Online education

The pandemic has hit older populations harder than the young. Might the same be true of universities? Ellie Bothwell considers if the flexibility and agility of younger institutions made them more resilient than their longer established peers

Many UK institutions say they do not plan to return to pre-pandemic methods and will use next academic year to test new approaches

Governments have focused on building up a lavishly funded research elite, but the forced switch online has made them realise losers in this system cannot cope

Dartmouth case seen as exposing national unpreparedness for online exams that predated Covid and still needs fixing

Sustainable development expert Jeffrey Sachs also warns against rise of a ‘monopoly Amazon university’

Survey of German students finds higher levels of cheating during online exams than in on-site exams for the 2020 summer semester

UPP polling suggests criticism of universities that are sticking with digital lectures may not be entirely justified

For some students, but certainly not all, ‘this version of learning is way better than anything that existed before’

New short courses aimed at professionals come with £2,000 price tag

Calbright faces 2022 closure deadline after troubled start

Tough choices and bold strategies are needed if universities are to navigate the perilous landscape that lies ahead, argue Michael Braun and Scott Latham

Making historic ‘misrepresentations’ a reportable offence could affect even overseas study   

Complaints about essay mills peaked as online delivery concerns subsided, regulator’s report says

‘Extremely careful’ attitude reflects scepticism over vaccine roll-out, but also unexpected success of forced switch to online learning

Equity expert also highlights the risks of competitive grading and the benefits of diverse groupings

BAME scholars have relished the chance to be creators and performers in their own space, free to express themselves fully and creatively, says Jonathan Wilson

Despite evidence that images can support higher-level thinking, their application is still marginalised, say Nataša Lacković and Zoe Hurley

New assessment strategies are required to promote the types of learning needed in the 21st century, says Danny Oppenheimer

We must do more to support learners from both individualistic and collectivistic cultures, says Flower Darby

Students’ use of the website to cheat has exploded during the pandemic, according to researchers, but its legitimate uses put universities in a difficult position

In a world accustomed to beautiful, frictionless digital experiences, most online education looks like websites from the 1990s, says Louise McElvogue 

Will institutions be willing to invest in the spaces, technology and workload support required to effectively teach these methods? asks Amanda White

Profound change is in the offing for higher education, but history suggests non-Western students’ voices will not be heard, says Farish A. Noor

We do our students a disservice by not educating ourselves on disruptive technologies such as VR and machine learning, says Christine Janssen 

Students’ gravitation towards communal living may be exactly the insight we need to solve the stubborn problems of remote learning, says Carlo Ratti

All faculty endure mounting stress over online instruction, but BAME academics face an even more precarious situation, say Henrika McCoy and Madeline Y. Lee

In a good asynchronous class, students are still learning, just not in a way that produces a post-performance high for educators, says Zachary Michael Jack

Successful learning design can happen only when academics and learning designers work in partnership, says Amy Sampson

Selling ‘the uni experience’ has helped put bums on seats and cash in coffers, but now it’s providing grist for refund-seeking students, says Madeleine Davies

A video by a professor for only their class is akin to the single-copy, handwritten book disseminated to just one room of people, says David Kellermann

The pandemic brought out the best in teaching staff in many universities. Yet countervailing forces are stamping out their creativity, warns Andy Farnell

We know that employing learners as active co-creators of their learning builds opportunities for knowledge absorption, say Guy Daly and Andrew Turner

Badly designed sessions are big on waste: waste of talent, waste of concentration, waste of ability and waste of time, says Christian Gilliam

Many of us with learning disabilities struggle to process hour-long lecture recordings but pedagogical flexibility and online support offer new ways ahead, says Gemma Ahearne

Many students have not had their expectations met, but it’s unhelpful to assume this is a systemic online teaching and learning issue, says Linda Kaye

Survey for regulator finds teaching staff more likely to lack access to right technology and support compared with students, and are less confident in their skills