In the light of restructuring and continuing adaptation and change post-Covid, higher education leaders, faculty members, and tech education companies got together at a virtual event hosted by Fierce Education to help faculty navigate top challenges and the best ways going forward in the blending learning environment that has become today’s reality.
During the keynote address, Dr. Henry M. Smith from Johns Hopkins School of Education recognized that higher education is usually known for a tendency of not moving forward fast enough and resisting change. Dr. Smith said that this resistant force is known as Isomorphism. Yet, resisting change after Covid-19 will be futile. Online education adoption is here to stay. The keynote was sponsored by Course Hero.
Dr. Smith painted an accurate picture of the students populating the classrooms today—being them either virtual or physical--by grouping their main characteristics. He noted students are, above all, fluent in the education technology language. To illustrate this, Dr. Smith said that medical professionals know medical devices and plumbers now plumbing tools, whereas healthcare patients and homeowners rarely know anything about such devices and tools. And, while professors know educational technology, students know even more.
Dr. Smith accurately describes the Covid era students as Amazons: They consume takeout meals, groceries and clothes are all delivered to them. Mid-career students are not driving to graduate schools to pick up an education; they want their education delivered to them, just like everything else.
He offered the following advice to faculty regarding their responsibilities for online teaching and learning:
- Be present with asynchronous discussion posts, small groups, and individuals
- Give feedback for in-progress student papers
- Join online seminars: Join small group discussions
- Reach out to students in the back row: Engage with struggling students
- Stay up-to-date on teaching and learning tools
- Research new ways to use tools for your subject discipline
- Build interactive courses that can be rapidly updated
- Work on current issues in real-time
University responsibilities for online teaching should include:
- Partner instructional designers with faculty
- Provide PD for new online tools
- Empower faculty to develop and purchase tools
- Support faculty/student engagement: Faculty are the face of your IHE
- Allow students to design their own programs
- Allow students to choose their own support systems
- Keep and augment online internships
- Eliminate letter grades/use Pass/Fail B-
- Support faculty Oxford Experts Method
Dr. Smith concludes by reminding us that isomorphism is a common organizational trait while inertia is a common human trait. Higher education institutions and faculty must work to avoid both of them.
To view the presentation on-demand as well as other sessions, go here.
For more articles from the virtual event see:
Higher Education Can Bridge the Learning Gap Sparked by COVID