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Sunday, 14 November 2021

Combining three ways to deliver more flexible HE learning


By: Holly Hapke 

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211026114337414

The global picture of higher education is a complex one and students in different parts of the world have had very different experiences of starting or returning to study at university this year.

In some regions, campuses have opened their doors and welcomed all students back to face-to-face learning, with little or no restriction on movement. In other countries, a mix of in-person and remote learning continues as institutions attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Few education professionals would want to imagine a scenario where bringing students together in one teaching space is simply not an option. Group activities give students the chance to work collaboratively and share their views on the subjects they are learning about.

However, it is possible to take steps to ensure that the students who are unable to physically attend in person, for whatever reason, don’t miss out.

The answer is an effective blended learning strategy. Supported with the right technology, this approach can help universities to ensure exciting and engaging learning can continue, wherever their students happen to be.

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Thursday, 11 November 2021

Contact or online? Moving away from binary approaches

Professor Ruksana Osman, University of the Witwatersrand


SOUTH AFRICA

The coronavirus pandemic has presented us with an opportunity to hit the reset button – to reorganise, intentionally redesign and rethink teaching and learning as we know it.

COVID-19 has disrupted and displaced current orthodoxies, providing an opening to fundamentally reshape the relationship between teacher, student and content, both within the academy and broader society.

The emergency response to the pandemic highlighted technological and digital inequality, and at the same time presented opportunities to explore permeable boundaries between contact, online and distance teaching and learning, and the potential that this permeability allows.

Unfortunately, many in the higher education sector simplify this transition and surmise that, as we think of our return to campus, we have only two options from which to choose – contact or in-person teaching and learning, or virtual online options.

In this piece, I argue that we need to move away from this binary approach, consider our contextual realities, and start with the end goal in mind.