policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
First principles
Quality shouldn’t be overlooked in
the rush to deliver classes online.
By Tom Whitford
R
ecent examinations of COVID-19’s
impact on the higher education
sector do nothing to support the
most honest of educators and teachers
who seek to support students fairly and
innovatively.
This is not a question of resourcing, or
institutional strategy, but rather a needed
return to the basic question of what makes
for good, high quality teaching.
Many lifelong higher-educators may
even be humbled by the recent focus
being placed on teaching, and the
renewed commitment to ensuring staff are
12
supported with professional development
in the past month.
It has been thrilling to witness our
learning organisations – the modern day
university – become virtual ‘overnight’.
This is captivating for someone who both
researches online teaching transition and
is also passionate about the opportunity
that the online environment affords us at
this moment.
As an early-career social scientist, I also
think about my peers who would all be
fascinated by what this unique moment in
history means for not just society, but our
own institutions.
Think about what this demands of a
sector that prides itself on more tangible
benefits: the collegial activities on campus
for students, the lectures from global
visiting professors, the world-class facilities
and laboratories. These serve an important
marketing function, but I think no one
could ever predict how integral these are
for a university’s sense of purpose.
Almost instantly, many of these
have been shuttered, which has been
heartbreaking for a sector that has rushed
to build capacity in their campuses during
the boom of international student revenue.
It is also disarming for the cities that house
us, and the important social ramifications
for our temporary student residents.
There are also rumblings from the
student body, with concerns about the
uneven online educational offering, and
media coverage emerging on the promises
of an educational experience that cannot
be delivered upon remotely.
For now, most frontline teaching
academics are struggling to navigate the
new demands placed on them, and trying
to adapt quickly to this new virtual campus.
The extra burden of the online teaching
experience is a steep learning curve for
most. Think about video guides, tutorials
for online platforms, and how to best
communicate with students who may be
distant or abroad in other time zones.
Koehler and Mishra spoke of the
TPACK model barely over a decade ago,
and the increased requirements of the
traditional academic given increased
virtualisation of practice (2009). That is, a
comprehensive knowledge and skill set
that spans not just content knowledge, but
technological and pedagogical prowess.
To summarise: knowing our in-depth areas
of specialisation, knowing how to best
teach, and how the technology can best
support this learning. This is an accurate
premonition for the current time; many of
us currently teaching feel stretched across
these domains, or switching between
layers of expertise or competency.
While universities – much like many
professional and corporate organisations
– may be currently adjusting to remote
delivery of service, we have a unique take
on who our students are, and what they
want. For many years we have embraced
market-orientation, mostly due to the
federal policy and funding landscape which
has supported the scalar growth in student
numbers, both domestic and foreign.
And during this period, many universities
have accommodated these larger numbers
through increasing their teaching function,
swelling the numbers of their teaching
portfolios and the programs offered. Many
universities, it appears, have resourced
this growth with a reliance on casual or
sessional staff.
Ignoring the debates around industrial
ethics and HR integrity – for the most
part – this army of casual academics have
performed their jobs admirably. Taking on
large numbers of students, overbearing
themselves with marking loads, justifying
an unstable and insecure position