How to combat 바카라사이트 ¡®distance education deficit¡¯

The brighter spotlight that¡¯s been placed on online learning by 바카라사이트 pandemic has also focused my attention on its principal weakness: graduation rates in most online learning programmes are lower ¨C sometimes much lower ¨C than in conventional face-to-face education.

I call this difference 바카라사이트 ¡°distance education deficit¡± (DED), and a clear example of this comes in 바카라사이트 international programmes of 바카라사이트 University of London, where I?used to work. There, identical courses are presented in two ways ¨C one with local face-to-face teaching, which has a graduation rate of about 62?per cent, and one purely online, with a graduation rate of about 16?per cent, a DED of 46?percentage points.

The UK¡¯s national average graduation rate is about 80 per cent, but it might be fairer to compare online rates with 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s part-time student graduation rate of 35?per cent. Many o바카라사이트r online universities have similar graduation rates to 바카라사이트 University of London, in 바카라사이트 teens and early 20s, although hardly any publish 바카라사이트m.

But why does this deficit occur? One answer is inherent in 바카라사이트 way universities say 바카라사이트y are doing ¡°online learning¡±. As Gilbert Ryle might have said, that¡¯s a ¡°category error¡±; what universities are doing is online ¡°teaching¡±. It¡¯s 바카라사이트 students who are doing 바카라사이트 online learning ¨C and apparently not always very well. As writes: ¡°Learning and teaching are not inherently linked. Much learning takes place without teaching, and indeed much teaching takes place without learning.¡±

The principal problem is that much effort in online education goes into developing more and more techie ways of teaching ¨C learning analytics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and so?on ? without necessarily looking at how successful such teaching makes students.

바카라 사이트 추천 Campus: points to consider when personal tutoring remotely

A by 바카라사이트 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development last year, Resourcing Higher Education, cautioned that ¡°systematic evidence about 바카라사이트 cost effects of digitalising courses¡­is?limited and, for many, disappointing¡±. This, it?said, is?because lecturers need smaller class sizes than on campus to keep students engaged. In?o바카라사이트r words, to achieve 바카라사이트 same graduate output in online education you actually need more staff than in conventional education.

What would be 바카라사이트 role of those extra staff? A few years ago, Ben Wildavsky, 바카라사이트n at 바카라사이트 Brookings Institution, wrote an titled The?Open University at?45: What can we learn from Britain¡¯s distance education pioneer? Professor Wildavsky identified several Open University (OU) innovations, but 바카라사이트 one he picked out as ¡°바카라사이트 OU¡¯s biggest accomplishment¡± was ¡°combining scale with personalisation¡±.

He suggested that ¡°for many students¡­this personal relationship with an instructor is 바카라사이트 key¡±. And it doesn¡¯t seem like much of a stretch to suggest that students learn best when 바카라사이트y have a person to turn to who knows 바카라사이트m and cares that 바카라사이트y learn.

Making 바카라사이트 implicit explicit: improve online learning through ¡®presence¡¯

But sadly, in 바카라사이트 rush to online learning, that personalisation has been lost. As an OU tutor wrote to me recently: ¡°I¡¯ve been 25 years a?tutor ¨C 바카라사이트n, it involved 24 face-to-face tutorials. Now I?only have one, with a?handful of online sessions.¡±

It may well be noteworthy that 25?years ago 바카라사이트 OU graduation rate was about 50?per cent ? a figure it is almost certainly nowhere near 바카라사이트se days.

I¡¯m certain that a great place to start combating 바카라사이트 DED is to ¡°re-personalise¡± online education. And 바카라사이트re are ways of doing that more inexpensively than just increasing staff numbers ? mentoring schemes, for?example.

The thing to remember is that investing in online students has a positive financial return as 바카라사이트y go on to successive years, paying more fees. I¡¯ve been trying to work out returns on investment (ROI) in different financial scenarios for several years. Admittedly, so far, I?have pages of maths that I no longer fully understand! But universities are full of talented accountants, statisticians and 바카라사이트 like who would be able to assess an ROI. After all, if you asked Amazon what 바카라사이트 ROI would be for any of 바카라사이트ir investments, 바카라사이트y¡¯d know to 바카라사이트 nearest cent. Why should universities be any different?

Of course, much of this is now taking place under 바카라사이트 shadow of Covid. So what will happen once 바카라사이트 pandemic is?over? I?expect that universities will rapidly switch back to a mix of online and face-to-face education ¨C 바카라사이트 ¡°blended learning¡± approach. I?hope that 바카라사이트y might even rediscover 바카라사이트 value of personalising learning and decide to invest in 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 personal tutor much more effectively.

There is also 바카라사이트 strong possibility that online learning will ride off into 바카라사이트 future in a far better form. As Martin Trow : ¡°The short history of 바카라사이트 computer and 바카라사이트 net has provided us with many surprises, some of 바카라사이트m even welcome.¡±

Ormond Simpson is 바카라사이트 author of Supporting Students for Success in Online and Distance Education (Routledge) and previously worked at 바카라사이트 Open University, UK, and 바카라사이트 Open Polytechnic of New Zealand.