Will Digital Delivery Remake Higher Education? (It Depends Who You Ask)

Will Digital Delivery Remake Higher Education? (It Depends Who You Ask)

Even before March 2020 and the arrival of Covid-19 in the US, digital education was gaining momentum in colleges and universities. In many of them that momentum was reserved, like dipping your toes in the water. In May 2020, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) classified institutions of higher education with less than 3% of their courses online as Digital Newcomers.^1* For these digital novices, the LMS and its online syllabus-feature provided the bulk of their students’ digital exposure.

Emerging Adopters are the next tier of digital-ready higher ed; these schools have basic digital tools in use and some departments delivering online content. These are the schools that have waded a little further into the digital waters by also using online homework and e-books.

The swimmers of the digital realm are the Advanced Institutions, with the University of Michigan held up as an example. Schools where the digital infrastructure is in place and in use, with lots of options available and a faculty well versed in online teaching.

And it looks like more schools will be swimming in the Advanced realm soon enough, after years of gentle wading. “Evolution in the higher education ecosystem happens through ‘punctuated equilibrium’, long periods of relatively slow change interspersed with occasional moments of rapid adaptation.”^2** And Covid was our rapid adaptation.

Digital Delivery Methods

Let’s look at some of the digital methods and tools at your disposal. When you should use them and why. And to simplify the discussion let’s focus on general education courses.

Synchronous Versus Asynchronous

• Synchronous—learning happening online in real time.
  • Could be video conferencing (audio and video), teleconferencing (audio with no video) live streaming (content is not first recorded), chatting (text with no audio or video).
  • Pros: the immediate feedback and feeling of community you can get with face-to-face interactions.
  • Cons: loss of instruction that can occur with bandwidth issues or technical difficulties since sessions are live, and learning by appointment, which requires students to connect at a specified time regardless of whether they want to be or can be.
  • Reasons to use include lectures, office hours, group work, reviews, quizzing, testing.
• Asynchronous—digital learning happening on the student’s time.
  • Could be pre-recorded video, self-guided lessons, online discussion boards, social media, online libraries, lecture notes, quizzing, and testing.
  • Pros: the opportunity to focus on the work when it’s convenient to the student and the ability to re-watch, re-listen, and re-read study material as needed.
  • Cons: a loss of comradery with classmates and feelings of “learning in a vacuum” where students might be more inclined to miss or misinterpret something.
  • Reasons to use include lectures, reviews, practice, quizzing, testing.

HyFlex as an Alternative to all Digital ^3***

• Every component of a class is offered live in person, synchronously online, and asynchronously online.Some students can choose to attend class in person while others may prefer to attend online. Or students may be assigned to switch between in-person and live online learning so that everyone gets the chance to do both together.
• Pros: students may choose an option that best serves their needs or teachers can assure that all students get the personalization of some in-class time.
• Cons: technology and an instructor’s comfort using technology plays a huge part in this configuration for the teacher to be able to interact with everyone live fairly equally.
• Reasons to use include accommodating student schedules and travel issues, and emergency events that prevent some students from attending class.

Hybrid as an Alternative to All Digital

• Some component(s) is done in person and the other component(s) is done asynchronously online.
  • Could be traditional model of meeting for lecture/lab.
    • Prepping for class and/or assessments can be done online.
    • Lecture can be live in-person.
  • Could be studio model of meeting for group work.
    • Online prepping takes the place of the lecture.
    • In-person class time is spent as a collaborative affair with projects turned in in class or online afterwards.
• Pros: most college students say they want some campus time and the hybrid model allows instructors to choose which portion of the student experience is best served by in-person attendance.
• Cons: planning is key so that in-person is maximized and everything else is done online.
• Reasons to use include it’s the most flexible approach to learning. It can be adjusted to all digital if the situation requires—let’s say a wildfire or hurricane closes school for a week—not unheard of, is it? and then back to hybrid when the time is right.

Videos

• Can be synchronous or asynchronous.
• Pros: Allows for the best talent to present the information and for better or worse are a favorite learning tool of Generation Zers. Some pre-recorded or live recorded material can be re-used for years, ultimately saving instructors time and energy.
• Cons: Videos without more is passive learning that may not sink in as well as if the student was following up with activities and practice questions. And prep time required (including practice) to make a good video may require time the instructor is struggling to find.
• Reasons to use include standardization—all students in all sections see the same material and the extra attention that goes into planning and rehearsing a video production should up the quality of the content as well.

Assessments

• Quizzing
  • Can be uploaded and downloaded, synchronous or asynchronous.
  • Can be ungraded, auto graded, or teacher graded and depending on the platform may be able to be set to one attempt, last attempt, timed attempt or unlimited attempts.
  • Some platforms offer 20+ question types including algorithmic (different questions for different students), partial credit, and more interactive questions like drag and drop, HTML.
  • Some platforms allow for answers to be given instantly, after a set time, or after a set event.
  • Some platforms integrate into the LMS and the instructor’s gradebook.
  • Pros: Versatility of assessment types, settings, and auto grading provides flexibility for student and teacher and saves grading time.
  • Cons: Some platforms can auto grade, at least certain question types, but essays still require at least some time to personally grade.
  • Reasons to use include auto grading—saving time, and metrics generated–allowing instructors to catch problem questions, focus attention on problem concepts, and intercept students having difficulty with the course before it’s too late.
• High Stakes Testing
  • More comprehensive measure of a student’s understanding that can be administered digitally either synchronously or asynchronously.
    • Synchronously using webcams, monitoring services like Respondus.
    • Asynchronously using settings that reveal tests at certain times and force submittal at certain times; reveal grades automatically or at a time pre-determined by the instructor, (like after everyone has submitted their answers).
  • Pros: No need for the instructor or students to show up for exams and tests can be administered to a larger audience over a larger geographic area than in person. Auto grading, the group grading and essay assists available on some platforms, and no need to lug around, grade, and return paper.
  • Cons: concerns about cheating which can be mitigated but not eliminated through algorithmic questions, grade reveal delay, and security procedures and the logistics involving synchronous testing to monitor students.
  • Reasons to use include eliminating paper waste, benefitting from technology to make the experience more convenient for students and teachers, alternative to on-site testing roadblocks.

The array of electronic options now available has never been so diverse. How to best use them? With the rush to online learning in 2020, many instructors may still be operating on autopilot, having not yet hit on the perfect blend of in-person and digital instruction for their course. Schools are reassessing their budgets and looking for ways to streamline class offerings and save money while also increasing their top line. And students have their own strong opinions about how they like to learn—what works for them and what doesn’t. Every school will have to keep swimming in the digital waters to stay competitive and relevant.

Think of a University Like Netflix.^4****

Courses can be live or on demand, interactive, with recorded content released simultaneously or per schedule. Which Netflix-like digital options will best serve you and your students?

 

Contact Us (419-733-7951) For More Information!

—

Van-Griner Learning

Van-Griner Learning is a  full-service, affordable, publisher of digital and print solutions. We unlock the power of publishing by designing affordable digital and print solutions to meet your specific needs. We provide Labs, Textbooks, Worktext, Homework, OER, Readers, Courseware and more!
> Learn More

 

___________________________________________________

^1*“Higher Ed Needs a Long-Term Plan for Virtual Learning,” Harvard Business Review, by James DeVaney, Gideon Shimshon, Matthew Rascoff, and Jeff Maggioncalda (May 5, 2020.) https://hbr.org/2020/05/higher-ed-needs-a-long-term-plan-for-virtual-learning

^2**“Higher Ed Needs a Long-Term Plan for Virtual Learning,” Harvard Business Review, by James DeVaney, Gideon Shimshon, Matthew Rascoff, and Jeff Maggioncalda (May 5, 2020.) https://hbr.org/2020/05/higher-ed-needs-a-long-term-plan-for-virtual-learning

^3*** “Fall Scenario #13: A HyFlex Model,” Inside Higher Ed, by Edward Maloney and Joshua Kim (May 10, 2020.) https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/fall-scenario-13-hyflex-model

^4**** (“Will Covid-19 Save Higher Ed?”, Forbes, by Vihjay Gurbaxani (June 3, 2020.) https://www.forbes.com/sites/vijaygurbaxani/2020/06/30/covid-19-save-higher-education/?sh=5e8868be1ac3