A Balancing Act: on Campus or Remote Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment?

Lucian Tipi, Head of Teaching and Learning Enhancement, Sheffield Hallam University

Lucian Tipi, Head of Teaching and Learning Enhancement, Sheffield Hallam University

Lockdown is over! That is the slogan I have very recently read on a sticker on one of my colleagues’ laptop. That is all good and fine and we are all glad for it, but what does this mean for us in the Higher Education sector? It’s been a hard 2.5 years and there are after effects. The most obvious after effect for me is the question of how to approach teaching, learning and assessment, having invested heavily in technology and training for our academics in the recent couple of years.

Let us look at what our students and our colleagues tell us, surely, there are answers to be found there? Except that our students are as polarised as our academics and professional services colleagues. About a third of our students would be very happy to continue to student online for all days to come. Their reasons vary from saving money on accommodation and commuting, to having a day job to make ends meet or needing to be carers. Another third of our students, would be very happy not have another zoom teaching session or online assessment again. They work much better in a community of people that they have met face to face and have formed good relationships with. The final third of the students are much more ambivalent, being open to on campus, in person teaching learning and assessment as well as the same taking place online. There is a split here through between the UK home and international students, with international students preferring very much a face to face approach – after all they have not travelled in some cases thousands of miles to be stuck in a hall of residence without the ability to experience people and life in the UK. Another issue for many international students is that of how they understand assessment, in particular examinations. For them, if an exam does not take place face to face, on campus, it feels that it’s not important and issues of academic integrity may creep in.

Asking the staff community about their preferences, it transpires that about two thirds of staff would prefer to work from home 2-3 days per week. This preference is driven by a multitude of factors including concerns about Covid, the realisation that substantial money savings can be made by spending more time at home and the ability to manage personal and family lives much better. However, academics have themselves invested a lot of time and effort into upskilling themselves and therefore do not want that investment to go to waste by returning to the old ways of on campus delivery. A balance needs to be struck, with screen fatigue and blurring of boundaries between home and work life being significant issues that need to be managed. Generally productivity through the increased use of online activity has gone up, but so have the levels of tiredness and inability to disconnect reported by HE staff.

"Most of the teaching sessions are now recorded, while taking place on campus. Coursework assessments will not be submitted on reams of printed papers anymore but will remain in a digital format"

The thoughts and evidence above are the theory of course. But what are we actually going to do in 2022-2023? To answer this question I thought that I would do some first-hand recon. Therefore, I have spent the last few days on campus to try and get a sense of where we are at. I was very pleased to see that our campus is swarming with both students and staff. On campus catering outlets are as busy as I have known. Academics have requested timetables that focus primarily on face to face on campus activity and assessment (including exams). The students union has organised a plethora of on campus activity, they are keen to make up for the lost time and opportunities that were not available last academic year. Some our professional services colleagues, that do not have student facing roles are very happy to carry on working from home though, via online.

Let me offer another example, this is very close to me personally. My daughter is in year 2 of her course now and she can compare what is taking place this year with 2021-2022. She can’t stop raving about how much she enjoys all of her in person sessions and how much better they are when compared to last years’. Opportunities to meet and befriend colleagues from her very large cohort are aplenty and welcome. Meeting many of her tutors for the first time in person allows for “real” relationships to form, leading to a different dynamic of teaching and learning. Many of her assessments will also be face to face, on campus, she prefers them that way.

What does all of this tell us then? Are we largely throwing online teaching, learning and assessment out of the window? Not really. Online becomes now part and parcel of our HE activity, but takes on an augmentation role, not necessarily the lead. For example, many of our teaching sessions are now recorded, while taking place on campus. Coursework assessment will not be submitted on reams of printed papers anymore, but will remain in a digital format. There are many meetings that will be carried out online (including with our students) as it is more convenient for all to remain as such (e.g. drop-ins, some academic advising sessions, some student support sessions).

However, creating relationships and communities of staff and students as well as improving staff-student partnerships is best done in person. Where interaction and spontaneity is needed, in person, on campus work best. All concerned in a face to face, on campus, setting, can enjoy activities such as creative assessment more. After all, we are social beings by excellence!