This session is aimed at managers with responsibility for the delivery and evaluation of online learning and teaching. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic colleges have been forced to make an abrupt shift to remote learning, often existing in makeshift offices. Join us as we examine the challenges that this new environment presents and the lessons learned thus far from approaches developed in other UK nations and further afield. We will share our thoughts on what leaders have learned about how to manage their institution during this difficult time and how they are addressing the challenges now and anticipating those in the future. Colleagues will be invited to join the discussion, raise questions and contribute examples from their own experience. Presentation delivered by Ian Beach, HMI, Education Scotland, as part of the Virtual Bridge Session series. Follow along at https://twitter.com/Virtual_Bridge and see what's coming up next at https://bit.ly/VBsessions Recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG0lCuRRX2U

1. Post 16 HMI joint events
Messages from International Experiences
Ian Beach HMI
03 December 2020

2.  The challenges that this new environment presents.
 Lessons learned from approaches developed in other UK nations and further afield
 How leaders might address the challenges now and anticipate those in the future.
 Share our thoughts on what leaders might learn about how to manage their
institution during this difficult time.
Themes for this session

3. The Covid-19 pandemic has created an important and significant change of direction
for colleges in Scotland. Managers, staff and learners now connect from improvised
offices and learning spaces across the country.
This sudden shift to remote meetings and online learning has been a challenge for
colleges to ensure their operations are running smoothly and when attempting to
keep everyone connected.
The challenges that this new environment presents

4. “Maslow before Bloom”
Thinking about Pedagogy in an Unfolding Pandemic: Lots of resources from p.39
Ensure that our learners are safe and have their basic needs met, and that lecturers’
needs are met to support learning.
Platforms that allow learners’ faces to be seen to enable lecturers to look for anxiety
or fatigue and give them a better understanding of how to personalise distance
learning.
Ensure that learners’ data is safe.
Allow our educators to do what they know is best for their particular group of
learners, within any unified messaging.

5. The Chronicle of Higher Education (1)
Maintaining Open Access to Education in a Pandemic
Community Colleges in the United States are in a very similar position to our colleges
regarding supporting learners and a reducing financial input.
• Basic needs to be met in the first instance, otherwise learners cannot engage.
• Around 70% of local populations affected by job losses or reduced wages.
• Vulnerable learners made more vulnerable and in greater need of all round support.
• College often seen as a source for wrap around services in addition to learning.
• 90% of community colleges facing at least a 10% decline in enrolments.

6. The Chronicle of Higher Education (2)
• Montgomery College (falling recruitment) - learners reported that due to ongoing life-
churn they couldn’t commit to a 15-week class but would sign up to 7 weeks.
• Need to make decisions early, give learners access to the systems they need to plan
and regulate their life.
• Partnerships used to amplify the impact of services to support learners.
• Micro-credentials leading to much shorter programmes to keep students engaged and
committed and with destinations in mind. (as low as 6-8 weeks)
• Probably, not everyone is going to want to come on to campuses post Covid-19, need
to think about future models of delivery.
Maintaining Open Access to Education in a Pandemic

7. Teacher Leadership in the Aftermath of a Pandemic: The Now, The Dance, The Transformation
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something,
build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“ (Buckminster Fuller)
The Now: Policymakers and educators must
begin by strengthening existing systems of
leadership. Leaders will serve a very
important role in helping lecturers spread
their expertise.
The Dance: Educators to rethink people and
programmes and accelerate the development
of learning teams. Current professional learning
communities to become inquiry-driven.
The Transformation: Unification
with stakeholders offering
physical and social-emotional
health supports and out of
hours workforce training.
Timetables and calendars
overhauled so lecturers can
teach as well as help develop
system of learning and teaching.

8. Lessons learned from approaches developed in other
UK nations and further afield: University of Oregon
Although I had some experience of creating materials for online
courses, there is a big difference between contributing a few pieces
to a VLE, and delivering 3 x 10 week classes - at short notice - to a
cohort which is both unsettled, and sceptical of the value/quality of
teaching you might provide.
Many of these students had not yet taken a
class with me before, was also a factor. They
didn’t know me. And I didn’t know them.

9. You cannot just replicate what you already
do, Zoom is exhausting, especially if you’re
the host. Break lectures up.
There is a value to hosting live classes. If you
have live classes, try to keep them under an
hour.
Some students feel more comfortable
expressing ideas in written form, via an
online forum, move the conversation
online, so students can reflect and offer
their thoughts in written form, when
they are ready to contribute.
There’s only so much you can automate.
Clear instructions and delivery dates for
work are more important than ever.
When it comes to assignments, I moved
away from written feedback, Instead, I’ve
held 15x minute 1–1 feedback sessions
on Zoom, or used video feedback.
University of Oregon

10. Ofsted publishes findings of online learning review (1)
“FE reacted well to the crisis” but much can
be learned from the challenges of moving
learning online”, says Paul Joyce
“Access, engagement and assessment”
have been the main challenges for
colleges delivering teaching online.
Ofsted publishes findings of online learning review
“Just because someone has logged on or is even looking at the screen,
it doesn’t mean they are engaging with the material,”
Learners preferred “live” online lessons, and engagement was higher when live online
lessons are available and remote learning is more interactive. Ofsted said teachers did
not always use online teaching sessions effectively to check on and develop learning.

11. Ofsted publishes findings of online learning review (2)
https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-ofsted-FE-colleges-published-findings-online-learning-review
learners’ experiences had varied considerably during the period of lockdown,
“both across the range of providers and across subject areas in the same
provider”.
“considerable efforts to support learners in accessing online education, but
the lack of suitable technology or connectivity at home remains a problem
for a significant minority of learners”.
“the varying competence and confidence of staff with information
technology has affected providers’ success in making the transition to
online learning. Staff training has been crucial.”

12. Monitoring online learning
To tackle the question of teaching quality, a number of providers have turned to user
rating and internal evaluation. Star teacher, for instance, has become a popular teacher
evaluation mechanism in China and South Korea, two of the largest e-learning markets.

13. How leaders might address the challenges now and
anticipate those in the future (1)
Post Pandemic: How Must Colleges And Universities Reinvent Themselves?, Oct 2020
“When we have a rapid change, when we have an overnight macro
disruption such as Covid-19, the old skillset that we have accrued is
not going to work. We need to train our professors, our heads of
departments, our deans and others to ensure that they can
embrace the change. Change process is now continuous.”
“I think one positive aspect of the
whole pandemic is that it's causing
so much disruption in so many
places, in so many industries and
within industries, that it's really
forcing people to rethink,
innovate and figure out ways
to do more with less.” One of the lessons from the events of 2020 is that we need to make
sure students graduate with the emotional resiliency and
leadership skills they’ll need in this uncertain world.
Developing Leadership
Professional Development
Partnerships

14. “After Covid hit, students began flocking to online,
particularly younger students. Younger students
flocking to online degree programs is likely a
new normal for our universities.”
“This may mean thinking about online options as more than
complementing the in-person experience – but core to
education offerings.
“I believe that amidst Covid-19 we’re seeing
flexibility rise to the top …… online offering is
now core to how students evaluate their
enrolment options.”
From my own research of thousands of
leaders across Corporate America,
people are tired of predetermined
metrics for academic and career
success.
Covid-19 has disrupted the ways we
usually measure student success –
seize this as an opportunity to re-evaluate
what we mean by success.
How leaders might address the challenges now and
anticipate those in the future (2)

15. South West College, rural college in Northern Ireland
South West College is a rural college in Northern Ireland. Ten years after a particularly
bad winter, the governing body requested that in the event of future bad weather that
the College would be able to work entirely remotely. Little did they know at the time
that it would be a global pandemic that would change the face of education. Every year
for the past ten years, the College has run a virtual day and when the call came to flip
the College to fully online and all staff working remotely the staff were ready to
respond. This session takes you on the SWC digital journey, the past, the present and
what the future might look like.
Presentation delivered by Ciara Duffy, South West College, as part of the Virtual Bridge Session series.
Virtual Bridge Session Recording

16. • Learner analytics used to predict risk and support
• Questionnaire completed by learners prior to the course
• 12 ‘risk areas’ possible, with an intervention on each
• Required attendance for support sessions on risk areas
Humber College, Toronto

17. • Started distance learning programmes in 1997
• Identified learners who struggled to complete
• Distance learning offered rarely to those in their first year of learning
• Learning/tech skills taught in advance of the programme
• Personal support by tutors (“The Success Centre” ) a major feature
Miami-Dade College, Florida

18. • Developed an AI chatbot system called ADA
• ADA has so far responded to over 70,000 student questions
• learners access the chatbot in College and also at home, via an app on their mobile
phone or by installing a skill on Amazon’s Alexa Echo
• Saved significant staff time and offered additional support
• ADA in action
Bolton College – Chatbots
Chatbot talks up a storm for Bolton College

19. Recovery from current pandemic.
Preparation for any future
pandemic?
BREXIT Impact?
Uncertainty over Scottish Independence
Financial Recovery?

20. “Covid-19 has accelerated trends and changes to the delivery of
learning, to the needs of learners and created a new generation of
learners which is an irreversible cultural shift”
(IPB)

21. With approved vaccines now
available, next year may start to
look “more normal”.
However, is now the time to
consider and plan for a different,
and possibly better, post-16
landscape?
In the rush to return
to normal, let's use
this time to consider
which parts of normal
are worth rushing
back to.
Dave Hollis

22. Share our thoughts on what has been learned about how to
manage their institutions (1)
What can we learn from these new challenges?
How does remote learning affect operations, facilities, and IT infrastructure?
• Communicate with learners better and differently – less opportunities to
communicate in the physical environment. For example, more creative approaches
to reaching and informing potential and current learners, visuals becoming more
important. Current generation learners are not heavy users of email or Twitter.
• We will probably need to adopt hybrid learning spaces with a mixture of on campus
and remote learning to reach all future learners.

23. Remote learning: what efficiencies and what problems might arise as a result?
• Potentially less physical estate, an increase in IT and Software distribution and
increases in IT support staff to manage remote access.
How will college leaders manage their institution differently during the new era?
• New generations of learners will be comfortable with hybrid or fully online learning.
• Curriculum portfolios, scheduling, length of programmes and learning delivery types
will need to be redefined.
• Active transformational leadership is critical during this time.
Share our thoughts on what has been learned about how to
manage their institutions (2)

24. Interactive Part of Session

25. Share our thoughts on what leaders have learned about
how to manage their institution during this difficult time.
• How do leaders gain a sense of organisational effectiveness given the challenges of
remote collaboration?
• How do managers evaluate what is working well and what needs to be improved?
• How is engagement, well being and satisfaction of staff and learners being
monitored?

26. Managing a Remote Team (1)
Managers will have a much tougher time handling teams effectively
Effective communication: is key when managing
remote workers, without physical contact, it
doesn’t mean you can’t collaborate and still be
creative.
Virtual Office Hours and Schedules: It is
essential as a manager that you are available
and online. Virtual office hours can help your
team, and you create some routine for the day.
Use the Tools at Your Disposal:
Project management tools and
videoconferencing tools become
even more essential when managing
a remote team. things that might
have been a simple nuisance in the
past could become crippling in an
all-work remote scenario.

27. Managing a Remote Team (2)
Quality Use of Time: Leading a
productive meeting that makes good
use of time can be a challenge even
when everyone is in the office. Doing
it by conference call for video
conference takes those challenges to
another level. Be sure to have an
agenda. Stick to the plan and keep
things moving along and end the
meeting with the pertinent
takeaways.
Don’t Over Use Email: It’s easy to send someone
an email with a question. Too easy sometimes. It
can take a toll to simply be answering emails
rather than actually getting work done. Chatting
to a colleague might be the best way to get an
answer to your question.
Create an End to Your Workday: This is
essential for you and your team. People need
to decompress and end their workday. It’s
important for you and your team to set aside
time for themselves and avoid burnout.