Virtual Graduation Cermonies

CECS graduates contest (video), ANU 2021

Last week I was asked to stand in front of a green screen in academic regalia, and go though the motions of congratulating the students I have been teaching at ANU. The invitation came from Eric Byler, an award winning American film director, now working at ANU videoed me in front of a green screen (with a version for students in China also produced). 

Standing in front of green screen

Mine was not exactly an academy award performance, but I stood there, shaking hands with no one, handing over certificates and giving a speech. The idea is that a student who can't get to gradation due to COVID-19, can video or photograph themselves and then can be inserted into the photo, with the university digitally inserted in the background, for a digital ceremony. Graduates of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science have been offered $100 for their best selfie.

There are, of course, reputation risks with virtual graduations. If the video was made widely available, Eric worried some student would paste me into a war zone or zombie attack. But then when working at the Department of Defence I helped prepare for the end of the world on 1 January 2000, not unlike a zombie attack. Also in a borrowed uniform I went on an exercise with the US Navy and so would not look out of place in a war zone.

What worried me more is the possibility of a non-graduate using the video to help build evidence around a fake degree. The ANU is one of a few universities which now issue digital certificates to graduates and has an online facility to check if someone actually graduated.

There are technical ways to counter fake photos, for example, applying a digital signature to the images and video. As it happens Dr Sabrina Caldwell, is an expert in detecting fake photographs and is on the JPEG committee.

Universities should be cautious about using "security by obscurity". Placing a photo online and then telling hundreds of people the web address is not a good form of security. 

Online Graduation Ceremonies

Tom Worthington with MEd
at a DIY ceremony

One issue which has been raised by both university administrators and students is how to conduct graduation ceremonies while maintaining social distancing for COVID-19. This may seem trivial, but it is important emotionally, and practically for students. In 2017 I conducted my own remote graduation ceremony. I was awarded an MEd in Distanced Education by Athabasca University. Appropriately, I studied entirely online from Australia. On graduation Athabasca mailed me a masters hood in an envelope. I added the hood over a standard black academic gown from my last graduation, and wore them in the academic procession at the institution where I teach in Canberra. Then I paid to have my photo taken along with the local graduates.

1. Award Degrees As soon as Students Qualify

I suggest adopting the practice of online universities, where degrees are awarded as soon as the student meets all requirements. The student has the option of attending a ceremony later. Awarding of degrees should not be delayed for ceremonies, and there should not be just a one off special case for COVID-19.

2. Send Students a Certificate and Ask for a Photo

Send the graduates their certificate, and something to wear or show.  Encourage students to conduct their own local ceremony, where their parent, or loved one, presents them with their certificate. Where social distancing rules allow, they could have a local ceremony with students of other institutions, conducted by a local dignitary. Have the student send a photo to the university to be used in their ceremony.

3. Stream an Academy Awards Style Ceremony Online

I suggest the university conduct an academy awards style ceremony streamed online. This would have speeches live, recorded videos from major award winners, and the rest of the graduates appearing in a montage of the images they provided.

4. Digital Certificates

This would also be a good time for universities to introduce digital certificates. Prospective employers will be reluctant to accept paper certificates from candidates, for health and logistical reasons. Applicants who can provide digitally authenticated evidence of their qualification, rather than just an easily faked paper or scanned copy, will have an advantage in the job market. As well as providing digital certificates, universities should also put in place procedures for accepting them.

5. Standing Invitation to Later Ceremony

Universities could invite students who can't get to that year's graduation ceremony to attend one next year, or any time in the future, even decades later. In my case I could not afford to fly 13,000 km to attend, but if I happen to be on that side of the planet some time in the future it would be nice to have some pomp and circumstance.