GUEST POST: The Lasting Impact of Lockdown on Higher Education

By Eleanor Dommett

Dr Eleanor Dommett is an academic on the BSc Psychology Programme at King’s College London. Her research interests include the perceived impact and value of using technologies to support learning in higher education.

Back in March 2020, Covid-19 hit higher education hard. Access to university campuses was restricted, which triggered a sector-wide emergency pivot to the delivery of all teaching, including lectures, online.

Two years on, what longer-term impact have lockdowns and restrictions had on the sector?

Much media and government attention has been centered on whether universities are largely continuing to deliver teaching online, or if conventional teaching, most notably lectures, have returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, the situation is much more nuanced than this.

In reality, many universities were already offering students a mix of face-to-face and online learning well before any of us had even heard of Covid-19. Although the wider adoption of more blended teaching models was generally regarded as fairly slow (1), progress was being made. By November 2020, a report (2) published by JISC, the not-for-profit suppliers of technology to further and higher education, suggested that blended learning was widely considered to be the future for the sector.

More recently, myself and a group of academic colleagues conducted a study (3, funded by Echo360, a video learning and engagement platform) in which teaching staff from 30 UK universities were asked what they thought the post-pandemic lecture should look like. Interestingly, many reported that the adjustments to teaching they had made during lockdown to better suit the online learning environment had enhanced students’ learning experience overall. Given this, there was a widespread view that many of the strategies introduced to support online learning through the pandemic should be retained once restrictions were lifted and students returned to campuses.

Outlined below are some of the key areas highlighted in the study that if adopted more broadly, could transform the traditional face-to-face lecture for many years to come.

Smaller groups, shorter sessions

Prior to lockdown, many lecturers were already familiar with the challenge of keeping large groups of students in stadium-style seating engaged in what they were learning. This was no different once lectures moved online as students were often equally reluctant to actively participate in large groups brought together in digital spaces.

Lecturers reported (3) that students found it more helpful being taught in much smaller groups. Techniques such as online breakout rooms and collaborative activities were used to keep students engaged and this reportedly also increased understanding. The conventional one-hour lecture was chunked up into smaller bite-sized sessions of around 20 minutes each too.

Smaller group teaching in shorter bursts was reported as a much more effective way to keep students engaged when they are learning remotely, and this approach could have a similar impact as more teaching takes place in person. Universities could still provide opportunities for collaborative problem-solving online too, which could benefit students, whether they are learning physically on campus or remotely.

Increased interaction

Lecturers reported being much more likely to incorporate quizzing and polling into lectures being delivered online during the emergency pivot, even if they had not used them as extensively before (3). Chat channels were widely embraced too, as they allowed tutors to communicate with those students learning at a distance.

One of the key advantages of using these tools was that students could ask and respond to questions anonymously. This meant they were less likely to remain silent and more inclined to attempt a response or flag confusion as they were outside the direct gaze of their peers.

Some lecturers use quizzing and polling tools really effectively in face-to-face sessions to create more interactive learning opportunities and assess students’ understanding of a topic as it is covered.

This approach may become much more widely adopted as tutors have generally become accustomed to using these technologies in the last couple of years.

Extending the use of video

Video was often far more widely used to support the online teaching taking place during lockdown than it had been before according to the lecturers who responded to the study (3). Many expected this to become much more standard practice.

Most likely to be retained was the use of video for pre-recorded lectures which were used to deliver the more didactic aspects of teaching, in line with the flipped learning model. Academics regarded this as an effective way to ensure the time students spend physically with their tutors and peers can be reserved for digging deeper into more complex concepts and subject matter.

The study underlined a pressing need to provide more flexible study options on a longer-term basis to allow students to plan their learning around work, home life, and caring responsibilities beyond the pandemic. As a result, recordings of scheduled lectures used by students for revision (or studying) purposes or to catch up on sessions they may have missed were considered to be an element that should be kept, despite some resistance to videoed lectures pre-pandemic.

Another reported priority for academics was the provision of captioning on recorded content. This was mainly driven by the desire for all video resources to be inclusive and accessible. Students appreciate having access to captions and transcripts, for example when courses include complex technical language, and they are particularly helpful for those with special educational needs or English as an additional language.

A fresh approach to higher education

A staggering 44% (4) of all 18-year-olds applied to enter higher education in January 2022 according to the latest figures from the UCAS universities admissions service – that’s the highest number of school-leavers ever recorded.

The recent study (3) seems to suggest there is little appetite amongst academics for a return to the conventional didactic lecture and a clear desire to move to a more blended learning model. It seems that the experience of teaching through lockdown could therefore have a significant and lasting impact on higher education in 2022 and beyond.

References
(1) Schneckenberg, D. (2009). Understanding the real barriers to technology-enhanced innovation in higher education. Educational Research, 51(4), 411–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131880903354741

(2) Maguire, D., Dale, L., & Pauli, M. (2020). Learning and teaching reimagined: A new dawn for higher education? Jisc. https://repository.jisc.ac.uk/8150/1/learning-and-teaching-reimagined-a-new-dawn-for-higher-education.pdf

(3) Robson, L. Gardner, B. and Dommett, E.J. (2022). The post-pandemic lecture: views from academic staff across the UK. Education Sciences, 12(2). 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12020123

(4) Adams, R. (2022, February 16) Rise in university applications from UK 18-year-olds, figures show. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/feb/17/rise-in-university-applications-from-uk-18-year-olds-figures-show