What a week! Lots of fun stuff in the lab, on Zoom, and over email. I was happy to be able to interact with wonderful students in the lab. Tonight’s ALT 2021 session was entitled “The HigherEd4All Project: Design and delivery of accessible, inclusive full-time online degree programmes for students from under-represented groups” by Jacqueline McCormack, O’Gorman Louise, Louise Kearins, Allison Gillen, Chloe Warner-Cox and Ellen McCabe. McCormack spoke about the merging of campuses in Ireland and the online courses they offer. They support over 11,000 online learners, many working part-time! The group of underrepresented students they were focused on supporting may have care giving responsibilities, learning disability, physical disability, cost barriers, geographic location limitations, and remote workers. McCormack mentioned designing program to offer equality of access to higher education and mentioned article 24 of the UN CRPD that states people with disabilities should not be excluded. McCormack described how they did research to understand the audience and promote access. Warner-Cox worked on this research program before the pandemic. This research is part of Warner-Cox’s Ph.D., I believe, with two other students. Again, Warner-Cox described potential barriers for students to attend an in-person on campus program. For their study, Warner-Cox used an exploratory qualitative approach and thematic analysis. The interviews focused on experiences and perceptions of education, including negative experiences. Individuals may face personal barriers, financial, caregiving responsibilities, technological issues/internet connectivity, and barriers to learning online such as lack of support and employment. Caregivers may have to interrupt their studies. Participants mentioned the importance of socialization and how even online clubs can help foster a sense of belonging. Some participants, spoke about blended learning and having optional on campus days. This resonated with me! Warner-Cox found that different factors can fluctuate between being a facilitator for online education or a barrier depending on the person and experience. Participants mentioned the stress and isolation of online education, though Warner-Cox mentioned some participants mentioned professional development and wanting to learn more. Interestingly, participants gave both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to study online; this is a topic that came up today, and I am particularly interested in. Participants also mentioned a live chat option and access to alumni would be helpful when enrolling in courses. I was happy to hear/learn that some participants talked about learning digital competencies and working from home as positive aspects of online education. During the question and answer session, one audience member asked about preferences for synchronous or asynchronous learning. Warner-Cox mentioned that caregivers would like to have the option of both due to unexpected events, for example. Another question related to the amount of communication from instructors and if participants requested less. Warner-Cox spoke that following up and checking-in with students was important and requested by online learners. As the session chair Louise Green mentioned: “loads to think about here!” This session also gives me hope that the online BIT 410/510 section is not a temporary “fix” or “trend,” but an improvement to offer access and flexibility.
A second session we watched was entitled “Using ePortfolio to support student belonging and wellbeing in the post-Covid HEI context” with Ruth Payne and Sarah Copeland. I had heard about PebblePad before in another ALT 2021 session and wanted to learn more about this! The University of Leeds was looking into a way to improve community and collaboration, embracing diversity, and “raising a sense of belonging.” Payne spoke about how the pandemic caused a refocusing on student experience and wellbeing. They started to look at how PebblePad would be used on their campus and how to include tutorials. They were looking to refresh personal tutoring and wanted a student-led agenda. I had not thought about how tutoring/advising had been affected by the pandemic. Copeland talked about the benefits of an institutional approach and the process to make sure the students AND staff get the most out of the implementation of software. As we discussed software for the campus this week, this session helped me think how we can involve advisors and staff in the process, not only researchers. In particular, our fantastic librarians will be an essential part of supporting the initiative we are planning. One question asked by the audience was if student leaders were part of the purchasing process. Payne mentioned student voice was part of every step of the process. This is an example of what we need to set as a priority and goal for this next software purchase.
