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registrations, and this morning there are 214
registrations, so there’s certainly an appetite
out there for our academic staff to come
up to speed very quickly on how to deal
with the use of these tools, which in some
cases they’re new to using, but in many
cases they just might want a refresher in
how to use those tools.
We’re looking at the way we might
rework some of the assessments, but I
think we’ve got it nailed because of our
experience in the online space already.
How have your courses been adjusted to
manage the current situation?
With the prime minister’s announcement
that any gatherings of over 100 are now
banned, that put us into a bit of a spin, but
we got on top of that. Previously, we’d been
working on the figure of 300. We’ve had to
look at what this means for our students,
because many of our students are voting
with their feet anyway and deciding to stay
off campus and listen to a lecture recording
we have in place.
For quite a few weeks now, we have been
hoping for the best and planning for the
worst, so we had been planning on a full
shutdown anyway, so we’ve had a number
of weeks to think through the implications
of that. I think the next tranche of stuff we
need to look at is working towards filling
online exams and using a range of tools to
rework our assessment regimes to actually
cater for that.
I guess the plan that’s in place, if the
situation worsens, and no learning can
occur on campuses, is that you’ll go fully
online. Do you have the capacity at the
moment to do that?
We do because of the 15,000 students we
already have studying online, we actually
have all the tools in place. We’re running
workshops to staff as we speak on how
to use the lecture capture software, not
just in a lecture room, but from their
home. That is, how to stream lectures
from home rather than having to stand in
a lecture room and deliver to an empty
classroom. They’re quite free to do that
as well and, similarly, with the issue of our
Blackboard Collaborate tool, to run the
tutorial groups.
Now, obviously, there are things like labs
that we need to consider, but we’re working
with our providers and learning very quickly.
They’re taking into account the work of the
Australian Collaborative Education Network
(ACEN) – a national body that looks after
work‐integrated learning – which provides
advice to universities.
The key for us really is to keep it simple,
not to introduce staff to new tools, but
to keep to our existing ecology where
possible. The use of Microsoft Teams
has really ramped up over the last little
while. We’ve only been using it for
about a year now, but really it’s coming
into its own through the ability to be
able to hold meetings online in a short
turn around.
How resilient do you think the higher
education sector is in Australia, especially
if COVID-19 takes months or even longer
to subside?
I think those who've had an exposure to
large cohorts of students studying online
are pretty well placed, because they have
the technologies in place. There are some
institutions that are playing a bit of catch-up
right now, and vendors are being hit pretty
hard with the request to get into these
tools, so it’s a ramp-up of bandwidth and
things with certain tools.
Generally, though, I came back from the
Australasian Council of Open, Distance and
e-Learning meeting we had in Canberra
recently, where we had 17 universities
discuss what we do about assessment and,
particularly on e-assessment.
Most institutions there were pretty
confident that, with a bit of tweaking
– anticipating that they’ll be shut down –
they’re generally going to be okay. There
Most universities will cope
with this, even if it goes for the
rest of the year. Further on,
who knows?
has been some predatory behaviour from
various vendors trying to cash in on this
opportunity.
We’re kind of resisting it ourselves,
because we know we have the tools in
place. I would rather keep it simple and
design what we need to around the tools
we have. The last thing we need to be
doing at this point is introducing staff to
new tools in our ecosystem, so we’re
trying not to panic. I think the Australian
sector, more so than others, is reasonably
well placed.
It’s not going to be easy for many of
those teachers who haven’t taught online
before to ramp up, but there is a bucket
load of stuff out there in terms of support if
they haven’t done it before.
At the very basic level, it’s really about
providing some audio and video content
to students that they can access, it’s about
providing opportunities for them to engage
with each other in the online space, and
universities have put learning management
systems and Microsoft Teams in place to be
able to do that.
Really, with the support of our e-learning
and technology advisers, and our
instruction designers and things like that,
which every university has, most universities
will cope with this, even if it goes for the
rest of the year.
Further on, who knows? But we’re
anticipating this is as the authorities are
saying it’s going to go on for another six
months. That’s fine. I’m pretty sure we can
cope with that. It is going to mean some
bottom line hits to enrolments and things,
but given the scale of things globally, I think
that’s a small price to pay. ■
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