Welcome back to our Perspectives series.

Higher Education is changing fast, moving beyond emergency online teaching to provide a robust and satisfying student experience. As your institution plans to manage the challenges of this uncertain environment, stay aware of how others are responding. Each week we’ll share insights and discussion including student views, research, and interviews with academic leaders. Sign up for the series using the form to the right.

Scott Smith is Professor of Structural Engineering, Deputy Dean (International) in the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences (ECMS), and Interim Head of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering (CEME) at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He holds Bachelor (1994) and PhD (1999) qualifications in civil/structural engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He also holds an MBA (2018) from Imperial College London, UK, and a Graduate Certificate (2005) in higher education teaching and learning from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

I interviewed Scott to understand how the University of Adelaide are handling the transition to digital, including the support of international students, and challenges they had to overcome. Here are his answers.

How easy was it to transition to remote learning at the University of Adelaide?

The experience was really varied. For some of our teaching staff there was a steep learning curve when they had to rapidly pivot to everything online. They had an increased workload as they put in additional effort in order to get up to speed while continuing to teach their students. For example, rapidly recording lecturers and developing content that could be delivered online or learning how to offer live lectures. For others it was relatively straightforward as they had already flipped their classroom. They had already developed their skills and built up material they could use.

We found opportunities to support one another within our departments. We used virtual morning teas (facilitated by Zoom) where up to 30 of us would discuss what we were doing and why. This meant we could quickly share best practice and build our experience. It was morale boosting for us during a challenging time when colleagues needed to move outside their comfort zones and were working remotely.

I am constantly humbled by the positive attitude of my colleagues who go above and beyond in the service of their commitment to deliver quality teaching to our students. All of our staff, be that academic to professional to technical, are all to be thanked and acknowledged.


What have been the biggest challenges?

While we can deliver online teaching, assessment is a real challenge – and this is a sector-wide issue. One strategy to mitigate potential academic misconduct in assessment is to design assessment tasks that are open-ended and open-book. These are the types of problems that one is faced in industry and the resources at ones disposal. Another strategy is to design multiple exam scripts for distribution amongst the student cohort. From my own experience I was impressed by the approach to distance assessment used by the Australian Institute of Company Directors. This had three components: an assignment, a multiple choice quiz and a short answer exam. These were completed at home in a set time, with students free to choose and also allocated questions from a bank of different tasks.

Looking forward, an important question that academic leaders and faculty should be asking is ‘What is it we want our students to be able to do?’. While this is a core question at all times, it is all the more pertinent in the current environment.

We also need to consider accrediting bodies and their requirements, for example engineering and nursing qualifications include internships and practicals. Certain subjects, particularly those with practical elements, are more challenging to assess online, but also to teach remotely. For example, components of an engineering program are heavily laboratory based. Virtual laboratories may be a partial solution for some courses. We are exploring ways to work around the situation, for example using virtual tools or even mailing out kits to students.


You have a particular interest in International Students - how have they been affected?

The University of Adelaide has several thousand international students from more than 100 countries. I have been concerned about the specific impact that the crisis has had on them, especially in my Deputy Dean (International) portfolio.

• Our academic term started in March, so many were already in country. Some students chose to go home, others have stayed, either way domestic and international border closures have been worrying for them.
• Of course, the online provision should be available to both groups, regardless where they are studying, just as it is to all our students. For those who have stayed, the campus has remained open. This is important as it has given students a safe space with the facilities and support that they need, including robust wifi.
• Looking beyond the academic aspects, it is important to remember that international students will have a heightened level of anxiety and awareness, knowing that they may need to navigate unfamiliar services without their family or social support structures.
• Many international students depend on part time jobs to finance their stay. Often these are in hard hit industries such as retail. So international students may be suffering from financial worries and hardship.

These challenges will continue to have an effect even as we emerge from the height of the crisis. It is important to bring an awareness of these issues to colleagues in the faculty so they can be just a bit more aware.


What recommendations to you have for providing effective online learning?

Having studied online myself, I was able to build on my own experience from the Global Online MBA at Imperial College London. I would recommend trying to appreciate the practicalities of learning online:

• The extra amount of time that is involved, in undertaking an assessment task or simply having to print out content.
• Additional communication challenges: you can’t pop in to see your teacher or tutor face to face – you generally have to email. This increases stress levels, particularly when you don’t know when you will receive a response in cases.
• Online learning involves spending extended periods of time in front of a screen – it’s tiring and can lack the positive energy of studying alongside others.
• You need a high level of motivation to study alone.
• Remember that your students may have other commitments. Learning as a mature student I needed to balance my family, my job and studying. With more students being based at home they face the same challenges around finding time and space to study. Take a supportive approach and help them through this period.
• Online learning, however, brings multiple benefits such as convenience and time-independent access to material. Also, material that can be watched multiple times in order to extract all the needed information.

Further recommendations:

• It can be helpful to have students work in groups, thus providing academic and social support to each other. Remember that you may have international students – grouping students in the same timezone helps.
• Live lectures as well as facilitated tutorials bring students together and they are an opportunity to engage with that teacher directly. They make it easier for a student - if the lectures are all recorded the onus is on them to set aside the time to watch them.
• Allow students to fail. This is so important for formative learning.

Looking forward:

Investing effort into delivering high quality online teaching can present opportunities to universities, as well as supporting existing students. If universities are able to offer a wider range of options, such as short courses and micro-credentials, they may be able to support a different group of learners who are looking to change their career or upskill to be better placed in the new environment.

With regards to traditional students, this may be more difficult as many feel they have been forced to go online. My recommendation would be to over-communicate. Regularly seek student feedback and tweak what you can to continuously improve. Ultimately, we want to do what is best for our students and we certainly do not want to compromise their learning.

The education sector and indeed life in general is being disrupted all around the world. We will, however, eventually settle on a new equilibrium that will be different than pre-COVID. Let’s embrace this new reality and use the opportunity to innovate the sector.

About Scott:

Scott is Professor of Structural Engineering, Deputy Dean (International) in the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences (ECMS), and Interim Head of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering (CEME) at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He holds Bachelor (1994) and PhD (1999) qualifications in civil/structural engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He also holds an MBA (2018) from Imperial College London, UK, and a Graduate Certificate (2005) in higher education teaching and learning from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.