{"id":8364,"date":"2020-11-24T03:08:33","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T19:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/how-online-study-became-the-new-norm\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:10:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:10:21","slug":"how-online-study-became-the-new-norm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/how-online-study-became-the-new-norm\/","title":{"rendered":"How online study became the new norm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remote learning isn\u2019t a new phenomenon \u2013 it has been used for centuries \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t until recently that the majority of the world\u2019s universities embraced the format.<\/p>\n

Remote learning has a long and rich history. As early as the 19th<\/sup> century, US educational institutions offered print-based correspondence courses over mail if students were unable to attend classes in person. Then, in 1981, the now-defunct Western Behavioural Sciences Institute in California offered the world\u2019s first online higher education courses, communicating to their students using an antiquated precursor to e-mail on a series of Apple IIEs with 48K of RAM.<\/p>\n

Of course, today\u2019s universities continue this legacy through more powerful innovations. Lectures are streamed online, students can join classrooms through video chat and many education providers deliver free online courses. Yet, some universities have been reluctant to embrace online study, because it lacks face-to-face engagement.<\/p>\n

But everything changed this year, as many universities accelerated their transition to online study in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By 19 March, a week after COVID-19 was declared a global health crisis, more than half of Australia\u2019s 41 universities had substantially shifted to online study<\/a>. Worldwide, 189 out of the world\u2019s top 200 universities moved at least a quarter of their teaching online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Professor Jill Downie \u2013 Â鶹ֱ²¥ Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic and Australia\u2019s National Education Commissioner to UNESCO \u2013 says the shift to online showcases the pandemic\u2019s paradoxical positive effect on the global higher education sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made our education more interactive, and COVID has absolutely sped that up. Curtin had about 100 courses online before COVID, but we were able to have all our students studying online in a week or two,\u201d says Downie, who first spoke about the topic on Curtin’s podcast, The Future Of<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the other \u2018gains\u2019 from COVID, most universities say they’re not going back to weekly lectures. Many universities are moving from exams towards \u2018authentic\u2019 assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the US, their projections of what was going to happen in the next 10 years in teaching and learning happened within three months during COVID. That\u2019s the pace we\u2019ve seen in the [global] teaching and learning space.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Professor Jill Downie initially spoke about some of the impacts of the pandemic on universities in Curtin\u2019s podcast, The Future Of<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before long, more futuristic technologies will be integrated to help improve the online learning experience.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s IE University already has a classroom-like teaching facility for online learning called the WOW (Window on the World) Room<\/a>, which includes a high-tech, 45 square metre curved wall featuring 48 screens with students.<\/p>\n

In this room, tutors are able to receive real-time time feedback on their teaching performance through AI software that measures student attentiveness through the students\u2019 personal webcams, and are able to conduct polls that instantly pair up students with opposing views to debate issues. The room can even project a hologram of the tutor into the classroom if they can\u2019t make it in person.<\/p>\n

Dr Zitong Sheng, an expert in organisational behaviour from Curtin\u2019s Future of Work Institute<\/a> (FOWI), says changes like these represent a paradigm shift in universities beginning to recognise the unique advantages that online study can bring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we use online tools in a way that is not fundamentally different from what we would do in a traditional classroom setting, then the benefit is marginal. But, if we open up to the opportunities these clever technologies can create, then there is much greater potential to improve the education experience,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlready, the format has given us clear advantages because students can study at their own pace. It makes accessing education less challenging for people who might have disabilities, live in remote areas or have significant personal commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working alongside her colleagues, FOWI Director Professor Mark Griffin and research fellow Dr Keyao Li, and partnering with Cisco, Optus, and La Trobe University, Sheng recently contributed to the National Industry Innovation Network<\/a>\u2019s soon-to-be released white paper, titled The future of collaborative technologies in health and education<\/i><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Dr Zitong Sheng researched the use of collaborative technologies in higher education for the new National Industry Innovation Network.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the paper, Sheng compiled existing research and interviewed senior practitioners about the use of collaborative technologies in the higher education sector, recommended best practices for using collaborative technologies and suggested areas for future technology development to create more benefits for the sector.<\/p>\n

A recommendation from the paper is that we need to explore how collaborative technologies can be used to support not just student engagement but deeper industry engagement with teaching and research.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnline collaborative technologies create a space for universities to better understand industry needs and for industry bodies to contribute to work-integrated learning. If we can better enable hands-on practice and mimic a real industry environment, education delivery will have more practical value in better preparing students for their future job. Collaborative technologies can help to merge the future of higher education into the world of work,\u201d explains Sheng.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there is the need to develop more virtual or collaborative environments like the Curtin HIVE<\/a> and the FOWI\u2019s Future Capabilities Lab<\/a> (formerly the Industrial Transformation Research Hub), where industries can come and offer training through virtual reality, holograms or a simulation of some kind.\u201d<\/p>\n