University costs are a symptom not the problem

In "Stop the uni cost disease" (Online Opinion, 22 January 2015), Steven Schwartz, former VC of Macquarie University, says "Modern technology ... has had little influence on teaching and learning". He claims that lectures "remain ubiquitous". Perhaps that was the case at  Macquarie, but is not everywhere.

I gave up giving lectures in 2009 and have been teaching primarily on-line since then. I teach with a Learning Management System, to communicate with students and for them to collaborate with each other on-line. This does not require much bandwidth or computing power, but what it does need is a deep understanding of learning.

Steven Schwartz is wrong to claim "It takes the same amount of time to deliver a one-hour lecture as it did in the 19th century.". Research shows students can't pay attention for an hour, so recorded video lectures are generally much shorter than an hour (seven to twenty minutes). Students are encouraged to work actively, to cerement the knowledge.

As Steven Schwartz suggests there is a risk of uni­versities being distracted by seeking income. But my impression is that Australian universities understand they are there primarily to research and teach.

It is possible to produce distance eduction courses (as has been done for decades) with less staff time for deliver, but they are a different experience for the student.

As Steven Schwartz says students rank the UK Open University (OU) very highly, but this caters to a different market and provides a different experience to campus based institutions. Also OU was doing this before the Internet and its success does not depend on digital technology, but on careful design of distance education. Without administrators and academics trained in how to do it, this form of education does not work.

Online learning will replace most face-to-face teaching (about 80% within five years). But this will require significant resources for universities to accomplish. It would be a mistake to see this as a way to cross-subsidize small group learning and study abroad.

Australian universities need to learn to teach primarily on-line or most of their Australian and international students will be lost to overseas institutions, within five years.

Peer Review and Teaching as Collaborative Activity

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra where Ian Solomonides, Director of the Teaching and Learning Centre at Macquarie  University is speaking on Peer Review and Teaching as  Collaborative Activity. He raised issues of external peer review and professional development. However, I suggest that incentives for staff need to be considered. Teaching is a secondary consideration for most academics and their institutions, after research. Academics are selected and promoted primarily based on their research publications and funding attracted. It may not get the academic a job to emphasise their expertise in teaching, they just need to be adequate. Institutions want efficient teaching, preferably using on-line automated tools and casual tutors. Universities have found they can market courses based on the institution’s research reputation, even though this has no relationship to the quality of teaching.

Dr. Solomonides suggested the idea of teaching as making learning possible, as well as organising and telling. This is a routine part of teaching courses now, particularly those of e-leaning.

My suggestion would to use the peer approach with those staff who are most likely to be responsive, which are those receiving low student feedback scores, new and adjunct staff.

Also it is needs to be acknowledged that teaching is only a second profession for most academics. The academics are first of all a researcher (or for adjuncts are working professionals). Institutions could encourage teaching development trough the academics' primary discipline, so this will be seen as directly relevant by their peers. As an example, I am a member of the Australian Computer Society, which has an interest in the education of computer professionals (it accredits university coursers), so  teaching is seen as part of the discipline.

In addition, there is the opportunity to improve the kills of teachers while transitioning to e-learning.

Dr. Solomonides mention the "Carpe Diem MOOC" Swinburne University free Open Online Course on effective learning design.