Read the article at https://gathercontent.com/blog/when-and-where-do-you-start-with-digital-transformation-in-higher-education and present your opinions on the digital transformation of Polish Higher Education Institutions. Do you believe we will come back to the traditional way of learning/teaching when the pandemic ends? What does it depend on?
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Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Week 2 [16-22.11.20] Digital Transformation of HEIs
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Due to COVID-19 many higher education institutions had to face digital transformation in a rush. I don’t mean having a working website with basic information about university or courses pages, but working 100% remotely, streaming lectures and contact with students only trough web. For some of them it was probably more challenging then for the others. I graduated from technical universities and maybe because of the schools profile both of them had a really good web services. Maybe for non-technical education institution it looks a little bit different. According to the article, a lot off Universities are seeking for help and guidance to go through digital transformation, all of the steps presented in text shows agile approach to incorporating big IT projects. Which is proven to be good way for projects that are adapting to changing requirements, looping through prototypes and version of solutions until the optimum one is reached. In case of what will happen after the pandemic is done, I think that we will not go back to traditional way of teaching in old form. Maybe some hybrid solution will rise based on the current experience and old way of teaching. Some students might like this method of teaching more because they don’t have to travel there and back again, or they don’t have to pay for renting a place in new city, but I think the biggest cons of all of this is contact with another students and this is something that can’t be replace by relation via computer, while this is a very important part of study.
ReplyDeleteI think that one of the advantage of remote work and online study is fact that you do not have to waste time for going to work or univeristy :)
DeleteThe presented article describes the topic related to the digital transformation of universities on the example of universities from United Kingdom and the United States. Digital transformation refers to the replacement of non-digital processes or older digital technology with newer technology. The author of the article points out that one of the elements of success is customer satisfaction, such as student satisfaction. Content marketing is a marketing strategy consisting in the regular creation and distribution of attractive and useful content that is designed to interest a specific group of recipients in order to persuade them to act, e.g. to buy something or learn something. In this process, content marketing is very important, you should pay attention to what is placed, for example, on the website, whether the website is readable and optimized. Nowadays, social media plays an increasingly important role, so they should take part in content marketing. It is important to remember that if the content is not regularly modified and changed, it becomes unnecessary and out of date, which means that fewer people visit it.
ReplyDeleteCertainly, the pandemic caused some processes to be accelerated, but as the author of the article mentions, the process of digital transformation is long and cannot be carried out in a week. When it comes to my opinion on digital transformation at Polish universities, it is rather negative. I really like working remotely, and I work as an assistant at the university. Online classes are very convenient. I connect with students through a platform that enables contact with students. For each class, I prepare 15-minute videos explaining the topic, then students ask questions, write a program, provide screens and show their programs, which I check immediately. My opinion is negative because there are many shortcomings, for example the way information is announced. Some applications or further applications must be brought to the secretariats in paper, and it is not enough to simply send them by signing, e.g. with a digital signature. I would like classes at universities to be conducted remotely, of course, where it does not require a stay in the laboratory, e.g. in the field of computer science, in most subjects, a student only needs a computer and Internet access. Unfortunately, I am almost convinced that after the pandemic, the classes will return to the university and I will be sleepy again. Not all the people working at the university are able to handle the computer equipment. Some people do not have good equipment and most universities cannot afford good equipment for all employees, as is the case with students. Another issue is the availability of premises and access to good Internet. On the other hand, for some people, going to work is the only form of exercise and the only opportunity to meet people. Some of my colleagues have a negative opinion about distance learning because, as they say, "we need contact with a student at the university".
I sincerely hope that after the pandemic we will return to the traditional way of teaching with possible distance consultations/seminars. As mentioned in the article, the transition to distance learning is a big step and a great undertaking. I run my classes remotely myself now and I can honestly say that it is very tiring. First of all, in order for the university to fully convert to distance learning, the students' approach must first of all change. Many students nowadays go to college just to get a degree, not a knowledge. Lots of people cheat in online classes, and the methods of verification are almost impossible because there is little time, many people have poor Internet and often are disconnecting from meetings. Unfortunately, not every student can afford good computer equipment and a good Internet connection. Secondly, we should be provided with better tools for remote work. Just connecting to Goggle Meets or Teams is not enough. These tools are being developed, but not on the scale and at the pace that is currently needed. Sometimes it's hard to explain something mathematical without a blackboard and marker. Preparing separate video materials also takes a lot of time, and the teacher does not always have the equipment on which to do it. The article mentions the redesign of websites and the content placed on them. Taking the example of my university, I will say that absolutely nothing is happening on the website of our faculty and institute and it is impossible to obtain any information easily and quickly. The information process sucks too. Sometimes I find out about canceled classes an hour before them. Maybe it is different at other universities and the university-student communication is better. The article mentions that adolescents now live on the Internet and find it easier to use instant messaging. Following this path, last semester I set up a discord server for our institute, but the mobilization of students to communicate through it is very small. They prefer to communicate on their own servers with each other and send us e-mails as before. Only a few people sometimes ask if they have a problem with an issue.
ReplyDeleteSo I believe that there is still a long way to go before Polish higher education for distance learning to be at a high level. If universities do not invest in a better communication infrastructure with students, if many things cannot be done online (e.g. submitting scholarships, applications), we will definitely return to traditional teaching completely. I would like to add that a lot also depends on the staff themselves. Older professors prefer to teach in a traditional way, younger ones are adaptable, but this requires the right tools and the most important students' enthusiasm for learning. In addition, some fields of study, especially practical (construction, geology), cannot be conducted remotely, because students must have appropriate laboratories live and familiarize themselves with the equipment, only then they can be trained to be good specialists.
You are right, the universities do not have the good equipment and the access to the Internet is limited :(
DeleteI look forward to the end of the pandemic, and I hope that my whole world will return to normal. My work has completely switched to remote. Working remotely or studying obviously has its advantages as well as disadvantages. The advantages are time savings, since you do not need to physically come to work or leave work / study, more flexible schedule, since you can work whenever you want.
ReplyDeleteBut it seems to me that the efficiency of work and study has decreased. Now training looks like courses on Udemy. And to be honest, it seems to me that after this pandemic life will no longer be the same as before, and in the educational sphere too. In my opinion, education today is needed for the sake of getting a job, and not for the sake of knowledge. Education today takes place with the help Google Meets or Zoom, and I think this is not enough for a quality education. And besides, the meaning of the teacher disappears remotely, because earlier physically in a lesson or lecture it was possible to ask him about some problem, now it is faster to find a solution on the Internet.
I think that the state should develop a unified system for students, and maybe even schools where it would be possible to get quality knowledge from the best teachers in the country
I agree with that the remote work has a very precious advantage - you do not have to waste time for going to work
DeleteWhen I was reading the article I thought that yours comment will gave me an overview of how online learning looks like in real life from teacher’s perspective. I was not disappointed - thanks for that, but also I wasn’t expecting that there are some many obstacle you have to go through. I thought that student’s attitude is not a problem and definitely not, that they are using the situations to cheat.
ReplyDeleteThe article includes universities from Great Britain and the United States. I got the impression that the author treated science as a product and students as potential customers to whom the product should be sold in accordance with the principles of marketing. I do not fully agree with this approach, because marketing is guided by slightly different laws that do not have to translate into the educational area.
ReplyDeleteComing back to the digital transformation of Polish Higher Education Institutions, I would expect a return to universities. I am an academic teacher myself and I can see that students of technical faculties would definitely prefer to meet at the university during classes. Unfortunately, it is not possible to transfer everything remotely. The remote form is very good for conducting a webinar, well-prepared and well-thought-out courses in subjects that do not require direct contact with the lecturer. Unfortunately, in the case of laboratories or specialist workshops, where there is a need to prepare physical systems (and not simulations) to work on them, distance education alone will not work. E-learning certainly is and will be a very good complement to classroom teaching. The ongoing pandemic has forced all higher education institutions to conduct hybrid and remote classes. I hope that after its completion we will quickly return to the pre-pandemic state, although many more activities will be conducted remotely.
In my opinion, not only will we come back, but we should also do it. For me, school is not only about learning (if that were the case, I would probably prefer to teach my child at home, sometimes looking at the quality of this learning or even recently famous educational programs on TV). Unfortunately, a remote school does not allow to create social relations in children. The lack of contact with different personalities and the need to cooperate with him/her in groups during classes or during a team game makes it more difficult for them to find themselves in adult life.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, children who are shy or disabled tend to isolate themselves from the world. If nobody breaks this barrier in them, it will grow with age.
Remote learning also underestimates the quality of learning due to the fact that children are much more easily distracted sitting in front of a laptop in their own room (self-observation). The teacher isn't able to watch 30 people on the webcams so that they don't play with the phone or don't do other things.
Moreover, the very meeting place of a large number of people (a fatal argument due to the current situation, so please take a correction and let's discuss it as if there is no COVID) increases children's immunity forcing their bodies to fight against bacteria/viruses to which they are exposed.