[LINK] Digital distraction: New report raises concerns about online learning

[Tom Worthington]

On 18/4/20 12:27 pm, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> ... the real question is "is it effective and/or optimal with
> respective to other mechanisms, given the circumstances and 
> constraints?"

If students are required to be physically isolated, the choices would 
seem to be limited to either distance education, or no education. Apart 
from some extreme change to classroom design, I can't think of how to 
teach students while keeping them apart.

Some Saudi-Arabian universities use partition-rooms to separate female
students from male teachers. The teacher is behind a glass wall,
and has a separate doorway to the outside of the building, so they are
never in physical contact with students. 
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2018/12/digital-technology-for-partition-rooms.html

It would be possible to take this further, and place partitions between 
the students, much the way now done with supermarket checkouts, and is 
used for examinations. However, it would be difficult to keep students, 
particularly younger ones, physically separated outside the classroom. 
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2018/06/temporary-compter-based-examination.html

Distance education online is generally as effective as face to face 
instruction. There is a body of literature on this "No Significant 
Difference" phenomenon: 
https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?as_ylo=2016&q=+%22No+Significant+Difference+Phenomenon%22+Russell&hl=en&as_sdt=1,5&as_vis=1

School systems and universities already had online distance students, so 
had content, tools and techniques. The problem was to familiarize the 
teachers and students with these, and provide access. That is relatively 
simple, compared to rebuilding classrooms.

This is not to say online study is the same as face-to-face, and 
benefits everyone equally. Dr Cathy Stone from University of Newcastle 
has produced National Guidelines for Improving Student Outcomes in 
Online Learning: 
https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CathyStone_NATIONAL-GUIDELINES-1.pdf

My online students do as well online as as in their face to face 
courses. However, these are students who chose to study this way, using 
techniques developed to keep the students studying, with courses 
designed for this, and an instructor trained to teach this way.

The world is, in effect, conducting a large scale experiment, to see if 
students forced online, with teachers having only a small amount of 
training in this mode can produce comparable results. So far it is going 
well where I teach, but that is a very well resourced university, with a 
cadre of experienced online educators, and some of whom spent years 
preparing for this emergency.

Perhaps the most useful thing which could be done right now is simplify 
the assessment system to try to counter the obsession which students, 
parents, and universities have with grades. Outside the education 
system, in the workplace, how well you did at school, or university, 
doesn't matter, as long as you passed. The vocational education system 
has long used an approach were students are assessed as "competent", or 
"not yet competent".


-- 
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au
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Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University
https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington