Maria Toledo, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK

Alison Mostyn, School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.119.22

The exponential growth of computer power, combined with the development of mobile technology and fast speed broadband has led to our increased use (and often dependence) of online platforms in every aspect of our life, higher education (HE) including teaching, learning and assessment (TLA). As with other radical changes, initially there was a very cautious (and often reticent) use of online-technologies to deliver and assess learning. However, in recent years more and more academics are embracing their use to support and enhance HE. Covid-19, has been the catalyst for almost universal use of online technology for every single aspect of our HE. 

Below we’ll briefly describe some of the different platforms that are enabling the delivery of HE under “lockdown”. Although some of these platforms are relatively recent, they have been used before Covid-19 and will continue to be used afterwards. Our hope is that we all reflect and build upon positive experiences during our “crash-course” of online teaching and continue using these technologies to streamline our HE and management post-Covid-19. We believe this will improve our student experience while ensuring a manageable staff workload through what will be a challenging time in the HE sector. 

Delivery of content

For centuries, HE teaching has relied heavily on didactic classroom learning where information was transmitted from teacher to student, often as long monologues. The development of online video platforms has enabled lecture recording and online distribution, allowing students to learn anywhere at any time. This is particularly important for students on courses with a placement component or caring responsibilities – allowing flexible access to learning. Platforms such as Echo360, which uses universal capture, do not require specialised equipment, thus enabling lecture recording from most laptops by a couple of clicks. Additional features in Echo360, such as in-class polling and confusion flags facilitate student engagement and active learning. 

Pre-Covid-19 most academics used Echo360 to record the lectures delivered in class, so that students could access them during revision. Additionally, students with specific learning differences benefited from the ability to pause and rewind the recording when needed, so that they could process all the information at an appropriate pace. In the past, some lecturers were reluctant to record lectures as they feared it would result in lower attendance. However, our personal experience indicates a slight drop in attendance but no impact upon attainment.  

Post-Covid-19, academics have relied solely on Echo360 and other lecture capture technologies to deliver their teaching. Fortunately, many of us had been already using these tools to complement our face-to-face teaching enabling a seamless transition into “Covid-19 lecturing” where students virtually attended, at the pre-Covid-19 scheduled time/date, lectures delivered from the “comfort” of our kitchen table or home office.  

Echo360 lecture capture might not be the solution for everyone, as it is not supported by relatively old computers and/or some institutions might not be able to afford the costs. Alternatives for lecture capture are PowerPoint with narration and Microsoft (MS)Teams meetings (see below). 

Learning Management systems (LMS) for e-learning delivery, managements and assessment

Lecture delivery is only one way to transfer information to students. LMS, such as Moodle or Canvas, have been widely used in HE for management, content delivery and assessment of courses. A well-structured module LMS guides students through their learning in the intended order with information on sequencing and timing and contact details. LMS can work as a one-stop-shop for material relevant to a course (from lecture recording and slides, to videos, reading material or links to relevant resources). The material can be uploaded and accessed anytime from anywhere. LMS also allows staff to monitor student’s attendance and engagement, while online forums enable dialogue between students and staff. Finally, LMS enable material to be archived, therefore allowing the re-use of resources by academics and access to previous year’s content to students repeating a year as external candidates. During lockdown, HE educators are heavily relying on LMS to manage content delivery and assessment. 

Assessment 

Arguably, one of the most challenging tasks of online teaching and learning is assessment. While more and more universities are embracing online submission and marking of coursework, exams are more challenging.

LMS such as Moodle or Canvas enable submission, similarity checks and marking of coursework anywhere. Marking can be achieved using rubrics (with automation if required) and feedback can be provided as text, “quick-marks” as well as verbally recorded. Upload of marks can be automated to excel or University administration systems, potentially reducing workload and avoiding human error. Moreover, when combined with plagiarism checkers such as Turnitin, markers have the advantage of knowing whether the work is genuinely novel. 

Administration of timed exams pose more of a challenge than written assessments. Rogo (open source project) is an e-assessment tool which can be used to hold a bank of questions, set, run and mark exams. Rogo offers a wide range of question types including multiple choice questions (MCQ), true/false, extended matching and short answer, with the benefit of automated marking for many. In terms of quality assurance, external examiners can access, check and comment virtually on papers, first and second marking can be audited and post-exam analysis such as frequency and discrimination is available.  Observed Structured Clinical Exams (OSCE) are used widely in medicine, health and applied human sciences courses – usually to assess a specific practical or clinical skill; the administration of these online is incredibly challenging as they may rely on simulated patients, laboratory equipment and close observation by an examiner. Several pay-per-use tools exist for OSCE and MCQs including Practique, Maxexam and Speedwell. 

Engaging with students through quizzes, polls and surveys 

An important part of teaching and particularly of active learning is the monitoring of student’s understanding and engagement in activities that will enable them to practice what they learn and solve problems using the knowledge acquired.  While there are some low-tech options to enable this such as show of hands or asking students to answer in post-its and stick them on a wall, online technologies are more powerful, versatile and may overcome some of the issues of face-to-face communication. Students who are anxious about speaking out in face-to-face classes may be more comfortable posting questions in an online forum. Multiple platforms enable quizzing students. Echo360 has a built-in polling feature, however it requires some time to become comfortable with the technology and certain animations, images and equations do not transfer well from PowerPoint Echo360 polls. Socrative enables students to submit short answers anonymously to questions set by the lecturer. Kahoot is an app widely used in secondary education and thus highly familiar to undergraduate students. The app “puts the fun in the test” by allowing running pub-like quizzes where students choose the correct answer as quickly as possible. Mentimeter is an interactive presentation software which enables staff to run quizzes as part of a presentation, analyse the results and even create word clouds with the answers. Using these applications along with the lecture, helps the lecturer gauge how much the students have understood of the material taught so far, and whether some aspects need further explanation. Moreover, our experience suggests that students seem to be much more involved when their feedback is anonymous. Slido enables interactive Q&A and live poll sessions, where students can anonymously send their questions to the class or the lecturer. The survey software, Polly, can be embedded within MS Teams and used to run real-time polls. Most LMS will also have quiz options to embed within learning – for example, Moodle offers several question types which can be used within a quiz and marked automatically. A benefit of using quizzes embedded within an LMS is the ability to monitor student activity and understanding of a topic. Peerwise, a free online platform,  enables students to create, evaluate and share practice MCQs thus helping them with revision and consolidation of the learned material. Finally, Microsoft Office Forms enables staff and lecturers to collect information in a fast and efficient way, making them ideal for running student surveys. Most of these apps are free or have a free version that can be used for a limited number of students and/or questions. 

Student wellbeing and sense of community 

The Covid-19 lockdown and social distancing have taken a toll on the mental wellbeing of many students and staff, with some feeling isolated and cut-off from their daily routines that motivated their learning. Video-conferencing apps (such as MS Teams, Zoom or Skype) can be used to boost student wellbeing and bolster a sense of community through virtual classes, tutorials and meetings with welfare officers and university counsellors. They also have enabled seamless continuation of External Circumstances panels or Disciplinary Procedures during lockdown.  

While lecture capture enables students to “be present” at a lecture, students often don’t feel the same sense of community that when they can see (and feel) their peers sitting in the lecture room. This can be resolved by combining video-conferencing tools, online data sharing and small-group work. Tasks can be assigned to small groups of students as part of a learning activity, where each group meets virtually to complete a task and then reports back the class at a virtual town-hall meeting. 

We should remember that building and maintaining a sense of community will be particularly critical during autumn 2020, when it is expected that many courses will start as online-only or blended learning.  

MS Teams the unexpected “Covid-19 must-have accessory”

While not designed exclusively for teaching and learning, MS Teams is being widely used by HE to enable seamless running of the day to day management activities, such as meetings, tutorials, live teaching, document sharing and team working. Small group teaching can be facilitated through MS Teams channels, private groups can be created within a team to enable staff organisation and discussion. Live teaching can be conducted using the “share screen” option and students can engage in the live session by virtually raising their hands or asking questions in the chat column. An MS Teams page for a module can contain links to the LMS, have embedded video, polls and undertake assessment. The nature of communication within MS Teams is similar to chat functions on social media platforms, which can appeal to Generation Z students who find email slow and formal. Anecdotally, students are less likely than staff to switch on their videos in Teams, which can feel isolating for the member of staff delivering the session.  

Note of caution, beware of burnout 

Online learning technologies are a huge blessing for HE during the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling delivery, management and assessment of teaching while the nation is under lockdown. However, the 24/7 nature of these technologies and the increasingly blurred lines between work and home life while Universities are closed means that they can easily become a curse to our mental wellbeing. It is important to set boundaries, ensuring we take regular breaks from work and try to avoid “Zoom fatigue”. 

Final thoughts 

Some of us might struggle with the technology or the thought of teaching without face-to-face contact, however, we should remember that millennials and particularly Generation Z (the majority of our student population) do not know a time without smartphones and social media. The digital native generations are video-centric, with technology playing an important role in their social interactions. Thus, the move to digital learning during lockdown may feel less awkward to them than staff who are “boomers” or Generation X. However, while many of our students may be digitally transformed, we must consider mature students, widening participation and those with protected characteristics. Are our online learning tools accessible to all? This will be a crucial consideration going forward into the next academic year.      

Finally, the Covid-19 experience can be used to improve future teaching. There are many positive anecdotal examples to build upon, with students and staff saying that take-home exams are a better learning experience than timed exams. Moreover, we have seen that HE, a sector often viewed as “change-phobic”, can be considerably agile when needed, with most HE institutions moving to 100% online teaching within two weeks. Thus, let’s use what we have learnt during this experience to boost HE and student experience when we return to face-to-face teaching.  

Maria Toledo is Assistant Professor at the School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham. She mainly teaches neuroscience students and is the Lead Senior Tutor for the School. Her current interests are boosting student’s mental resilience and preparing students for a future workplace, which might be different to the one we experience today.

Alison Mostyn is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences. She mostly teaches pharmacology to qualified health care professionals, as part of a non-medical prescribing course. She became the Deputy Director of Education and Student Experience in March 2020. She has interests in assessment, digital learning and inclusive teaching.