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Online or off, quality rules
There’ s no stopping technology’ s disruption of teaching and learning, so embrace the changes and do it right.
Barney Glover interviewed by Antonia Maiolo
Universities should embrace the way technology disrupts what they’ re doing and take from it the best elements to improve teaching and learning, University of Western Sydney vice-chancellor Barney Glover says.
“ When online education is done very well, it does provide a richness to the learning experience,” Glover says.“ It provides an opportunity to access higher education that’ s not constrained by geography or circumstance.
“ It gives people access to education in a new way. Often that means people are returning to study or studying for the first time at the highest level.”
In the interview below, Campus Review speaks with Glover about how academics are increasingly expected to embrace digital media.
CR: How does the online delivery of education transcend the traditional classroom and the lecture hall to better engage student learning?
BG: The first thing to say is, it has to be done well. It’ s true of any modality of learning. The better it is done – the better the quality of the materials, the more engaged the student is in the learning process, the more engaged the teacher is in the learning process – of course the better the outcomes will be.
[ It’ s certainly ] not taking the place of a face-to-face classroom or lecture theatre environment – it’ s a different environment. [ However ], with the interactive and just-in-time nature of technology available, the opportunities for people to interact in �
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