- The pandemic has caused Australian higher education to rapidly transition to online learning. While many institutions had robust online systems, the transition was not always elegant. - The ways we teach and assess are changing, with a greater emphasis on active, authentic, and collaborative modes. This has required new online tools and techniques. - Educational designers have played a key role in upskilling academic staff and helping them transition content online, but some designers report bearing the brunt of stressed academics' frustrations. - Moving forward, it will be important to consolidate gains from increased online training while ensuring quality is not abandoned, and to identify opportunities for educational designers from their increased contributions.

1. Reflections on 2020: The pandemic and
the response of Australian HE
Professor Michael Sankey
Director, Learning Transformations
President, Australasian Council on Open,
Distance and eLearning (ACODE)

2. Acknowledgement of country
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3. Introduction
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• 5 years ago 5 Nov: The student learning journey is more than a concept, it’s
about real people and providing them holistic support.
• Reflecting on what has happened to HE in 2020 may seem premature
• But we do need to learn what lessons we can from this quickly
• Thankfully, many of us have had reasonably robust TEL environments
• But this hasn’t always been as elegant as it could have been
• In reflecting on this, let’s distil some thoughts moving into 2021
• Particularly around TEL and the problematic funding environment we face in HE

4. Thesis
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• Our digital ecologies are changing because the way we are wanting to teach
and examine is changing
• We are seeing a much greater emphasis being placed on active, authentic
and collaborative modes of teaching and assessment
• Therefore we have had to find new tools and techniques to help us with these
new tasks online
• But the reasons to engage with these new tools needs to be based on sound
pedagogical foundations

5. Self or cloud hosted
•Institution largely either self hosted or hosted an instance
with the vendor on a private cloud, allowing customisations
that made upgrading more difficult
SaaS
•Software as a service (SaaS) vendors moving clients onto using
the one version of the software. Less customisation possible,
but upgrades happen much more easily
API
• With self hosted systems, institutions had to develop APIs (application program
interface) to allow other systems to communicate with each other
LTI & xAPI
• The advent of LTI (learning tools Interoperability) allows learning system to
invoke and to communicate with external systems against a common global
standard. This is linked with extra ‘experience’ data available through xAPI
Transmission of information
• Systems were used to provide links to documents and learning elements
contained within a repository. Limited tools in the LMS limited engagement
opportunities
Participatory creation
• The advent of more tools to allow for the co-creation, sharing and peer-review
of learning episodes. Greater interoperability has allowed for this to be more
easily mediated
Walled garden approach
• Where the LMS was the central repository for learning and pathways inside the
LMS led students to different elements in the one garden
Open garden approach
• The LMS still has a role but now so do many other systems that can interoperate.
Pathways lead between the different gardens providing far more variety
Antecedents and descendant in a changing VLE ecology

6. The Importance of a quality
framework and standards
• TEQSA now have a particular interest in TEL
• Especially in relation to fully online courses
https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/publications/guidance-note-technology-enhanced-learning
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https://www.teqsa.gov.au/online-learning-good-practice

7. Key
Elements
of TEL
Quality
TEL Policy and
Procedures
Institutional
TEL Framework
Baseline
Standards for
All Programs &
Units/Courses
Standards for
Fully Online
Units/Courses
Governance is essential to ensure each
School/Faculty are working from the
same baseline. Policy for TEL needs to
be aligned & be consistent with other
policies, such as the learning &
teaching policy.
A framework unpacks what is in policy
& procedure & aligns this with the
systems & practices across all
departments. It nominates which
department is responsible for each
element of TEL practice.
TEL sits within the full spectrum of
Program & Course delivery, whether it
be face to face, online, or a mix
(blended). Students require a level of
consistency across their Program/s
For fully online courses, where there
are less physical cues on how staff &
students should operate in this
environment, an extra level of
consistency is required to help support
& scaffold their practice.

8. 3 Quality tools for TEL
Your ACODE reps are: Ms Kim Edgar & Mr Patrick Raets

9. 1. Partnership-Based
Learning
2. Engaging and
Empowering Pedagogies
3. Scholarly-Inspired
Curriculum
4. Locally and Globally
Connected
5. Learner-Enabling Design
6. Digitally-Enabled Learning
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10. Pivoting quickly
• Fortunately, we mostly have robust LMS’s that double as online classrooms
• The one where people put up PDFs and PPTs and call it online learning
• The last 10 years have seen quite an improvement in how we use these
spaces
• More recently we have seen the rise and rise of productivity tools
• Despite this we have 1000’s of staff in the
sector that engage very little in ‘teaching’
online, as distinct from supporting teaching
in an online space
• Last 8 months we have trained 1000+ staff
https://arthistory.umd.edu/eventinfo/collaboratory-presents-online-teaching-best-practices-and-how-tos
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11. Being prepared by investing
in your people
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• Since this started we have been running
heavily in training staff
• There will be long term-benefits that last way
past COVID
• 1st two weeks focused on getting lectures
online and using Teams
• We then shifted focus to alternate forms of
assessment
• Then onto design and analytics

12. DATE TIME REGISTERED WORKSHOP
Tuesday, 26 May 11.00 44 Prepare your learning materials and activities
Thursday, 28 May 11.00 75 Develop engaging online lectures
Thursday, 28 May 1.00 67 Design engaging tutorials
Tuesday, 2 June 9.00 60 Develop engaging online lectures
Wednesday, 3 June 1.00 52 Design engaging tutorials
Thursday, 4 June 11.00 47 Prepare your learning materials and activities
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13. The role of the Educational Designer
https://blog.ascilite.org/educational-designers-a-sure-hope-and-anchor-amid-a-global-pandemic/
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Amanda Bellaby (QUT) & Michael Sankey (Griffith)
as part of the ASCILITE Community Mentoring Program
Q: What is your role title and in
what ways has your role changed in
response to COVID-19? What do
you feel you have been able to
contribute? Please provide
examples where possible.
90 responses of an average length
of 180 words.

14. 64 (71%) claimed that
changes to their roles
had been very or quite
significant
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Their most significant
contribution was
helping academics
successfully transition
and migrate their
learning and teaching
activities to online

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“I am supporting academics
who have not kept up with technology
and have become the help desk and
punching bag for their frustrations at
having to learn new skills even
though they are well paid to learn them.”
“Professionally, I have had to deal
with very stressed academics
who weren't so polite to us. Some of
them were really anxious and wanted
quick solutions for their issues.”
“I have supplied a degree of pastoral care
in that I have established
rapport, conveyed a sense of care and
support, provided solutions and
understanding.”
“I was able to initiate more
collaborative opportunities with other
centres and focused more on reducing
other people's stress and finding ways
to support them in their duties and in
their learning to get everyone through to
the end of the semester.”
Some are bearing the brunt
of academics’ frustrations and anxiety:
Others have been able to carve
out positions as leaders and mentors:

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Whilst it appears that emergency online migration is fracturing academics’ personal and
professional lives, it may be offering new opportunities for educational designers.
Educational designers are reportedly:
• Enjoying more collaborative relationships with academics
• Contributing systematic knowledge and intellectual capital for successful
online migration
• Upskilling academic staff
• Providing needed pastoral care support.
• Being recognised as higher-level professionals.
Thus, educational designers may occupy spaces to challenge and shape institutional
discourses on what online learning means and create robust digital strategy.
So what now?

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Griffith University, The University of Melbourne, Australian Catholic University

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• They are but feel the pressures of Zoom as their new classroom
• They are building their skills on-line, juggling normal teaching duties while supporting
student anxiety
• Many highlighted that they are adaptable, flexible and they are able to grow
• They also value understanding and relating with students over this time
• ​However, some staff really just wanted to return to face to face teaching
• Many are adaptable, resilient and found innovation within their new teaching spaces.
• They value kindness and found that care can be extended on-line or in the classroom.
• Academics can be flexible and forgiving
• And are adaptable, doing this for better student engagement.
Are academics coping?

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What does this look like?
Please add into the Padlet
other elements you feel
should be added to this list
SWOT Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
•Robust tools
•More now is online
•More academics trained
•More resources made
•No lectures yet
•Many students like this
•EDs used well
•Capitalising on tools
•Consolidating online
•Reinforce trained staff
•Organise resources
•Alternative delivery
•Drive student affordances
•EDs follow-up/encourage
•Needing to loop-back
•Online left languishing
•No long-term benefit ID’d
•Not great quality yet
•Alternate to lecture < promo
•Not all students like
•EDs gains not articulated
•Returning to the old
•Resting on laurels
•Not using tools enough
•No scaffolding ID’d
•Propensity to lecture
•Students don’t buy-in
•EDs suffer budget cuts
https://padlet.com/m_sankey/
8hnjrtgj684gqu9y

21. Doing this quickly doesn’t mean we abandon quality
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• When all is said and done we have
done an amazing job to get all our
courses online in such a short time
• But let’s face it some of it could be a
lot more elegant
• The other thing that has suffered
most is assessment
• And designing for usability – UDL
https://transformingassessment.com

22. Sharing and learning with others
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• “We are all in this together”
• Most people are very willing to share
• Lets get mentoring
• Get connected
• Look for this from people you trust,
already know
• Lots of people are putting
stuff up for us to learn from
• But look for trusted sources
https://teledvisors.net/blog/

23. • On the ACODE Site: https://www.acode.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=3841
• On the YouTube site: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQHtUlUwqNy5Txa4thrlmlw
ACODE Learning Leaders Vodcast links

24. ACODE Whitepapers
• https://acode.edu.au

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26. https://2020conference.ascilite.org/ASCILITE Conference
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27. Questions and
Discussion