Abstract:
Closed campuses, working remotely, and physical distancing have changed the way we work, teach, learn, shop, attend conferences, and interact with family and friends. But the Covid-19 pandemic has not changed what we know about creating high-end online education. Two decades of research has shown that online education often fails to fulfill its promise, and the emergency shift to remote instruction has, for many, justified their distrust and dislike of online learning. Low interactivity remains a widely recognized short-coming of current online offerings. Low interactivity results, in part, from many faculty not feeling comfortable being themselves online. The long-advocated for era of authentic assessments is needed now more than ever. Finally, greater support is needed for both underrepresented students and for faculty to move beyond basic online instruction to create a strong continuum of care between the teaching and learning environment and the student support infrastructure. For those who have been long-term champions of online education, it has never been more important to confront the three biggest challenges that continue to haunt online education – interactivity, authenticity, and support. Only by confronting these challenges squarely can instructors, educational developers, and their institutions take huge steps towards better online instruction in the midst of a pandemic and make widespread, high-quality online education permanently part of the “new normal.”
Introduction
Traditional lectures, especially when given to large audiences, are characterized by a prevalent passivity of students as well as reduced interactions between the lecturer and the audience. For some years, research has been devoted to exploring how new media can be harnessed to support and promote collaborative activities in large learning groups. Prominent applications or systems that have gained much attention include social media such as Wikis, Twitter and Facebook for (informal) information exchange [Siemens, 05], as well as Audience Response Systems (ARS) for playfully assessing students' retention and attention during lectures.
On the other side, investigation of the capabilities of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) led to the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) capable of providing several ten thousands of learners with access to courses over the web [McAuly, 10]. MOOCs have recently gained much attention especially in the US and are now often considered a highly promising form of academic teaching [Pappano, 12]. While the figures are impressive, MOOCs have yet to become subject to sharp debates criticizing among other the educational approach, vague business models, and the very drop off of MOOCs attendees. However controversial MOOCs may be, they strikingly show the potential of social and/or new media to fundamentally change higher education. (Face-to-face) Lectures may no longer primarily serve the purpose of disseminating information, which can be easily retrieved from Wikis or online courses at any time. They may instead focus on the deeper elaboration of learning materials, albeit in large groups, putting high demands on interactions among learners as well as faculty and scholars.