Moving beyond emergency provision at University of Edinburgh Members : ALT's Online Winter Conference 2020

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Wed, Dec 16 2020, 11:10am – 12:00pm

Authors: Stuart Nicol, Neil McCormick, Martin Lewis, and Claudia Jones

Room: Holly Room

Type: Parallel Panel (50mins)

Description

In this session you will be able to hear about some of the work undertaken at the University of Edinburgh in response to the Covid pandemic. Topics covered will include:

Working with students to co-create the future: teaching continuity, and hybrid teaching
With Respect: policy for large-scale hybrid teaching

Working with students to co-create the future: teaching continuity, and hybrid teaching – Stuart Nicol

The students in our institution were one of the key resources available to us in an emergency. They were ready and eager to be part of planning how the new normal would be realised. In this presentation our student workers will describe how the University has moved beyond emergency provision putting students at the heart of our learning technology services. Over the summer we migrated 3,000 courses in our VLE, adding hybrid learning design elements with the support of 44 students interns, effectively preparing courses for delivery in September. Their perspectives will be of interest to anyone who works with students as staff, or are interested in ethical student employment through a challenging summer, and emphasising care for students and staff.

Although we were able to draw on the institution’s substantial experience in online teaching, the majority of on-campus students and teachers at University of Edinburgh had not taught or learned substantively in that environment. Our learning technology team responded by initiating emergency training on a core online teaching toolset. This included advice for and by online teachers imbued with an ethos of ‘continuity, contact, and care’; for both students and self.

As semester ended, and online exams concluded, the university began thinking beyond emergency teaching provision. A plan emerged from a number of existing initiatives to deliver ‘hybrid teaching’ for academic year 20/21 and possibly beyond. Our priority was to embed a sense of belonging and ownership of hybrid models which had user experience and research at their centre. The students who delivered this work are now new members of the learning technology community and their voices provide an urgent rebalance in our practice.

With Respect: policy for large-scale hybrid teaching – Neil McCormick

Digital classroom recording is a pressing area of policy for many institutions as they manage the transition to hybrid and online teaching. Staff are faced with the prospect of recording not only lectures but also small group teaching sessions, to ensure all students, on campus and online, have equitable access to their classes. The University of Edinburgh’s Virtual Classroom Policy, based on our existing Lecture Recording Policy, addresses three important areas: personal data; copyright and licensing; and digital safety.

Digital safety, dignity and respect, are the necessary foundations on which academic community and effective student engagement are built. The secure digital academic community envisioned by the Virtual Classroom Policy is supported by a comprehensive Digital Citizenship Guide.

Our approach to copyright and licensing is that everyone involved in these recording retains their rights, and that the recording is licensed and used for specified purposes. Defining these purposes is critical to respecting individuals’ rights and to processing and safeguarding the personal data within the recordings.

The Virtual Classroom policy dovetails with our Open Educational Resources (OER) policy, which encourages staff and students to use and create OERs to enhance the quality of the student experience. The Virtual Classroom Policy permits lecturers to share their recordings openly, but only if they have permission from all parties to do so. Choice and attribution are fundamental to respecting individuals’ rights, and to the creation of open resources.

In keeping with the University’s commitment to open knowledge, all three policies are available under open licence.

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