s finances, their academic plans, and, indeed, their future have been upended. Insecurity is rampant.
For those of us who will teach large online classes in the fall, the challenge is clear: We must design and deliver courses that are engaging, interactive, well supported, and responsive to the times.
Bortolin, K. (2020, August 4). Embracing the unknown: Why online postsecondary study is worth the risk. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/embracing-the-unknown-why-online-postsecondary-study-is-worth-the-risk
postsecondary teaching may evolve to be, somewhat counterintuitively, even more student-centered, wellness-based, and empathy-enriched. In my experience, many instructors are not just dumping content into online platforms, walking away, and calling it a day. Rather, because of COVID-19, many professors are now deeply contemplating the effects all these changes are having on students and are committing to mindfully and empathetically redesigning courses for students at this challenging time. Again and again, many instructors want to know how to stay connected to students, how to design courses to maximize a sense of community and connectedness, and how to use the tools in a way that aims for more equity.
Bortolin, K. (2020, August 3). A pedagogical manifesto for the upcoming academic year. University Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/a-pedagogical-manifesto-for-the-upcoming-academic-year/
Look for the broken, for the exhausted and the worried, and if you have anything left in your tank, carry them as you can. That includes having the right to question, the right to push back a little, and the right to ensure our rights are respected while we work under immense pressure to redesign higher education.
Jesse, D. (2020, July 28). Judge: Lawsuit against U-M for switching to online classes can continue. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved from https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2020/07/28/judge-lawsuit-um-michigan-online-classes/5525665002/
The case is one of several filed against universities across the state and the nation by students seeking some sort of refund of tuition money because universities switched from face-to-face instruction to online.
Students suing the universities have argued their instruction was lessened by being online. U-M doesn't debate that in its response, but says the decision on how to deliver instruction rests solely on the shoulders of the university and courts need to stay out of it.
Caldwell, J. (2020, July 21). Exams: Who are we leaving out? BCcampus. Retrieved from https://bccampus.ca/2020/07/21/exams-who-are-we-leaving-out/
A quick tour through institutional subreddits on the Reddit platform tells the story of students who fear for their privacy, are confused about what their rights are, are very aware of the power dynamic between themselves and their instructors, and, above all, want to succeed in their courses. Some students claim to have cheated the systems put in place to prevent cheating, and we hear similar stories from other sources, including the software companies themselves. The bottom line is that it is not a pretty picture.
Exams are not only problematic from an accessibility and inclusion lens.
Berg. A. (2020, July 17). For first-generation students, a disappearing ‘college experience’ could have grave consequences. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/For-First-Generation-Students/249199
Adrianna Kezar, a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California, said the barriers facing first-generation students amid the pandemic are exacerbated versions of what they’ve always faced in higher education.
“College has unfortunately been more of a privilege for wealthier students, and institutions haven’t set up structures to help first-generation students who often come from lower-income backgrounds,” she said. “There’s this sort of whole set of assumptions about how you approach activities that these students don’t necessarily have.”
Tiven, M. B. (2020, July 14). How to make online schooling work. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/opinions/how-to-make-online-schooling-work-tiven/index.html
digital learning cannot be done on the cheap. We know that many low-income students are at a disadvantage due to a lack of internet access and digital devices. As governments rethink funding priorities in the wake of protests against police brutality and systemic racism around the world, investing in low-income students so they have the tools to participate in remote learning should be at the top of the list.
All teachers need training to meet the unique demands of digital instruction.
Notably, Global Scholars students reported more global engagement and confidence when they were led by teachers who attended all the program's training sessions. In addition to technology, governments must invest in the professional development which educators need to be successful.
CBC News. (2020, July 13). Defending tuition hike, UNB says experience ‘won’t be inferior at all.’ CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/unb-tuition-increase-covid-1.5647206
It’s not as if this is a cheap way the university can save a few dollars. It actually costs us the same amount, and the resources that we’re putting into ensuring that our programming will be top-notch in the fall have been a bit of a financial encumberance, as well.
Hersh, S. (2020, July 8). Yes, your Zoom teaching can be first-rate. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/07/08/faculty-member-and-former-ad-executive-offers-six-steps-improving-teaching-zoom
Rosenberg, B. (2020, July 7). The cruelty of the ICE’s guidance for international students. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Cruelty-of-ICE-s/249133
Every time we think there is a bottom, we are reminded that the Trump administration is in fact a dark, bottomless pit of racism, xenophobia, and cruelty. Every time we think it can’t get any worse, it gets worse.
The latest act of malignity is the decision on Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that international students whose colleges are offering courses exclusively online as a consequence of the pandemic will not be issued student visas or otherwise be allowed to enter or remain in the United States. "Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings."
Kelchen, R. (2020, July 7). This will be one of the worst months in the history of higher education. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/This-Will-Be-One-of-the-Worst/249128
My plea to college presidents and boards is to announce the inevitable decision to hold most of the fall semester online immediately rather than trying to wait out competitors. This is the right thing to do for everyone in higher education. Students can get a higher-quality education if faculty members have more time to prepare classes. Colleges can devote resources to improving online education and making sure that all remaining in-person classes are as safe as possible. Local communities may see fewer out-of-town students who could spread the virus and tax local health-care systems. Finally, governments and public-health agencies can focus their efforts on safely reopening child-care centers and elementary schools that are essential to an economic recovery and cannot be easily replicated online.
Panico, G. (2020, July 2). U of O students wary of ‘extreme’ anti-cheating software. CBCNews. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/exam-surveillance-software-university-ottawa-1.5633134
Popescu, I. (2020, June 24). Reflections on the invisible labor of online teaching. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/06/24/students-are-seeking-therapy-help-professors-online-result-pandemic-opinion
The so-called invisible labor many of us have had to take on this past semester surpassed the invisible labor I had been doing for years. As far as I am concerned, these kinds of conversations that students have had with many of us in the last months are inevitable, especially as students crave campus life and nonparental guidance. Now our students turn to us to make sense of the culture of white supremacy continuing to envelop this country in light of the tragic murder of George Floyd.
If faculty and staff members are to do this for a year or two -- to live in this unknowingness and constant state of fear brought on by both a pandemic and stark racial discrimination -- we need training programs that will enable us to better help our students, especially those expressing severe mental health concerns. Several people have told me to refer those “in-need” students to a mental health counselor. That basic advice is not helpful, and it is certainly dismissive of certain student situations, especially as those students are far from their campuses. Simply referring them to the mental health service centers, should your college or university have those, is not enough in this new world we are inhabiting. (paras 2
Berg, A. (2020, June 23). Low-income students are disproportionately hurt by the pandemic. Here’s a glimpse of the toll. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Low-Income-Students-Are/249042/
The paper also found most students prefer in-person courses, and the abrupt switch to online courses after the outbreak took a large toll on students’ academic experiences — particularly in low-income students or students facing increased health risks.
“The transition to online learning may have affected their academic performance, educational plans, current labor market participation, and expectations about future employment,” the paper states.
Pettit, E. (2020, June 22). Who gets to teach remotely? The decisions are getting personal. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Who-Gets-to-Teach-Remotely-/249035
Bates, T. (2020, June 18). Equity and online learning: practical design steps [blog]. Online Learning and Educational Resources. Retrieved from https://www.tonybates.ca/2020/06/18/equity-and-online-learning-practical-design-steps/
as online learning has grown, and has become more mainstream, particularly in terms of blended and hybrid learning, critics have quite reasonably raised questions about whether or not online learning actually increases inequities, particularly for those in poverty, in remote regions, or within specific socio-economic or ethnic groups.
At the same time, the growing demands to root out systemic racism, and for organisations to look inwardly at their processes and cultures for inherent or unconscious racial bias, are also relevant to the design of online learning. As Sator and Williams note:
The design of instruction is not culturally neutral.
Various. (2020, June 18). The great reopening debate: Professors, students, and staff on the most consequential question facing the sector. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Great-Reopening-Debate/249014
Kong, S. L. (2020, June 17). Why learning from home is an unlikely training ground for a post-pandemic world. Maclean’s. Retrieved from https://www.macleans.ca/education/why-learning-from-home-is-an-unlikely-training-ground-for-a-post-pandemic-world
Another key factor in online learning is how students are assessed. Instructors have to be clear on learning outcomes, Veletsianos says, and their assessments must be developed for online environments. Cleveland-Innes agrees. “Nothing scares or hinders learning more for students than assignments that don’t make sense, or that aren’t well-aligned to material,” she says. Is a multiple-choice quiz the best way to test students’ knowledge? According to Cleveland-Innes, presentations or creative projects like graphics or videos can be as good, if not better. Students should be able to easily understand what they’re being asked to do in an assignment, she says, and what part of the curriculum the assignment relates to.
That said, there are barriers to online learning. Contemporary distance learning is highly dependent on reliable access to the internet, which some students across Canada just don’t have. Only 40.8 per cent of rural communities in Canada have what are considered standard internet speeds: at least 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. And across the country, less than two-thirds of the lowest-income households have any sort of internet at home.
Contact North. (2020, June 17). Ten guiding principles for the use of technology in learning. TeachOnline.ca. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/how-use-technology-effectively/ten-guiding-principles-use-technology-learning
Veletsianos, G. (2020, June 16). The 7 elements of a good online course. Academica Forum. Retrieved from https://forum.academica.ca/forum/the-7-elements-of-a-good-online-course-n4nds
Caldwell, J. (2020, June 17). Equity in educaiton: Removing barriers to online learning. BC Campus. Retrieved from https://bccampus.ca/2020/06/17/equity-in-education-removing-barriers-to-online-learning/
June, A. W. (2020, June 10). 5 facts about the higher-ed work force right now. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/5-Facts-About-the-Higher-Ed/248968
Zahneis, M. (2020, June 9). Faculty want a say in whether they teach face to face. The conversation is not going well. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Faculty-Want-a-Say-in-Whether/248951
Enis, M. (2020, June 9). Vital and visible: Academic librarians lead on distance learning. Library Journal. Retrieved from https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=vital-and-visible-academic-librarians-lead-on-distance-learning-covid-19
Gardner, L. (2020, June 7). Why colleges’ plans for fall are like ‘nailing Jell-O to the wall’. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Colleges-Plans-for-Fall/248937
Givan, R. K. (2020, June 2). Will the university that survives have been worth saving? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Will-the-University-That/248902
Jhangiani, R. (2020, June 2). Pivots, pirourettes, and piques: Gracefully managing the anxieties of remote teaching and learing. Online Learning Consortium [The OLC Blog]. Retrieved from https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/pivots-pirouettes-and-piques-gracefully-managing-the-anxieties-of-remote-teaching-and-learning/
Wright, R. (2020, June 1). Universities are not ‘muddling through’ - they’re embracing the Zoom classroom. The Province. Retrieved from https://theprovince.com/opinion/wright-universities-are-not-muddling-through-theyre-embracing-the-zoom-classroom/wcm/0658989a-b453-4acb-af42-91db8e2f89af
University administrators, deans and faculty are not merely “muddling through,” as so many in the commentariat would have us believe. They are studying best practices, carefully calibrating competing needs within their communities, and adapting.
No one would wish an inferior education on their students, during this pandemic or otherwise. And no one would wish to see students placed needlessly in harm’s way.
Friga, P. N. (2020, May 27). Why colleges should plan for an exclusively online fall. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Colleges-Should-Plan-for/248869
While students have cooperated with this transition, it is becoming increasingly clear that they will not be satisfied with this model for the long term or even just the fall. In fact, 16 percent have said that such a situation would lead them to defer for a semester or even the year, according to a survey by Art & Science Group (para. 4). …
They believe virtual instruction lacks careful design, interactions, feedback, faculty comfortable with the technology, and adequate challenges and expectations (yes, even students want those). Other factors are the challenging IT infrastructure at some universities and the lack of access to technology among low-income students.
Canadian Association of University Teachers. (2020, May 22). Remote teaching during COVID-19. Canadian Association of University Teachers. Retrieved from https://www.caut.ca/latest/2020/05/remote-teaching-during-covid-19
Shattuck, K., Simunich, B., & Burch, B. (2020, May 21). 5 tips for moving from remote instruction to quality online learning. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/5/5-tips-for-moving-from-remote-instruction-to-quality-online-learning
Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). (2020, May 20). COVID-19 and the academy: What will the pandemic mean for Ontario’s universities, faculty, and students? Toronto, ON: OCUFA. Retrieved from https://ocufa.on.ca/assets/2020-05-20-OCUFA-Submission-COVID-19-and-the-academy.pdf
The COVID-19 crisis has impacted every aspect of our lives. In Ontario, we are seeing signs of hope, but there is no indication of when physical distancing measures will lessen or what our new, post-COVID-19 reality will look like. Within academic institutions across the province, the sudden and dramatic shift in course and service delivery had a jarring effect on both full-time and part-time faculty, as well as academic librarians. We believe that universities in Ontario will be integral to the fiscal, social, and cultural healing that needs to take place after this pandemic.
Bessette, L. S. (2020, May 19). Affective labor and COVID-19: The second wave. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/5/affective-labor-and-covid-19-the-second-wave
Yes, we still have our jobs, but how long can we keep working at them before we burn out?
Ultimately, burnout is the greatest danger of the status quo. But in the meantime, before we get to that final state, we are struggling with motivation, with maintaining brave faces, and with not knowing what to do or who or where to turn for support. Faculty are turning to us for support, but who do we look to in return?
We have been told to take care of ourselves, but we have not been counseled on how to do that under these demanding conditions. Meanwhile, the university, the faculty, and the students, are all counting on us.
I don't have any good answers. In the same way that we are systematically seeking to help our students with their struggles, we also need to find systematic solutions to this very real challenge.
Kimmons, R., Veletsianos, G., & VanLeeuwen, C. (2020, May 14). What (some) faculty are saying about the shift to remote teaching and learning. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/5/what-some-faculty-are-saying-about-the-shift-to-remote-teaching-and-learning
Yoshinobu, S. (2020, May 14). The case against reopening. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Case-Against-Reopening/248785
The damage caused by a contagion on a campus is far greater than the damage caused by virtual teaching. The range of choices colleges have lies, regrettably, between bad and horrific.
1. We do not have a vaccine.
2. Income disparities affect access to health care.
3. Testing is inadequate.
4. Treatments are being tested.
Davidson, C. (2020, May 11). The single most essential requirement in designing a Fall online course. Hastac. Retrieved from https://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2020/05/11/single-most-essential-requirement-designing-fall-online-course
Burgstahler, S. (2020, May 7). 20 tips for teaching and accessible online course. Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT). Retrieved from https://www.washington.edu/doit/20-tips-teaching-accessible-online-course
Canadian Digital Learning Research Association. (2020). Canadian higher education in Fall 2020: Multiple online and hybrid learning scenarios. Canadian Pulse Project. Retrieved from https://onlinelearningsurveycanada.ca/canadian-pulse-project/
“Canadian post-secondary institutions agree that they will be open in the fall, that it won’t be like it was, and that there is not a single scenario that will be the best match for the evolving situation,” said Jeff Seaman (Director, Bay View Analytics). “Their understanding of the multiple alternatives for the fall semester shows that they consider flexibility to be key.”
George Veletsianos (Professor & Canada Research Chair, Royal Roads University) commented, “Higher Education in Canada in Fall 2020 will look much different than last Fall. While this is partially about continuity, it also needs to be about re-imagining a wide range of practices, ranging from delivery models, to assessment practices, to student support, just to mention a few.”
“As Canadian higher-ed prepares for a fall subjected to uncertainty yet demanding clarity, it will be fascinating to observe how institutional plans develop and take shape,” said Bruce Thompson, Senior VP, Academica Group.
Sawatzky, K. (2020, May 3). University of Regina faculty and students concerned for online fall semester. Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/6941339/university-of-regina-faculty-students-coronavirus/
Ludlow, J. (2020, May 13). Some CBU students concerned over decision to move to online-only learning. CBCNews. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cape-breton-university-online-only-covid-19-student-reaction-1.5568272
Bates, T. (2020, May 11). Online enrolments after COVID-19: Some predictions for Canada. University Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/online-enrolments-after-covid-19-some-predictions-for-canada/
The TPHE Collective. (2020, May 6). The elephant in the (Zoom) room. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/05/06/pandemic-brings-home-need-focus-humane-and-meaningful-student-learning-experiences
We saw big-picture advice about transitioning courses for remote instruction, functional introductions to various remote technologies, primers on remote instruction and even calls to do a bad job of putting courses online. Other articles urged us to support students during their transition to learning in uncertain times and to recognize the disruption this shift would cause students. Some argued that this was the perfect opportunity to assess what students actually learn, while others suggested that the “panic-gogy” emerging in this unprecedented time requires critical compassion rather than meta-assessment.
Such responses to the pandemic have revealed some of the best and worst aspects of our colleges and universities. Yet in the midst of this storm, we are being driven, without pause, toward a more transactional version of higher education.
McMurtrie, B. (2020, May 5). Are colleges ready for a different kind of teaching this Fall? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Are-Colleges-Ready-for-a/248710
Higher education has been granted good will these past couple of months by students and their families. But as with an unhappy marriage, everyone involved agrees that the patched-together system of awkward Zoom classes, glitchy technology, and uncertain expectations, among both students and professors, needs to end.
Skeptical students and their parents don’t seem willing to pay full price for an experience similar to what they lived through this semester. If virtual learning is mandatory this fall, one survey found, two-thirds of students will expect discounts on tuition and fees. Some may avoid enrolling altogether.
Flaherty, C. (2020, May 4). The ‘right not to work.’ Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/04/plans-fall-assume-professors-will-be-willing-teach-will-they
As colleges and universities agonize over whether students will return in the fall, either to campus or online, they’re making a big assumption: that faculty members will show up to teach.
The expectation isn’t ill founded. Faculty jobs, especially the good ones, were hard to come by even before hundreds of institutions announced pandemic-related hiring freezes. No one wants to be out of a job right now. But no one wants to get sick, either.
Contact North. (2020, April 30). What is next for online learning during and after COVID-19. Teach Online.Ca. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/what-next-online-learning-during-and-after-covid-19
What happens next is still an evolving story – but higher education needs to prepare for a different future. Read Contact North | Contact Nord’s five insights for what could happen next for online learning during and after COVID-19:
1. A dramatic growth of quality, blended learning
2. Strategic priority on online learning at every college and university
3. A growth in demand for skills-based learning
4. A refocusing of programs
5. A commitment to ending the digital divide
Zahneis, M. (2020, April 28). Prominent scholars threaten to boycott colleges that don’t support contingent faculty during pandemic. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Prominent-Scholars-Threaten-to/248651
Bothwell, E. (2020, April 24). Online university head fears students will ‘suffer’ from shift online. Times Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/online-university-head-fears-students-will-suffer-shift-online
Heitz, C., Laboissiere, M., Sanghvi, S., & Sarakatsannis, J. (2020, April). Getting the next phase of remote learning right in higher education. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/getting-the-next-phase-of-remote-learning-right-in-higher-education
Pettit, E. (2020, April 23). The new tenured radicals. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-New-Tenured-Radicals-/248623
Contact North. (2020, April 22). Five key lessons learned from faculty and instructors moving their courses online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. TeachOnline.Ca. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/five-key-lessons-learned-faculty-and-instructors-moving-their-courses-online-result-covid-19
Technology cannot replace the work of a teacher;
Engagement is as important as content;
Design matters;
What the learner does between classes is as important as what they do in class; and
We have to rethink assessment.
Riggs, S. (2020, April 15). Student-centered remote teaching: Lessons learned from online educaton. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/4/student-centered-remote-teaching-lessons-learned-from-online-education
Flaherty, C. (2020, April 10). Next-level precarity. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/10/next-level-precarity-non-tenure-track-professors-and-covid-19
Zahneis, M. (2020, April 9). Faculty members fear pandemic will weaken their ranks. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Faculty-Members-Fear-Pandemic/248476
Young, J. R. (2020, March 11). Coronavirus has led to a rush of online teaching. Here’s some advice for newly remote instructors. EdSurge. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-03-11-coronavirus-has-led-to-a-rush-of-online-teaching-here-s-some-advice-for-newly-remote-instructors
Veletsianos, G., & Kimmons, R. (2020, April 6). What (some) students are saying about the switch to remote teaching and learning. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/4/what-some-students-are-saying-about-the-switch-to-remote-teaching-and-learning
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020, March 27). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
Anderson, G. (2020, April 6). Accessibility suffers during pandemic. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/06/remote-learning-shift-leaves-students-disabilities-behind
McMurtrie, B. (2020, April 6). Students without laptops, instructors without internet: How struggling colleges move online during Covid-19. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Students-Without-Laptops/248436
Hepburn, G. (2020, March 26). The great disruption: How COVID-19 changes higher edcuation instruction. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@bcurran_25513/the-great-disruption-how-covid-19-changes-higher-education-instruction-6d608e35129
Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. (2020, March 30). Ontario faculty sound alarm over equity implications of the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on the most vulnerable. Retrieved from https://ocufa.on.ca/blog-posts/ontario-faculty-sound-alarm-over-equity-implications-of-the-covid-19-crisis-and-its-impact-on-the-most-vulnerable/
Although academic institutions across Canada cancelled in-person classes, many of Ontario’s campus libraries remained open. On some campuses, academic librarians and library staff are expected to jeopardize their health and well-being by coming into work.
Precarious workers, who make up over 50 per cent of the campus workforce in Ontario, are disproportionately impacted. Contract faculty on most campuses are not being compensated for the additional time and energy they are spending to ensure that their courses are properly wrapped up. They are also facing growing levels of insecurity as universities and colleges are uncertain about the status of spring and summer terms.
Stokes, P., & Johnson, M. (2020, April 1). Lead from the future. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/04/01/how-higher-education-can-overcome-crisis-induced-backlash-against-online-education
To the contrary, the soon-to-be-certain conflation of remote instruction with online learning is likely to set us back a few paces before we can move forward again. Before faculty members even found out about the perils of Zoombombing, they knew that hosting a web conference would not, by itself, ensure student learning.
Not surprisingly, some faculty have quickly shifted from one mode of delivery to another, abandoning the web conference altogether and retreating to the video lecture. By day three of our vast national experiment, one dean told me, an angry parent had reached him by phone to let him know that he wasn’t paying tuition so that his kid could watch videos of professors giving lectures. The parent wanted “real” online learning. So do we all.
Cohan, D. J. (2020, March 20). What do we need to teach now? Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/03/20/beyond-focusing-educational-delivery-models-faculty-should-prioritize-essential
If you ever wondered what the McDonaldization of education looks like, here we are. We are being expected to rush it out, fast and hot, and many devoted faculty members feel pressured to supersize their content. I want to step back and ask, is this what we want to consume? Is this what will nourish and sustain us? Will this be good for our individual and collective bodies, minds and hearts?
Miller, J.A. (2020, March 20, 2020). Eight steps for a smoother transition to online teaching. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/eight-steps-for-a-smoother-transition-to-online-teaching/
https://academicintegrity.org/2020-annual-conference-icai/
This Saturday, I am presenting a session with Rick Robinson at the 2020 International Conference for the International Center for Academic Integrity. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to travel to Portland, Oregon to be there in person.
Problem: Academic integrity is a major concern in Canadian postsecondary environments. Estimates suggest that 50% of undergraduate students commit some form of academic misconduct, 70,000 postsecondary students in Canada may engage in contract cheating, but academic integrity remains both under-reported and under-researched (Eaton, 2020).
Research question: What does the MHC faculty experience entail and feel like when faculty choose to formally report academic integrity violations?
Aims and objectives: The purpose in discussing the formal reporting involves the time, energy, and effort required to take formal, rather than informal action. The reason for including only faculty who have formally reported academic integrity violations is because we want to study the group of faculty who have taken this issue so seriously that they add burden to their work, risk formal legal action, retaliation from students, and engage with official policy responses that may be perceived to be too harsh or too lenient with learners (Stowe, 2017). Formal reporting involves a public (formal) rather than a private (informal) resolution that involves other college departments and processes in the college. This involves a higher level of seriousness and the interaction with bureaucratic process.
By all accounts, academic integrity violations are commonplace, and advancements in technology enable students to cheat more easily than ever before.
Faculty who choose to address student violations of academic integrity voluntarily add misery and emotional labour to their life, which explains why few faculty take action against it (Thomas & De Bruin, 2012). Dealing with academic integrity violations invokes Bob Dylan’s famous question, “How does it feel?” The psychological discomfort, bureaucracy, leadership support (or perceived lack of), and the work overload involved in enforcing academic integrity policies (when many other faculty frequently look the other way) often feels awful (Biswas, 2015). The range of emotions that instructors feel when students violate academic integrity policies is vast, and it is important to acknowledge the faculty experience and give them the chance to voice their emotions to show their experiences are valued, and so that the teaching and learning community can develop the appropriate supports.
To better understand the faculty experience of formally reporting academic integrity violations, the researchers plan to interview a purposive, homogenous sample of faculty at a small community college who chose to report academic integrity violations to protect the quality and reputation of their academic programs. A small, purposive, homogenous sample is necessary so that themes can be realized from certain groups of people who have shared particular experiences.
These faculty experiences should shed a deeper understanding of the personal and institutional barriers that may discourage faculty from taking action to address violations of academic integrity, and the structural supports that need to be in place when faculty choose to report academic integrity violations.
Openo, J. (2019). Can (post-heroic) leadership be taught online? A library educator’s expansion of Baldwin, Ching, and Friesen’s grounded theory model of online course design and development. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, (60)4, 354-372.
Online education continues its rapid expansion and evolution in Canada. For much of the first two decades of the 21st century, online education operated outside the formal structures of postsecondary. But online education has now moved from the periphery to the core of the postsecondary mission, and all faculty need to have a basic level of competence with online learning technologies.
Because of a lack of universal reporting requirements and inconsistent reporting, much remains unknown about the current composition, preparation, and experience of online instructors in Canada. What appears to be known, however, is that a majority of faculty who have taught online (77%) felt that teaching online provided deeper insight into the nature of teaching and learning in every setting. It also appears that training and support for faculty is central to overcoming the primary barriers to the adoption of online education.
This article provides a brief overview of how I approached building an online course in the University of Alberta’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science three years ago.
Instructional beliefs. When starting to teach online, many faculty bring their fears, inhibitions, and bewilderment to teaching in mediated and networked contexts. The experience of teaching online can be a disruptive and disorienting dilemma for faculty that requires a reconsideration of one’s teacher identity and their belief systems. This is why a good first step before teaching online is unpacking our beliefs about what teaching and learning is. Faculty may possess unquestioned assumptions or unexamined beliefs about teaching. Intentionally surfacing these assumptions and beliefs then informs the learning objectives, assessments, and how the course is organized.
Establish teaching presence early and often. The Community of Inquiry framework is the most highly research theoretical model of online education, and one of the core elements of the Community of Inquiry framework is Teaching Presence, which consists of design, facilitation, and direction of a community of inquiry. Design also includes assessments. To build teaching presence, instructors can provide a welcome letter, brief videos, announcements, and feedback to ensure strong teaching presence. In online settings, it is critical to design interactive experiences that incorporate frequent and substantive personal interactions.
Structure students for engagement. Teaching online requires a different set of skills than delivering content, and intentional thought needs to be spent on structuring students for maximum engagement. Many online instructors find discussion boards uninspiring. Discussion boards are only one way to get engaged interaction with and between students. Collaborative projects, peer assessment, debates, brainstorming activities and learner-developed and directed questions provide alternatives to uninspired discussion boards. Learner-generated questions and learner-facilitated discussion can serve as mechanisms for learners to refine their ideas and promote group reflection (Blaschke, 2012). Collaborative learning can also serve as the primary method for students to practice essential self-management skills, such as communication, task negotiation, emotional intelligence, and decision-making, as well as demonstrating personal responsibility.
Go beyond the LMS. Jon Dron (2017) at Athabasca University puts in candidly, “the learning management system alone will not take us where we need to be.” Building a learning environment that goes beyond the LMS flows from one’s instructional beliefs, activities, and the course goals. Reflective journals, blogs, wikis, concept mapping software, and apps such as Padlet or Remind can all be used to supplement and transcend the limitations of the LMS. Some instructors use Twitter to great effect in teaching micro-writing, but consideration must be given to the necessity/value of walled or open systems.
Reflect and modify. No course design is perfect the first time around (or the 20th time around). Keep a journal that records what worked and what could be changed or improved. Review the course analytics and learner comments (which are rarely straightforward to understand and take action on). Then activate your intuition and judgement. Revise your teaching beliefs, if necessary, adapt the course design, and improvise.
I have heard a quote, mis-attributed to Einstein, that the highest form of research is essentially play. In technology circles, too, play is the highest form of proficiency. Some people react strongly and negatively to the idea of play when it comes to teaching, but teaching online successfully requires a serious level of play. It is possible, after all, to have quite a bit of fun with it.
This year, to celebrate Open Education Week, MHC’s Faculty Association, the Centre for Innovation and Teaching Excellence, the VPA office and MHC’s bookstore are hosting a panel to talk about Open Educational Resources and the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials.
In December 2019, representatives from across the college (including faculty) assembled to talk about a future textbook strategy. This was the second meeting to discuss how MHC can lower the costs for the students and look at alternative methods of providing course materials. This conversation was a microcosm of an ongoing national conversation now taking place as the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM).
Faculty members are (and always will be) in the best position to affect the prices of textbooks, but there are other players involved, and the history of CRAM illuminates this. CRAM was founded in 2007 at the University of Alberta as a partnership between the Bookstore and Student’s Union. These two entities often see the issue of textbook costs from different perspectives. Bookstores may feel the pressure to produce revenue, whereas the Student’s Union will see textbook costs in terms of student debt and student stress.
At the college level, especially, it appears that whatever money students save on textbooks, they use to invest in their education.
The Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials began a national dialogue centered on a collaborative effort to primarily address the high cost of course materials. Campus Stores Canada re-initiated this conversation in October 2018 at Ottawa’s Lord Elgin Hotel. The key parties involved in the ongoing conversations taking place between Fall 2019 and Spring 2021 included faculty (Canadian Association of University Teachers), librarians (Canadian Association of Research Libraries), educational developers (Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education), administrators (Universities Canada), and Campus Stores Canada (the association representing collegiate bookstores).
In CRAM’s 2018 report capturing these conversations, they note a relationship between course material affordability and student mental health. Student well-being has the potential to be the bridge as this is a shared value for all stakeholders. Libraries and bookstores also seemingly hold competing mandates, but collaboration between these entities can enhance the student experience. Faculty may not be aware of the full range of choices available to them via OER or the library’s collections. Students will buy textbooks that have perceived value, and they prefer print, but will purchase digital if it’s more affordable. Most importantly, it is important for all stakeholders to work together. That’s why I am excited about this event next week on March 4.
CRAM’s 9 key principles represent this spirit of collaboration and conversation. They strive to achieve the goal “to ensure the existence of an ongoing medium through which the key parties can identify and implement ways of addressing the underlying issues.” Some of the nine principles include:
· Academic materials must be a high quality and offer reasonable value to students.
· Academic Community Members are the ultimate decision makers for selecting academic materials.
· Academic Community Members should consider the cost for students when selecting course materials, and should explore and utilize the most cost-effective forms of delivery.
· The academic materials delivery processes at each participating school should incorporate joint Bookstore, Student, Academic Community Members and Library committees that foster communication, promote enhanced relationships, and facilitate the sharing of ideas and concerns.
· Establish monitoring and feedback mechanisms in order to measure and enhance the quality, affordability, and accessibility of academic materials.
· Advance the cost-effectiveness and affordability of academic materials through the development of advocacy strategies and tools that can be utilized at the campus level to promote enhanced awareness of the problems and the solutions.
It’s an important time to have this conversation. We are not exactly sure what Performance-Based Funding will look like in Alberta, but Open Educational Resources appear to be a metric not tied to funding. More importantly, most faculty (where choice exists) think about what is in the best interests of students when selecting their learning materials, and it will be good to get a sense of where supports can be effective.
Dublin is a city undergoing rapid technological transformation as Ireland strives to become a tech-hub of Europe, including educational technology.
I recently presented a paper at the World Conference for Online Learning in Dublin, Ireland. The theme for the conference was “Transforming Lives and Societies,” and the best part of the conference was listening to critical voices seeking to understand how lives and societies are being transformed, why, and what are the long-term implications of these transformations? Perhaps my favourite was closing plenary speaker Dr. George Siemens; Dr. Siemens was my research methods instructor at Athabasca University and one of the reasons I chose the Athabasca program. In a fairly popular blog post from 2015 entitled “Adios Ed Tech. Hola something else,” Dr. Siemens announced a personal transformation:
It’s time for a change. A curious disconnect has been emerging in my thinking, one that has been made clear with the hype-oriented buzzwords of today’s edtech companies. I no longer want to be affiliated with the tool-fetish of edtech. It’s time to say adios to technosolutionism that recreates people as agents within a programmed infrastructure.
In his plenary, Dr. Siemens asked if technology is helping us to become what we want to become?
It certainly is for Ireland. Ireland’s Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, clearly stated Ireland’s aspirations to become the “tech capital of Europe, and that includes educational technology.” In many respects, Ireland already is a tech-hub with headquarters for Google, Ancestry.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the National Institute for Digital Learning. And, as it is with most online learning conferences, this one was also full of optimism and excitement for the future of educational technology.
Here are, in no particular order, snippets of key takeaways that I jotted down in my learning journal from the many dialogues of transformation taking place at the World Conference for Online Learning (I wish I would have done a better job of writing down names):
Students have to be at the epicenter of all decisions about online education. This includes synchronous support – live calls because relationships with students are important.
It may also include a “regulatory environment” that supports the use of technology to supplement and strengthen the intrinsically interactive nature of teaching and learning. Courses and programs must consistently incorporate the frequent and substantive personal interaction that is central to the learning process.
Online education requires a redefinition of our understanding of teaching and learning. It is neither Sage on the Stage nor Guide on the Side. “Universities must evolve their paradigm, from student to learner, from teaching to designing and managing learning experiences, from degree based to continuous learning.”
Everyone is striving to think beyond the 18-24 year old demographic and beginning to think into genuine lifelong learning. Upskilling is the future of education; 30-50% of adult learners will need to be reskilled during their careers.
Credentials are the core business of education. Alternative digital credentials potentially mean less time to spend, and less bills to pay. "Universities and colleges that fail to adopt the Alternative Digital Credential movement will experience a slow decline in relevance and market position.”
"It is a precious thing to have a job. After all, we all have jobs, whether you think that's the primary role of education or not."
There are a lot of quality assurance frameworks in online education, but all are little used – institutions have to use a credible framework, modify an existing one, or develop their own.
Our current assessment system (grades) undermines all attempts at learning.
“We need to put forth collective effort to better understand and address the challenging conflicts in online higher education contexts to make openness and innovation authentic dialogues rather than just rhetoric.”
Dr. Siemens, in his closing remarks, admitted he was less interested in what is changing and how it is changing. Instead, he is increasingly interested in whether technology is helping us become what we want to become. And to become what we want to become, we have to stop creating problems that only new technology can solve. We will also have to acknowledge systemic problems and resolve those, not with technology, but with human morals, values, and principles.
My digital badge from Educause is integrated with my LinkedIn account. Who cares?
I had the chance to talk to the AB Deans of Business about microcredentials, which I then turned into a short article for MHC’s monthly, called The FAX.
Much has been made of micro-credentials, but are they the future, or are they just fantasy? In short, micro-credentialing is a way to recognize competencies or skills acquired through a wide variety of learning experiences, including international experiences, community-service learning projects, and short courses. The micro-credential is often represented by a digital badge, or an icon that includes metadata on who issued the badge, when it was issued, and the criteria and/or evidence for earning the credential. A user can share the micro-credential as part of an integrated method for demonstrating their learning in ways beyond just formal coursework and the transcript (Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, 2017).
Microcredentials and digital badges are easy enough to create, but the big question is who values them?
The opportunity exists for badges to find their place in postsecondary education, but just because you can develop a digital badge or microcredential, that does not mean it has any value. The value may come from the ability to break learning down into chunks, or providing some evidence of skills that are harder to demonstrate, such as communication skills. Even though claims of change are rampant, microcredentials have not yet had much impact.
As Dianne Conrad and I wrote in our book (Conrad & Openo, 2018), my favorite example of the successful deployment of micro-credentials comes from a hands-on undergraduate chemistry course. Students earned badges in the proper use of lab equipment. In the videos that learners submitted for assessment, students stated their names, showed their face and hands, and then did a task, such as performing a close-up shot of a calibration mark on lab equipment. Mid-semester examinations on how to use the equipment demonstrated that between 74% and 95% of students who received their laboratory badges answered laboratory use questions correctly. At the same time, the department saved $3,200 in equipment costs—two very different ways to prove that students had more effectively mastered the learning outcomes of safely and effectively using lab equipment.
What is the lesson here? As the use of digital badges increases, it may become clear when and where they are most effective in influencing student engagement and motivation. It’s unlikely that badges are going to replace the parchment any time soon, but perhaps there are specific cases (new graduates, evidence of soft skills, or experiential learning opportunities) where micro-credentials make sense (Selingo, 2017).
Casilli and Hickey (2016) put forth two strong arguments indicating that badges might become a more prominent feature on the assessment landscape. The first is that digital badges provide an opportunity for schools to generate more claims of student learning, with more evidence to support those claims. Secondly, digital badges increase the transparency of assessment practice, and through the transparency of badges—which includes metadata, assessments, and artifacts—it is possible that the importance of conventional forms of recording learner performance, for example, transcripts, where there is no supporting evidence of student learning, may diminish. Or a blockchain verified transcript might be enhanced through the integration of the transcript, attendant micro-credentials, and evidence of learning from a student’s e-portfolio.
Maybe. Maybe not. Micro-credentialing is not a new idea, but there are some new approaches emerging. Wilfrid Laurier is now using a tracking tool to capture students’ experiential learning experiences, and the University of Alberta awards a Community-Service Learning Certificate as part of a student’s co-curricular record. These are good examples, but significant challenges remain.
First off, micro-credentials haven’t gained acceptance in work or academic worlds, so they need to evolve and mature (Harvey, 2017). Plus, not all degrees are created equal. Sometimes, institutional prestige determines the signal value of the parchment. In areas where you need a specific credential to practice (Registered Nurse, for example), micro-credentials won’t do you a lot of good (Duque, 2018). And a remaining problem is coming up with rigorous and reliable measure that someone has achieved the competency specified for the badge (Greene, 2019). This takes us back to perennial problem of assessment in general; what proof do we have that learners have actually acquired any of the knowledge, skills, or values we claimed they have?
So here is my not so bold prediction: some institutions are going to continue to play and experiment with micro-credentials because of increasing pressure on postsecondary institutions to provide evidence of learning, which will increasingly be tied to funding and performance-based outcomes. They will also continue to play and experiment with micro-credentials as a new business model. Incredibly prestigious and well-resourced universities (Cambridge, Harvard, and MIT) are all working to figure how achieve scalable modularity, and I suspect someone will eventually figure out a model that works. Arizona State University’s Global Freshman University (a micro-Bachelors) failed, but it might end up being a failure in the right direction.
References
Casilli, C., & Hickey, D. (2016). Transcending conventional credentialing and assessment paradigms with information-rich digital badges. Information Society, 32(2), 117–129. doi:10.1080/01972243.2016.1130500
Conrad, D., & Openo, J. (in press). Assessment strategies for online contexts: Engagement and authenticity. Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
Duque, C. T. (2018, September 21). No one has figured out successful, sustainable microcredentialing. LMS Pulse. Retrieved from https://www.lmspulse.com/2018/no-one-has-figured-out-succesful-sustainable-microcredentialing/
Greene, P. (2019, February 16). Education micro-credentials 101: Why do we need badges? Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/02/16/education-micro-credentials-101-why-do-we-need-badges/#30b808424190
Harvey, D. (2017, November 12). Micro-credentials: Fad or skills training disruption? LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/micro-credentials-fad-skills-training-disruption-david-harvey/
Selingo, J. J. (2017). The Future of the Degree: How Colleges Can Survive the New Credential Economy. Washington, DC: The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. (2017). UCalgary badges. Retrieved from https://badges.ucalgary.ca/.
In May, I had the privilege and honour to present a session at Mount Royal University’s Liberal Education conference. https://www.liberaleducation.ca/
My presentation was a 30-year retrospective on Ursula Franklin’s The Real World of Technology. Franklinewas prescient.
Franklin suggests that technology tends to displace the human and transform the nature of experience. As technology displaces human muscle and human mind and alleviates the shortcomings of being human, the human is not so much enhanced as much as it is minimized. Franklin says,
As more and more of daily life in the real world of technology is conducted via prescriptive technologies, the logic of technology begins to overpower and displace other types of social logic, such as the logic of compassion or the logic of obligation, the logic of ecological survival or the logic of linkages to nature.
This is not just polemic. A good example of this overpowering displacement is that when, in 2007 the Oxford Junior Dictionary was published — a sharp-eyed reader noticed that around forty common words concerning nature had been dropped. Apparently they were no longer being used enough by children to merit their place in the dictionary. The list of these “lost words” included acorn, adder, bluebell, dandelion, fern, heron, kingfisher, newt, otter, and willow. Among the words taking their place were attachment, blog, broadband, bullet-point, cut-and-paste, and voice-mail.
Franklin suggests we need to consider machines and devices as cohabitants on this earth, and in Simon Winchester’s The Perfectionists, he writes, “The numbers are beyond incredible. There are now more transistors at work on this planet (some 15 quintillion) than there are leaves on all the trees in the world.” This is the overpowering and displacing effect of technology.
Liberal education is also being overpowered and displaced. Throughout this symposium, several presenters suggested that automation and liberal education can play nicely with one another. If they can, it will only be to the extent that liberal education serves the logic of technology. If more examples and events like this cannot be accomplished to question the logic of technology and its displacing effect, Franklin warns that the house that technology built will not become anything more than an unlivable techno-dump. Franklin says, “I have long subscribed to what I call Franklin’s earthworm theory of social change. Social change will not come to us like an avalanche down the mountain. Social change will come through seeds growing in well prepared soil – and it is we, like the earthworms, who prepare the soil.”
My fellow worms, let us thank MRU and MHC for preparing the soil.