Higher education in the midst of COVID-19

Last week I was interviewed by SBS News for the latest on how Universities are responding to the rapid move online. For me, this served as a point of reflection amongst the chaos as we started to make sense of what our new normal might look like. Today, as I sit at home, with my children and husband outside my home office, I’m feeling more settled as we bunker down to stop the spread of COVID 19. Being home for several days now, I’m welcoming the random questions, cuddles and requests for band aids as I attempt to maintain some level of productivity. 

Here is a copy of my responses. 

1.     How much extra work has been put into transitioning face to face classes to online? 

In this past week academics have dropped all other tasks to prioritise moving their courses online. At the University of Wollongong we are fortunate to have been afforded the next two weeks to dedicate ourselves to managing this transition (Our study recess has been brought forward). Other institutions however have had to respond much quicker – just check out the global Twitter Chatter such as @AcademicChatter or #onlinelearning or #AcademicTwitter.

We have had great leadership through our Head of School and through the University’s Vice-Chancellor and the UOW crisis response team. Before we were told that we were conclusively moving online, we had met as a school and were informed that it was a real possibility, which gave us the chance to make sense of what that might look like for us. To help us prepare, we have intensive webinars and faculty-supported drop-in sessions to upskill and support academics over the next two weeks. Our educational technologists are playing a crucial role in this pivot to online teaching. 

Last week I have had as many zoom meetings as I would normally attend in a month! Most of these were logistical – working out approaches, coordinating communications, figuring out new assessment due dates – but some were also developmental.  In my role, its usual to work one-on-one with an academic to provide advice and build curriculum. But in this past week, we have all become learners and teachers alike. Practice sharing has been at an all-time high, with those more experienced in online teaching sharing ideas, creating resources for us and brainstorming alongside teammates. This pandemic has propelled our creativity and collaboration, and made us more aware of our students’, and our own, resilience. 

There is a lot of hard work that will take place behind the scenes, through zoom meetings, on our eLearning platforms and email exchange over the next few weeks. I think it would be safe to say that we have moments of feeling anxious about how its going to turn out, second guessing our activities and if students will engage or if there was something that would have worked better. But we are working on re-framing this experience as an opportunity to model person-centredness to our students. What I have observed during this transition is the prioritisation of care for our students and each other. This semester is largely an opportunity to show how we can extend compassion towards one another during unprecedented times.  

2.     How does online learning work? How can you continue group discussions?

Online learning can include a combination of synchronous (at the same time) or asynchronous (at any time) sessions including discussions. Building online learning environments can take months, so it’s important to recognise that what we doing now is not the same as what a fully online course looks like. Because many face-to-face classes have already been held in the first 3 weeks of semester, what we are working towards is extending that sense of community into the online space. We are all adapting to a new normal where classes and support are offered by distance. We are not disconnecting – we are just connecting differently.

As we move online, how we create these community spaces to discuss, deliberate and reflect on course material is largely dependent on our concern for what students are encountering right now. Will they be able to connect to wifi? Will they have time to meet at the same tutorial time? Will they be moving homes or caring for a family member? Many of our students represent the casual workforce, so will they still be able to support themselves if small businesses or hospitality are affected? I think for us in the School of Nursing, we are also preoccupied with the thought that our students may also be called to assist in the delivery healthcare, many of our postgraduate students are already working in the space. 

Awareness of these extenuating circumstances are guiding our decisions as we build online spaces that will foster that sense community.  It’s important to know that we are responding with care and compassion. We don’t expect that students will be able to engage the same way they would have this semester, given all that is affecting personal circumstances now. What we are doing is building online spaces were students have various ways to engage and feel supported. We are building discussion forums, making videos and inviting students to respond using videos, creating informal spaces for conversations through social media, establishing real-time chat or video conferencing opportunities and more. 

3.     How will students learn and improve on practical skills of nursing in an online environment?

At this point in time, NSW health has continued to support clinical placements for our undergraduate nursing students. 

There are certain skills that simply can’t be taught online. We need labs to teach students specific skills and allow them to practice in a safe, simulated environment. We need placements to enable to students to practice these skills so they are ready when they graduate from the degree. Over the coming weeks, we will be working together to explore options to teach and assess practical skills for the immediate few months. This is a key challenge however it is one that students need to be reassured that we are addressing. 

4.     What kind of reaction have you received from your students? Are they frustrated? 

Students have reacted in different ways. Many are feeling the same anxieties that we are experiencing. I don’t think the main response has been frustration, I think it’s more around the uncertainty of what is happening globally and what that means for us as we live day to day in Australia. 

I think we need to appreciate that this is not a usual instance of online learning. There are many other factors that we must take into consideration that will impact student’s motivation and ability to attend to the material. Understanding this, is the most important thing to get us through the semester, together. 

Dr Bonnie Amelia Dean

University of Wollongong

ACEN NSW/ACT Chapter Chair

ACEN National Board Director
@bonniedealtc

What do you mean by WIL?

Image by rawpixel on Unsplash

I wonder if you have ever been asked the question: What do you mean when you say WIL? 

For as long as I can remember while working in this field, my conversations with colleagues have quickly been stalled by this question. Perhaps we were discussing a new WIL program idea, or the success of a student who has gained employment, or an idea for a research project… nothing stops creative conversations flowing then debate over nomenclature. 

As the ACEN conference is now only one month away, I thought it might be timely to start our own conversation around the multiplicity of understandings in WIL. Seminal literature in Australia describes WIL as an umbrella concept for activities embedded in curriculum. The notion of an umbrella is generous in this space, however lately I have been wondering: is all WIL tied to a credit-bearing subject? Recently a Universities Australia WIL audit had us combing through our extra-curricular activities to capture WIL activity. So is WIL just within subjects, or both within and alongside subjects? Similar questions around delineation arise for smaller-level subject-based activities that attempt to integrate workplace activities with theory, but perhaps with low proximity to a workplace such as a simulation, a guest lecture or an industry project. These projects may not comprise the whole subject; in fact students may only participate in them for one or several weeks of the semester. Are we still calling this WIL?

Additionally, we may find that our institutions call for us to develop strategies for enhancing WIL that may position our practices in certain ways, implicating what we describe as WIL. They may insist we call it the same thing – to ensure alignment to general understandings of WIL – or they may ask that we create our own names to differentiate what we do as different to others. I have the general feeling that Australia among other nations over the years has concerned themselves with this later notion, espousing WIL – rather than ‘cooperative education’ – to describe the bundle of heterogeneous teaching and learning practices that provide students opportunity to connect discipline concepts to their professional context. 

In an Australia Government funded project, the 2016 Good Practice Report – Work Integrated Learning, a call was made for educators, researchers and professional staff to consider the nomenclature surrounding WIL. The first recommendation arising from this work states:  

Recommendation 1: As the term WIL continues to be misunderstood amongst various stakeholders there is a need to find a common language that industry, universities and students understand, which incorporates the complexity and diversity of programs that support and promote student employability. We recommend that work be undertaken to ‘road test’ some new forms of nomenclature.

I do believe it’s important that we keep revisiting own understandings of WIL. One impetus for this argument is to find ‘a common language’. Another driver is that in light of our changing 21^st Century teaching practices, we need to ensure that we continue to critique our understandings and push the boundaries to innovate and move the field forward. I’m not suggesting we have to find a new name, but I am suggesting that we may need to reframe what we consider is and is not WIL as our practices evolve. I think that there are benefits to having multiple understandings of the term WIL as long as they are contextually grounded and evidence-informed, and that care is taken to communicate our distinctions to the relevant stakeholders. 

With this in mind, let’s approach this ACEN conference with a willingness to accept multiple interpretations of WIL and to inspire a collegial environment that celebrates innovations and diversity. To avoid getting bogged down with nomenclature, for those who are presenting, for example, you may wish to contemplate the following elements at the beginning of your presentation or workshop:

1. Feel confident to explore your own understandings. Your programs and practices are highly situated and contextually embedded, and are informed by your knowledge-in-practice.
2. Use relevant WIL or teaching and learning theories to support your understandings. Highlight alignment of your understandings with key sources in the literature. This will help others position your understanding as well.
3. Know your parameters and criteria of WIL so that an audience can visualise a clear picture of how you are positioning your study, conceptualisations or practice.

My hope is that as an ACEN community we can continue the creative conversations and learn from one another to drive the field forward.

See you in October!

Bonnie

Dr Bonnie Amelia Dean
Learning, Teaching & Curriculum
University of Wollongong
@Bonniedealtc