by CLAIRE FIELD
We must not move on from reflection and deliberative educational re-design
While Chat GPT continues to dominate much of the edfech focus in the sector at present, a recent report from Stanford University, Lessons from Teaching and Learning at Stanford During the COVID-19 Pandemic provides a useful reflection on the broader EdTech changes delivering more personalised learning, greater flexibility, improved educational outcomes and greater student support as a consequence of both the impact of the pandemic and advances in technology.
The authors note that “while some instructors made a seamless transition to teaching on-line, others struggled to deliver course content in a technology platform they were wholly unfamiliar with.
“Burnout and Zoom-fatigue were common as, particularly early in the pandemic, students passively consumed long lectures on computer screens. As the pandemic wore on, instructors adapted their teaching to the pandemic circumstances and to students’ needs. Instructors quickly increased their skill in using Zoom for teaching and thoughtfully reworked their instruction, with help from newly developed resources and training programs rapidly spun up by teams across campus.”
The report explores the difference between the “emergency remote teaching” required at the start of the pandemic, and the “well-designed on-line learning” Stanford now focusses on delivering to improve student engagement.
They note that although the switch to remote teaching was highly stressful for educators, especially at the start of the pandemic; the focus on more “active, interactive, and experiential education — including more flexible classroom assessments and opportunities for flipped learning” is something the university is now deliberately embracing.
Stanford’s emphasis on more inclusive, personalised learning which fully accommodates learners’ needs, is also part of the university’s response to increasing rates of depression and anxiety they have seen in their students post-pandemic.
It goes without saying that Stanford’s experiences during the pandemic were shared across Australian universities (and indeed many VET providers). It would be a shame though if in Australia the current focus on ChatGPT, on welcoming back international students and on university funding debates via the Accord process, were to prevent the same level of reflection and deliberative educational re-design in Australian tertiary institutions.
As one of the participants in the Stanford study reflects, “there is no ‘normal’ to return to”.
Claire Field spoke to education design director, Scott Allardyce, on the latest episode of the “What now? What next?’ podcast about the physical infrastructure required for engaging hybrid learning.