The Idea of the University Has Not Been Canceled

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig, 2006

Universities are canceling events to minimize the risk of the transmission of COVID-19 Coronavirus. For the present, face-to-face teaching and research will continue, with precautions in place. Ironically among the events cancelled is "The Idea of the University - Crisis or Adaptation?".  I was reminded of Pirsig:

 "...the real university exists not as the physical campus, but as a body of reason within the minds of students and teachers ..."

From Chapter 13, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig, 2006

Decades later this idea has been made a practical reality by adopting teleworking and telelearning. I suggest those organizing events at universities should not cancel or postpone them, assuming the current emergency will end soon: it will not. Instead, just as with teaching, organizers of events should provide blended, or fully online, options. The idea of the university can continue, despite the crisis, through adaption. This will be important to the well-being of staff and students, who need something to keep them occupied, other than worrying about a pandemic. It is also important that the university continue to provide a valuable service to the community, through research, education, and community outreach.

Don't Postpone Examinations: Replace Them With Realistic Tests

Media reports indicate that some universities are postponing examinations due to the about the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Unfortunately this emergency will not be over quickly, so this is not an effective strategy. It is technically possible to run online invigilated examinations. Athabasca University (where I studied education), uses the product ProctorU for this. However, even with a tool, the administrative burden is high. Running pass/fail oral exams via videoconferencing is also possible (I did one of these for my MEd), but these are time consuming, and stressful for the students.
 
The approach I suggest is to use multiple assignments, and tests (with provision to deter cheating), to determine the student's grade. If some form of supervised test is required to verify the student is not cheating, then this could be a pass/fail one, to confirm the previously established grade.

Paper based end of course examinations are not an effective form of assessment of real world skills. I suggest instead changing to other forms of assessment which realistically assess skills and knowledge. The best way to do this is to have the student carry out the tasks they are being trained to do, either in a real workplace or a simulation, and see how they do. As an example, I help train computer students in project management. This is assessed by having students work in teams on a computer project for a real client, and seeing how they do. The assessment is, in part by their peers, but mostly by staff.

Online Courses on Coronavirus from World Health Organization

The World Health Organization has released a series of web based courses about the COVID-19 Coronavirus. These are intended for  health professionals, and incident managers. The courses are self-paced and available in multiple languages. As an example " ePROTECT Respiratory Infections" takes 2 hours and has four parts:

1. Introduction
2. How to protect yourself ...
3. Basic hygiene measures
4. Wearing a medical mask

Each part consisted of a video of about 20 minutes.  The English versions have English closed captions, plus a transcript and audio download. There is a small amount of a talking head, interspersed with slides. There is a discussion forum, with topics for discussion, under the video. The layout is clear and the interface is responsive.

I suggest the training could be improved by breaking the videos up into smaller segments. Ten minutes is usually considered about as long as a training presentation, should be, and preferably much shorter. The talking head in the video are useful to give authority, but less could be used: this is only needed at the start (and a simple still photo would do).  The slides used have too much text, and it might be good to break these up with some stock video footage.