Campus Review Vol 30. Issue 05 | May 2020 | Seite 29

TECHNOLOGY
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After that, TEQSA intends to develop
information sheets on different aspects of
online learning to help those providers “in
navigating this new terrain”.
Podcasts with experts in online learning
are also planned, and suggestions related
to teaching and resourcing particular topics
will also be considered.
(Suggestions for topics of interest can be
emailed to [e-mail].)
Below are the five fields and the
subjects they will teach with the help of
resources.
• Getting started: best practice for
establishing online learning
The great migration
Regulator releases program
to help institutions transition
entirely to online learning.
By Wade Zaglas
A
ustralia’s university regulator, the
Tertiary Education and Quality
Standards Agency (TEQSA), has
released a resource to assist universities to
fully migrate to online learning, particularly
independent providers.
According to TEQSA, the program has
been developed to “assist the sector’s
rapid transition to online delivery with little
support and few resources”.
The program covers a range of topics,
including getting started and helping
workforces to migrate online fully,
to ensuring assessment integrity and
monitoring student experiences.
The tertiary regular has acknowledged
that not all parts will be relevant to every
provider, and therefore has developed the
website to be flexible and easy to use.
TEQSA is also treating the program as
a work in progress and is encouraging
contributions and feedback from those
in the sector to help fine-tune it over the
coming months.
In developing the program, TEQSA
nonetheless “commends the sector’s
adaptability and resilience, and its
commitment to continuing to uphold the
Higher Education Standards during the
challenges presented by the pandemic”.
The regulator has also underscored the
importance of collaboration in the face of
“extraordinary circumstances”.
Thus far, the program’s content has been
divided into five broad categories:
• Getting started: best practice for
establishing online learning
• Enabling staff to work with online
learning
• Student experience
• Assessment integrity
• International perspective.
Resources in each field or category
have been “arranged by indicative level
of expertise for the reader, then listed
alphabetically by resource name”.
TEQSA concedes that the list is far from
exhaustive at the moment, and it intends
to increase the volume of materials with
the help of contributions from academics,
experts and practitioners.
In this part of the program, resources
are used to help institutions engage in
“face-to-face” teaching immediately.
The resources include guides, videos,
webinars, articles and blogs, as well as
some online programs.
• Enabling staff to work with online learning
The second part of the program provides
tips to improve online teaching.
• Student experience
A common difficulty with online
learning is being able to assess how your
students are progressing and whether
they are meaningfully engaging with the
course. The resources in this section
are aimed at enhancing online learning
for students.
• Assessment integrity
There has been much concern raised
regarding students being able to more
easily cheat in an online learning
environment. The tips and resources
provided here will go some way in
ensuring cheating and contract cheating
is minimised or eliminated, and academic
integrity is ensured.
• International perspective
Many academics and educators will
find the last field particularly worthwhile
as it provides them with a window into
how other countries are dealing with
“the mass online migration in response
to COVID-19”. ■
To contribute further resources or
provide feedback on the website,
email [e-mail]
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