How do we make sure we learn from SARS-Cov-2, unlike SARS-Cov-1?

Greetings from EDUtech Asia 2021 where Martin Dougiamas, founder of Moodle was the keynote today. Unlike 2018, when I bumped into Martin in Singapore, this is all online. Naturally much of the discussion this year is about the online experience due to COVID-19. But the SARS-Cov-1 virus closed classrooms in 2003, just as SARS-Cov-2 did in 2020. How do we make sure we learn from history this time, and so do not repeat the mistakes again?

Reading media reports from 2003, sounds remarkably like the present. Back then a disease "SARS" had closed classrooms and forced study online from home. Some Singapore educational institutions, notably NTU, prepared for e-learning during future pandemics, after their SARS experience (this was pointed out to me when I was giving a talk in Singapore a decade ago). But 2020, this lesson seemed to be forgotten, and institutions had to scramble to switch online.  My suggestion is to make online teaching upward compatible with the classroom.

"Over the past two months, schools throughout Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore looked like mini-ghost towns: empty, silent classrooms, deserted hallways, and vacant playing fields.

The steep escalation of people contracting the potentially fatal respiratory illness known as SARS forced many government and school officials in Asia to close school for more than 2 million students. Schools are gradually reopening, and, surprisingly, many students aren’t behind academically.

That’s because while school buildings stood empty, students still attended classes—virtually. Their experience, a U.S. observer says, could hold lessons for American educators as they make contingency plans for a host of different emergencies." 

From: Online Learning Fills Void in Nations Coping With SARS, By Rhea R. Borja, Education Week, May 21, 2003 

Educational Institutions Could Offer Blended Learning in Response to Novel Coronavirus

NUS eLearning Week Video, 2014

This is to suggest that Australian educational institutions be prepared to implement blended/e-learning, if some, or all, students are not able to attend campus, due to the Novel Coronavirus, bush-fires, or other natural disasters. In addition to allowing students to continue their study, this would have positive mental health benefits, allowing the students to keep in touch, and have something to keep them occupied. There is a precedent for this in Singapore's "e-Learning Week" (Chandran, 2010).

Australian universities, vocational educational institutions, colleges, and many secondary schools, already have e-learning tools used to supplement classroom teaching. However, teachers may need extra support for this, some administrative procedures may need to be changed, and institutions may need wavers for some legal requirements. In particular visa regulations limit the amount of e-learning international students can undertake, and the regulations assume students are in Australia.

Singapore e-­Learning Week

One public health measure for the 2003 SARS outbreak was the closure of educational institutions. In response, Singapore  Polytechnic, and the National University of Singapore (NUS) implemented an “e-­Learning  Week” (Chandran, 2010). This was designed to prepare the institutions for possible future closure due to quarantine, or other public health conditions. NUS mentions "severe haze" as one reason for closing a campus, which has occurred in Australia. NUS provided a short video, explaining the 2014 e-learning week.

Since the first e-learning week in 2006, the availability of tools, and the understanding of their use has increased. Teaching formats, such as the "flipped classroom" lend themselves to the provision of a blended mode of teaching which can become pure online delivery, if required. With this approach, there is no need for an abrupt change in teaching mode: those students who can get to class can have a class, those who can't use the online option.

eBook with Videos

 

Many teachers are reluctant to adopt e-learning due to the time it takes to prepare materials. However, research shows that slick broadcast-quality videos are not required. Students learn just as well with a video recorded by their teacher sitting at their desk on a $50 web camera, or no camera at all (as NUS points out). An approach I have used is to prepare an e-book of notes, and then produce videos from that using synthetic speech and slides. What is most important, as with a face-to-face classroom, is to have activities for the students, working together, and to provide them with feedback on how they are doing.

Victorian Educaiton Pandemic Plan

Victoria's Department of Education and Training has a Pandemic Influenza Incident Response Plan (2016), which includes in the containment strategy:

"If required, schools may be closed on advice of the Chief Health Officer, DHHS. In these circumstances:

• inform teachers of their obligations during school closures 

• for students at home, provide access to educational materials including online learning." (page 28)

However, the plan does not appear to have been tested.

 

 References

 

Chandran, R. (2010, May). National University of Singapore'sCampus-Wide ELearning Week. In Global Learn (pp. 2062-3302). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). URL https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blog.nus.edu.sg/dist/0/119/files/2011/03/national-university-of-singapores-campus-wide-elearning-week.pdf