Fostering Academic Continuity During Covid-19

Fostering Academic Continuity

By Dr. Rose C Nanyonga

The CIU Experience

In recent months higher education institutions (HEIs) have come to terms with the fact that education, as we have traditionally delivered it, cannot be sustained under the current circumstances imposed on us by the Covid-19 pandemic. Clarke International University (CIU), like many other HEIs, has strived to uphold its mission by sustaining the rigor of academic training despite challenging circumstances requiring the University to adjust our teaching, learning, engagement and assessment practices. The recent approval and implementation of Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) offers a great opportunity for academic continuity. However, ODeL systems require a great deal of investment at the university as well as at the individual (teaching faculty, staff and students) and family levels (parents and guardians). The level of investment and readiness at CIU has been made possible by an engaged and committed leadership and a willingness of staff and students to undertake ODel as guided by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE). In addition, majority of the capacity building and Covid readiness training activities have been supported by the Health Professional Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI-SHSSU). At the university level, we have bolstered our ICT infrastructure and capacity to support the delivery of ODeL. Academic Staff and other Academic Resource persons have undergone extensive training and retraining to ensure high level of competencies for Teaching for Learning, Assessment for Learning and Student Engagement via customized learning management system and other web conferencing tools. Students and teaching staff have been supported with data. And recognizing and engaging parents and guardians as part of the virtual learning network has been key in securing some quick wins and buy-in. Although CIU is not new to online learning we have been keenly aware that this process requires us to be agile and open to change; and that the change itself is not going to be easy. Some key lessons are emerging as we continue to streamline our academic operations, and these may be helpful for partner institutions who are thinking of or are in the process of implementing ODeL. First, we are learning that one size does not fit all, and that teaching faculty are going to learn and adopt new teaching norms at different paces. Along with prioritizing the slogan of “no student should be left behind”, it is crucial to remember that academic staff need to be active participants in leading the digital academic revolution. It is safe to say that students will be left behind if the teaching faculty are left behind. Earlier on in the ODeL strategic meetings I posed a question: the class have moved, but have we? The answers we varied. Some resounding no’s and a few and reluctant yeses. Not to be one for discouragement, I posed another question: how do we ignite transformation? In exploring reservations

about ODeL, we discovered that some teaching faculty viewed ODeL as a significant barrier to diverse learning experiences and were keen to explore ways to maintain their traditional pedagogy through virtual means. Others viewed ODeL as adding “too much work” to their already full schedule. Learning the new learning management system (CIULMS) presented its own set of challenges. The successful utilization of the eLearning system relies on identifying key adoption factors and challenges impacting both students and faculty. In addition, tracking key factors that are shaping the successful adoption of new learning systems is important in informing future orientation and capacity building strategies.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT | HUMANIZE THE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE

Students need to be active participants in the quality, breadth and depth of their learning and engagement. At CIU we are learning that success in the virtual learning environment is directly related to how present and engaged both the lecturers and the students are in the virtual classroom. Gannon (2020) posits that “What happens with and between professors and students in the classroom — physical or online — remains the heart of the education enterprise” A fair amount of time is needed to adapt learning content for online delivery, however, access to learning content, however, good and of quality, is not enough to foster a successful learning experience. Student satisfaction surveys indicate that students still need to engage with their lectures and will rate the overall experience of online learning as poor if the lecturer has made no effort to engage beyond posting learning content and assessments. We encourage lecturers to establish their own online presence—the extent to which you form connections and respond to your students throughout the semester. (Kilis and Yildirim, 2019)

MANAGING THE TRANSITIONS

With the recent re-opening of universities and other sectors, it has become apparent, if it weren’t before, that we live in a time-starved environment, driven by the perpetual need to evolve, learn new skills, and acquire new knowledge and competencies. It is justifiably easy to feel overwhelmed when dealing with additional change-demands in such a context. However, both the biological and moral reality of this pandemic has forced us all to confront the cynical calculation and misguided belief held earlier in the year that somehow Covid-19 will be over soon and things will go back to normal. Well celebrated and longstanding traditional cultures of face-2-face instruction, student engagement and assessment are directly tied to the university prestige and success record, but, as I have emphasized to our teaching faculty, they can also be used as a barrier in achieving ODeL objectives or attaining the digital competencies of a new era. ODeL has changed the dynamics of how we operate, and change management is needed at both personal and institutional levels. Clearly, the simultaneous effort of managing change while executing the required duties is daunting. The CIU strategy has focused on encouraging a steady pace as well as the utilization of supporting structures and Champions for targeted on-going training. Even if lecturers and professors are tech savvy, learning to teach online requires some amount of self-directed learning. We are discovering that successful student and faculty outcomes rely largely on our collective desire to participate and support the changes, our ability to acquire new knowledge and competencies, our capacity to address student-related factors and perceptions towards ODeL, and our ability to sustain newly acquired best practices. For partner entities that are implementing ODeL, here are a few things to consider:

• Constantly review what is working and what is not working and why and integrate a quality improvement plan in routine (new) practices. • Encourage academic staff to reflect, redefine, and reinterpret existing personal instructional norms and values. This experience requires us to engage in this level of self-reflection and discovery • Personal commitment: identify actions taken by academic staff to develop a commitment to new and emerging instructional and student engagement values. Share widely • Challenge the process: Review not just the cons: in what ways is the change not good for you, for the students or for higher education in general • We encourage that if you are going to fall, fall forward and celebrate every little success.

We believe that such a process of inquiry is likely to generate new ways of knowing and doing and will go a long way in supporting the change we want to see. One of the identified barriers for some teaching faculty is the notion that they already know how to teach. We encourage leveraging these experiences for value creation, pursuing change steadily while also broadening their expertise to deliver learning competently through ODeL strategies. In a recent

Faculty Focus publication: Miller (March, 2020) outlines 8 Steps for a smoother transition to online teaching, including:

• Being a learner: we are experiencing situations where we are not experts. As I mentioned, ODeL requires some amount of self-directed learning— embrace a learner’s mind-set • Using technology as a means to an end: the goal is to facilitate effective engagement, learning and teaching • Not being the man/woman behind the curtain: Miller posits that High “instructor presence”—the feeling that an instructor is still present in an online educational experience—is more critical now than it has ever been. We are encouraging teaching faculty to log into their course every day, schedule virtual office hours and create community within community through faculty-student to student engagement. • Increase your ability to be a technical resource to your students—the students likely more tech savvy than their teaching faculty—in most cases anyway. • Promoting engagement: I think this author says it better—please read the article • Upskilling, upskilling, upskilling—we all need to learn. “Everyone (faculty, administrators, and students) will need to upskill themselves in educational technology quickly”. Please remember, you are not alone. We are all learning. • Surveying often and early: we should get to what is not working early so that we have strategies for a recourse. • Keeping it simple: be kind to yourself and others. Miller emphasizes: “Keep your love of teaching front and center while you learn this important 21st century skill!”

Are you frustrated? I bet. But there is need to balance frustrations we have with new systems with action. Frustrations without a willingness to learn and without a demonstrated effort, results in equally unhappy and dissatisfied students. Not to mention a loss of faith in the new approaches to education by other critical stakeholders, including parents. ODeL Strategies at CIU (training of health professional teaching faculty, administrators, student engagement via zoom web conferencing, Covid training etc.) are supported by the Health Professional Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI-SHSSU)

References

Gannon, K. (2018). The case for Inclusive Teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-case-forinclusive-teaching/

Kilis, S., & Yildirim, Z. (2019). Posting Patterns of Students’ Social Presence, Cognitive Presence, and Teaching Presence in Online Learning. Online Learning Journal [OLJ], 23(2), 179+. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593147940/ PROF?u=iastu_main&sid=PROF&xid=a7a6f44a