“Pedagogy is the driver, technology is the accelerator.” Michael Fullan

The rapid transition from face-to-face to distance learning and school closures due to the global health crisis have massively affected all levels of education including higher education. According to UNESCO’s global monitoring of covid-19 impact on education, about 84% of learners - from pre-primary to tertiary education level - were affected in March and April 2020. Today, in mid 2021, there are still about 174 million learners currently studying remotely as a result of the pandemic. In the academic world, online learning had been in place since much before the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, but used with much less intensity. Have we learned how to improve online learning during the pandemic?

At a time when the student experience hugely depends on technology, learning technology advisors (LTAs) have been playing a crucial role in some systems. Eurydice interviewed Learning Technology Advisor Christina Perouli who works in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the University of East London. Her responsibilities include training and mentoring university teaching staff in learning technologies and learning design.

What is the role of the Learning Technology Advisors?

To begin with, it would be good to point out that specific job titles may vary from one institution to another - ‘learning technologists’, ‘technology enhanced learning specialists’, ‘e-learning coordinators’, ‘digital learning designers’ etc.  But whatever the title they all do many things: providing consultancy, front-line support, bespoke training, contributing to research and generally leading on projects that blend sound pedagogy with cutting-edge technologies.

I can’t stress enough that we always put our students at the centre of our teaching and learning strategy with the ultimate goal to accelerate their learning journeys and their careers. We try our best to enhance our twenty-first century students with the qualities, knowledge and skills to be creatively, emotionally, socially, intellectually and culturally responsive in order to flourish in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world.

How have you been supporting university staff & students to adapt to the new reality and reach their full potential?

I think everyone would agree that the transition from face-to-face to online and/or blended learning was a steep learning curve for both university staff and students. The pandemic forced the global academic community to explore new ways of teaching and learning as face-to-face classes were closed. These new ways include the HyFlex format which combines the terms ‘hybrid’ and ‘flexible’. Synonymous terms are ‘dual’ and ‘multi delivery mode’. These formats provide students with the flexibility to decide how they wish to attend their classes and engage with material in the mode that works best for them; either in person, synchronously online, and/or asynchronously online. A HyFlex, dual or multi delivery mode makes class sessions and materials available so that students can access them online or in person, during or after class sessions.

In order to make this transition smoother, we created a self-paced blended learning course to upskill our staff in the first months of the online pivoting. Alternative assessment, principles of learning design, and technology-enabled systems were only some of the sections included.

We provided the academic staff with self-paced learning opportunities regarding tools and teaching online, alongside more team-focused activities. Specifically, we offered intensive webinars for teams of academic staff and departments, daily drop-in sessions that did not require prior registration, and any kind of guidance either in a video format or as an interactive pdf and infographic. A SharePoint page was also set up with all the latest updates and top tips to include everything under one roof, a ‘’one-stop shop’’ to eliminate confusion and save time.

We provided our students with separate training opportunities on how to support their fellow students with some basic digital skills when needed. Some of our students were trained to act as ‘’digital first aiders’’ to assist their fellow students, and especially mature students, with essential digital skills such as using Office365, accessing e-books and many more. 

Were all student and staff needs properly considered during this process of rapid change?

In the rush to cope with the shift online, the needs of students with disabilities could easily have been overlooked. However, synergies between universities and professionals in the vision, hearing and other fields have played a crucial role in providing accessible learning materials to students with disabilities and mitigating the impact of the sharp online shift. Beyond any doubt, there is still a lot of work to be done on the accessibility of online learning materials and it should be one of the top priorities of the higher education sector.

What were the main challenges throughout the online pivoting? How have you dealt with these challenges?

Everyone learned quickly about the challenges of remote learning. Staff found it difficult to motivate and engage their students online, often feeling that they were teaching in a void with cameras off and no visual feedback. 

Meanwhile, many students suffered from lack of laptops and poor bandwidth, as well as a difficulty in concentrating on teaching that had not been sufficiently adapted for the online environment. On top of this, staff and students alike were dealing as parents with home schooling, and many lacked the digital skills that were now essential. 

How did universities respond to the shortage of laptops?    

Many universities generously offered laptops to students and staff, alongside an offer of constant training and support. We work with lecturers, and keep adding interactivity to the courses as we try to increase students’ engagement. The creation of Communities of Practice (CoP) allowed peer-learning practices and activities to take place. CoP have many faces and started by sharing best practices via Microsoft Teams channels, and continued with fostering ‘’buddy’’ systems and ‘’critical’ friends” from either the same or different departments. ‘Learning lunches’ was another safe place for people to exchange their views on what works best. These actions facilitated collective reflection and saved considerable time in people’s  heavy schedules.

Do you have any advice for LTAs working at higher education institutions through this unprecedented time?

I believe it is of paramount importance for their work to be recognised and published. All this hard work and the individual experiments that have been taking place should be shared with the wider academic community, especially focusing on lessons learnt and the aspects of the models applied that have proved fruitful or less impactful.

The European Distance and e-Learning Network (EDEN) runs a comprehensive programme of events including conferences, workshops and webinars on how to effectively deliver online learning, and shares best practices. In addition to the EDEN, the Centre for Distance Education (CDE) of the University of London also runs events on topics such as inclusive online practices, digital assessment, reflections on 2020 from practitioners etc.

What was the main impact of this online shift on higher education institutions?

The online shift has definitely revealed weaknesses and strengths in the higher education sector.  Among other things, it has highlighted the vital importance of a legal requirement of accessible online learning materials, including higher and further education institutions. This obligation ensures that digital content, delivery systems and technologies are accessible for students with disabilities. The Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102) allows everyone, including people with disabilities, to perceive, understand and interact with the internet. The online shift has also exacerbated the socio-economic inequalities, as more disadvantaged students have had greater difficulties accessing digital education.

Many lecturers used to be relatively skeptical to work with education technology specialists, feeling that they already had the expertise and knowledge to work autonomously and independently. However, teaching is all about teamwork, and the global health crisis has shown that the uneasy bonds between academic staff and education technology specialists needed to be strengthened. Academic staff and education technology specialists have built up trust in each other through facing common challenges and sharing their expertise. I am very confident that this will give us the opportunity to improve the quality of teaching and learning in a post-pandemic era.

Thank you so much for sharing these reflections.

Authors: Christina Perouli, Nicole Vasiliou, David Crosier