The Post-Covid landscape
The requirement for higher education staff and students to move to online or distance delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic required transformation on a hire-to unseen scale in terms of the delivery of teaching and learning — as well as the technical and training supports required for same.
Lecturers were required to make use of live online delivery software and online assessment approaches, regardless of subject matter, previous teaching and assessment approaches and/ or prior experience or familiarity with digital tools and online delivery approaches. In an Irish context, reports such as “Reflecting and Learning: The move to remote/online teaching and learning in Irish higher education” (National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, 2020) have identified that “The enormity of what was achieved through dedication, collaboration and innovation in moving teaching, learning and assessment online, without warning, is remarkable”.
What’s changed?.
Lots has been Learned – The experience of delivering online and the skills and knowledge of how to use the digital tools required to do so
Lots has been Developed – Including recordings from online lectures and online recordings, asynchronous resources and new forms of assessment and engagement
Lots has Changed – There has been a deep attitudinal Change related to awareness of the benefits of digital education and a view on alternative approaches
We are now in a unique situation where many in HE are now aware of the potential offered by online and digital approaches..
BUT!
…inertia and a desire for return to the before times could easily lead to this being lost.
Danger of inertia but limited hyflex
The end of the remote teaching period however, brings with it the danger of inertia. A report from the national “Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities Project” (Irish Universities Association, 2021) has noted that “While the global crisis that is Covid19 has catapulted us into a space of uncertainty it has also illustrated more vividly the need for enhanced digital skills in the modern day working environment.”. It is felt that the recent effort undertaken, the skills, knowledge and experience inculcated in all stakeholders — and the resulting resources which have arisen as a result of this — should not be lost to time or consigned to the category of a temporary, ineffective and unpleasant teaching and learning experience. In the post-Covid landscape, an opportunity emerges to continue to encourage and support teachers and students in applying digital delivery tools and methods to the benefit of all learning stakeholders.
While there is lots to be optimistic about in terms of potential changes, true and relevant changes to systems take time, energy and are typically freight with resistant
A ‘true’ hyflex approach, for instance:
An appeal to the individual however, can be far more effective – an approach focused on an achievable, individual mode of delivery, rather than an institute-wide adoption. This also has the benefit of being able to offer it in parallel to, or as a support to, a wider institutional focus
Flipping to capitalise on post covid
So what opportunities could the FC offer in the context of Covid or post-Covid?
Well, the traditional Barriers to implementation typically are:
The Flipped Classroom requires “front-loading” so that out of class resources have to be developed & available.
Lecture recordings, digital resources and digital assessment have been developed due to the move to online
Teachers must have the requisite digital skills & knowledge to work with these.
Teachers have developed the relevant skills and knowledge due to the move to online teaching
Teachers & Students must be willing to work & be familiar with digital education.
All stakeholders have had experience of the move to online and there has been an attitudinal change among all peoples
Implementation Benefits of introducing the flipped classroom to the post-Covid landscape include:
The approach and resources can be supported using software already familiar to teachers and students
The approach can be implemented without additional hardware costs based on the software and hardware available from online
The approach meets many of the elements staff/ student identified as desirable post-Covid in order to optimise the mix of digital/ F2F elements
It helps to ensure staff & students skills & resources developed during the online teaching period are not lost
It is a means to step towards other approaches such as online, hybrid and hyflex in a more accessible, granular way
Essentially, the Flipped classroom provices a way of optimising class time to offer more time & space for
- Active Learning Approaches
- Application of knowledge
- Collaboration
- Project-Based Learning
- Assessment Support
- AFL
- Peer activities
- Additional Lab time
References
Govindarajan, V., & Srivastava, A. (2020, March 31). What the shift to virtual learning could mean for the future of higher Ed. Harvard Business Review
Ewing, L. A. (2021). Rethinking higher education post COVID-19. The Future of Service Post-COVID-19 Pandemic, Volume 1, 37.
Zhao, Y., & Watterston, J. (2021). The changes we need: Education post COVID-19. Journal of Educational Change, 22(1), 3-12.
Koceska, N., Koceski, S., Pucovski, B., Mitkovska, V., & Lazovski, A. (2020). Investigating the Effects of Online and Flipped Classroom Approach during COVID-19 Pandemic.
Tang, T., Abuhmaid, A. M., Olaimat, M., Oudat, D. M., Aldhaeebi, M., & Bamanger, E. (2020). Efficiency of flipped classroom with online-based teaching under COVID-19. Interactive Learning Environments, 1-12.
Yen, T. F. T. (2020). The performance of online teaching for flipped classroom based on COVID-19 aspect. Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies, 57-64.