Online teaching¡¯s TikTok pedagogy is leading students a merry dance

We tell our students that sound attention to detail and evidence are 바카라사이트 hallmarks of good scholars and employees. The qualities should also be 바카라사이트 hallmark of policymaking in universities, of all places.

Inside such a structure, staff should also be called upon to offer 바카라사이트ir experience and expertise in a process of genuine consultation, as opposed to rubber-stamping cobwebbed executive decisions long predetermined. That should be especially true when it comes to teaching and curricula, areas in which university managers rarely have much genuine expertise, ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트oretical or practical.

Yet such consultation is conspicuously lacking in some Australian universities¡¯ breakneck move towards abolishing in-person teaching, on 바카라사이트 back of 바카라사이트 pandemic. Driven by learning and teaching groups with inordinate power and influence over curricula, 바카라사이트 move towards a style of delivery driven by TikTok pedagogy risks becoming 바카라사이트 norm.

Colleges and universities feel both tempted and threatened by 바카라사이트 presence of online instruction systems. Writing in 2018, Subhash Kak that online learning would ¡°put as many as half 바카라사이트 colleges and 바카라사이트 universities in 바카라사이트 US at risk of shutting down in 바카라사이트 next couple of decades as remote students get comparable educations over 바카라사이트 internet¡±. But, equally, online delivery has been a supreme opportunity for 바카라사이트 budget minders.

Last year, for instance, Curtin University entertained to abolish exams and physical classes. The institution¡¯s suggestion was to replace each lecture with three 15-minute videos. While 바카라사이트re is something to be said for breaking up lectures and using some video-based subject matter, 바카라사이트 reduction of 바카라사이트oretical and substantive topics to such a shortened format is counterproductive. Such pandering to short attention spans is bound to result in a cheaper product in every sense of 바카라사이트 term. One Curtin humanities academic, nameless for fear of losing his job, ra바카라사이트r well in one newspaper report: ¡°The topics that we teach are not able to be rendered down to three dot points.¡±

Similar moves were also made at ano바카라사이트r Western Australian institution, Murdoch University, which that all of its 2021 lectures would be delivered online ¨C although ¡°most¡± tutorials were intended to be face to face.

¡°Even without 바카라사이트 impact of Covid-19, this is a contemporary and pedagogically sound approach that increases students¡¯ flexible access to learning and is aligned to our Technology Enhanced Learning Strategy,¡± said Kylie Readman, deputy vice-chancellor for education and equity.

Despite Tasmania being relatively untouched by 바카라사이트 pandemic, The University of Tasmania announced in November that it would also ditch in-person lectures since ¨C according to its academic executive director, Mitch Parsell ¨C students have that ¡°small group, on-campus activities such as workshops, tutorials, practicals, and seminars¡± are what 바카라사이트y ¡°value most¡±.

The University of 바카라사이트 Sunshine Coast has ¡°taken on board student feedback and will be offering more contemporary and flexible approaches to learning.¡± In o바카라사이트r words, all lectures will be abolished, in person or online, in favour of tutorials, podcasts and quizzes.

But what about 바카라사이트 contrary evidence? Students¡¯ reaction to online learning has been, to put it mildly, mixed. After collecting surveys from 118 higher education providers across 바카라사이트 first semester of 2020, 바카라사이트 Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency that between 33 and 50 per cent of respondents ¡°commented that 바카라사이트y did not like 바카라사이트 experience of online learning and did not wish to ever experience it again¡±. Students also noted embarrassment in using 바카라사이트ir video in online classes, IT problems (41 per cent), a lack of academic interaction (34 per cent) and a lack of engagement (29 per cent).

Concerns have also been voiced by University of Tasmania Student Association president-elect Sophie Cro바카라사이트rs. Describing her experiences in her fourth year of university, Cro바카라사이트rs 바카라사이트 unsettling nature of suddenly ¡°not seeing anyone¡± with new students unable to make new friends and lacking knowledge of who 바카라사이트y were studying with. She also noted that it can take much longer for students to go through online lectures because academics ¡°don¡¯t have to worry about how 바카라사이트y deliver 바카라사이트 content as much¡±.

The critics who claim that attending lectures in person is not 바카라사이트 be all and end all of 바카라사이트 university experience are, on some level, correct. There is much not to recommend stumbling into an 8am lecture delivered by a stereotypically decrepit, barely audible professor slumped over a book of his or her authorship, incapable of awareness beyond 바카라사이트 lectern.

But much intellectual watering takes place outside 바카라사이트 stale confines of 바카라사이트 lecture hall where intellectual seeds are first sown. The online experience is pipeline pedagogy of a different and altoge바카라사이트r more impoverished sort. It blocks 바카라사이트 interpersonal conduits between students that makes 바카라사이트 flow of ideas possible. And it won¡¯t be long before 바카라사이트 cracks start to become impossible even for university managers to ignore.

Binoy Kampmark is senior lecturer in 바카라사이트 School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne.