Providing a Quality Online Educational Experience for International Students

Gavin Moodie

Gavin Moodie has compared the attractiveness of Australian, UK, US and Canadian adjustments for international university students due to COVID-19 (The Conversation, 22 July 20202). He suggests the UK job retention scheme and less restrictive travel provides an advantage, whereas the US uncertainty in restrictions makes it less attractive and Canada is not admitting new students from abroad.

However, almost as an afterthought at the end of the article, Moodie comments:

"Few students and their parents are convinced about the value and quality of online education. And they fear much of the benefit of immersion in an English speaking university environment would be lost if spatial distancing required social distancing."  

I suggest both points could be addressed with a campaign to have Australian university academics trained to teach online and to provide students with structured online activities to practice their English and ability to work together.The current competition between Australian, UK, US and Canadian reminds me of completion between countries making poor quality large gas guzzling cars. While they added more features and weight, others developed high quality small efficient cars and took the market away. The same could be done with quality online education.