Distance Learning Post Pandemic - Key Changes and Future Directions

Richard Walker, Head of Programme Design and Learning Technology at University of York

Richard Walker, Head of Programme Design and Learning Technology at University of York

It is commonly argued that the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a ‘pivot to online learning’ (Salmon, 2020), in the sense that the lockdown period accelerated the adoption of learning technology across the higher education sector. Discussion of the effects of the emergency remote teaching phase has typically focused on campus-based teaching (Bond et al, 2021), but neglected to consider the impact of COVID-19 on institutional approaches to distance learning. This short piece looks at distance learning from a UK higher education perspective and considers the key developments arising from the pandemic.

Whilst our attention has been on campus-based teaching, it is possible to make a case for the pandemic acting as a pivot point for distance learning too - and specifically for those programs that are delivered entirely online. One clear indicator is the reported growth in the volume of fully online course delivery across the sector since the pandemic struck. The UCISA technology enhanced learning surveys have been tracking technology usage and modes of course delivery across the UK higher education sector over the past twenty years. Comparing data for the sector before and after the pandemic (UCISA, 2020; UCISA 2022), the percentage of UK institutions engaging in ‘extensive’ fully online delivery rose from 5 percent in 2020 to 9 percent in 2022, and those institutions reporting that fully online delivery was taking place ‘across some schools / departments’ increased from 51 percent in 2020 to 61 percent in 2022. Whilst these figures are estimates of institutional activity, they point to a rapid growth in this mode of course delivery and an increasingly prominent role for fully online learning in the mix of institutional teaching provision. This seems plausible for a number of reasons.

“For distance learners, their sense of belonging has traditionally been to a study programme and to their immediate cohort, as well as to their work-based community but not to a ‘home’ academic department and to the wider university.”

First, while fully online teaching is on the rise for a number of years, the pandemic served to intensify the sector-wide focus on digital provision, drawing greater attention to the way that online delivery can support different modalities of learning and teaching, with consequences for pedagogic design and engagement patterns between staff and students (EDUCAUSE, 2021) and adaptations in assessment practices (Walker, 2021a). Secondly, the disruption also highlighted the over-reliance that some institutions had placed on campus-based teaching delivery, which left them exposed when lockdown restrictions were imposed, and students struggled to attend classes. In a positive sense, both of these factors have encouraged academic teams to look at the diversification of programme delivery and alternatives to purely on-campus teaching, supporting more flexible forms of student engagement such as fully online delivery. This was a theme explored in the recent 2021 ucisa panel discussion on technology developments after the pandemic.

Arguably though, the biggest development arising from the COVID period has been in the way that institutions have approached the provision of support for distance learners. The lockdown period and subsequent shift to fully online delivery challenged us all to think about how we offer alternative and equitable learning, teaching and assessment opportunities for flexible learners and those remotely located from the university campus. Reflecting on this period, it has highlighted the disparity between the campus-based experience and the online student experience, in terms of how learners develop a sense of belonging and community. This has underlined the need for higher education institutions to introduce inclusive approaches for students who are working remotely (Walker, 2021b).

For distance learners, their sense of belonging has traditionally been to a study programme and to their immediate cohort, as well as to their work-based community (Brooks & Roberts, 2016), but not to a ‘home’ academic department and to the wider university.  At York we have been looking at ways to foster a stronger sense of community for all of our students (campus-based and online) by creating student-run digital communities, which encompass both fully online and campus-based learners through the use of collaborative platforms such as Slack (Page, 2021) . The aim is to make Slack available to all taught postgraduate students at the University as a ‘third space’ (Verjans & Rajagopal, 2019), where the platform infrastructure is provided by the university, but the environment, its culture and practices are shaped and led by learners - in this case led and managed by the University of York’s Graduate Students’ Association.

Such initiatives highlight the need for a better networking infrastructure to enable students with shared research interests to come together in knowledge sharing and collaboration activities, as well as tools to help build a wider sense of community for all types of learners (flexible and campus- based) within an institution. This would stimulate the development of communities of inquiry which transcend disciplinary boundaries, providing students with a broader sense of belonging to a university community. This points to a more inclusive and joined-up student experience in the future, where the boundaries between distance learners and their campus-based counterparts disappear.

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