Going the Distance

The last 18 months have seen the most remarkable changes in the experience of higher education students and staff across the globe. Amidst the uncertainty, the Centre for Distance Education at the University of London has been hugely involved in supporting students, staff and systems to meet the needs of learning and assessment in these strained times.

Globally, the pandemic resulted in higher education shifting online or completely stopping as it took hold in spring 2020. Lockdowns left hundreds of millions of learners without access to their campuses, their teachers, their libraries, labs and studios. It also affected the delivery of examinations. Much teaching shifted online, but not in all locations and not for all students – particularly where digital infrastructure and access to equipment and internet meant learners and staff could not access digital spaces.

Minimising impact

For the 50,000 students in over 200 countries studying by distance with the University of London, there was much in place to limit the impact of lockdowns on student learning. The University of London digital library, with over 100 million objects, remained available to our students and, for many, was a source of inspiration, information and knowledge. The virtual learning environments, online tutors, support staff and student experience officers all continued to deliver their services. This was despite staff and students having to work or study from home, often whilst looking after children or dealing with other caring responsibilities.

Students studying at Recognised Teaching Centres (RTCs) faced campus closures and the Centre for Distance Education (CDE) was pleased to help teaching and student support staff in the RTCs to develop online and distance approaches, through bespoke workshops, training events and provision of resources. In fact, CDE resources to support online teaching were so successful they were adopted by Scotland’s Quality Assurance Agency, UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning, as well as at institutions across the UK and Europe.

Adapting to change

One of the most significant changes for our students was the move to online timed assessment in summer 2020. At the point when the pandemic struck, closing examinations centres across the world, we had some 35,000 students registered to take almost 110,000 examinations in 23 time-zones. The University mobilised a significant project to move the planned pen and paper examinations online and we saw an improved level of engagement with the assessments – up by 8 per cent, with 93 per cent of assessments going ahead in 2020, compared with 2019. Seventy-nine per cent of students reported that their exams had enabled them to demonstrate their learning and there was no overall detriment to pass rates. We completed a similarly large-scale online timed assessment schedule during summer 2021, again serving about 35,000 students. The CDE has worked closely with students, teaching staff, examiners, delivery teams and technology leads to support a detailed evaluation of the move to online assessment to help us further develop our approaches.

The 15th in the CDE’s acclaimed annual conference series Research in Distance Education (RIDE) was held wholly online this year and took place over three days in June 2021, with the overall theme of Learning through Disruption. Building on the work of the Centre during the pandemic, we took the opportunity to focus our programme on three key themes: student experience and student engagement; redesigning assessment; and rethinking learning and teaching.

We brought together an international panel of experts and practitioners who explored the innovation, opportunities and challenges faced by the higher education sector in delivering education during a pandemic. You can read more about the conference and view the videos on the University’s website.

The future of online education

As noted by Professor Neil Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Digital Transformation at the University of Leeds and keynote speaker during our Rethinking Learning and Teaching focused day, ‘the higher education sector in the UK is home to world-leading researchers in digital and distance education’ and many are Fellows of the Centre for Distance Education. During the pandemic, students and educators have learnt a great deal about the ways in which high-quality online education can support engagement, learning and success. Students value the opportunities digital education provides for them to manage their learning and develop their skills for work, but universities everywhere have seen how challenging it can be to deliver effective distance education and a high-quality student experience.

As the world’s oldest distance education provider and with extensive expertise, including in the CDE, the University of London continues to take the lead in innovating for our global classrooms with new programmes, outstanding student support, and innovation in approaches to learning, teaching and assessment. We look forward to continuing to lead in meeting the challenges of the next few years, in which the higher education sector will move forward into the digital age.

About the Centre
The Centre for Distance Education (CDE) is made up of fellows from the University’s 17 Member Institutions and other higher education institutions in the UK. Acting as a community of practice, the Centre promotes collaboration and knowledge-sharing and provides a focus for the development of high-quality teaching, innovation and research in online and distance learning. CDE engages with research and innovation in flexible distance teaching, learning and assessment; delivers training, and hosts workshops and webinars.

Dr Linda Amrane-Cooper is Head of the Centre for Distance Education at the University of London.