Our ways of teaching and learning are changing, driven by the paradigm shift in education during the pandemic. In higher learning, specifically, many institutions have implemented a mix of face-to-face and virtual methods for teaching and learning. Borderless classrooms are already here.
With new collaboration methods aided by technology, students can engage in more interactive and innovative learning experiences, which help them hone their creative and critical-thinking skills. For teachers, tools like ChatGPT offer both challenges and opportunities.
During a roundtable titled “A New Era in Collaborative, Hybrid Learning,” organised by Jicara Media and hosted by Logitech, senior education executives shared their perspectives on learning roadblocks and new initiatives in the education space.
Obstacle course
For James Cook University Singapore, advanced blended learning opportunities for its students are of utmost priority. To achieve this, a tight integration of its campuses is needed, said Roberto Dillon, the school’s Academic Head, School of Science and Technology.
“There is a digital divide because not all students have the same equipment. Therefore, we need a uniform platform, which means we may have to rely more on cloud services,” he remarked.
In the case of a private educational institution, technology is the least of its problems.
“We can easily afford Zoom or MS Teams, or order specific hardware. However, our challenge lies with advanced applications because our teachers are largely part-timers. How do we get them to buy in, relearn these processes, and master these technologies?” noted a senior academic director at the institution.
Then, there’s the instance of faculty members struggling with new technology, as experienced at Yale-NUS College.
“Reflecting on our hybrid classes, we have faculty members who completely forgot how to use Zoom in a very short amount of time. As a result, we still do a lot of one-on-one coaching. I personally assist faculty members with logging onto Zoom and setting up helpful features like closed captioning,” recalled Cory Owen, Dean of Students, Yale-NUS College.
Just as all teachers have different skill levels, the same can be said for learners, as seen at the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) Singapore.
According to Sim Soo Kheng, Director, Innovation Centre, IAL, the diverse age of their learners spans from 20 to 70 years old.
“You can just imagine that when we introduce technology to the 70-year-olds, they really struggle, because one, they have never been exposed to it, and two, they never think of things that way,” she said.
Sim shared that during COVID, the institution had to conduct a 3-hour familiarisation session to assist some of the learners in getting accustomed to using online meeting platforms like Zoom. After journeying through the COVID years, the overall digital literacy of learners across all ages has generally improved, and people are more at ease with e-learning platforms.
“The diversity of our students really brings to bear how we use technology. It is a continuous process of learning and adapting to new technologies and tools. It is a must for our students to understand and use technology because that is the future. Also, we are training the trainers, who will then train the workers, so they should be the first ones to try these tools,” she added.
Collaborative approach
In today’s hybrid learning environment, collaboration is one of the key pillars of success, allowing students and teachers to move away from the classical spoon-feeding educational approach.
According to Yale-NUS College’s Owen, one additional roadblock to collaboration is teachers who do not allow laptops inside the classroom.
“In theory, I understand the concern, but if all students are prohibited from using laptops except one, it becomes obvious that the student has a special accommodation or disability. Showing teachers that these tools can be beneficial and not disruptive is crucial,” she said.
Over at PSB Academy, a survey was administered to understand generative AI usage among teachers. The results suggest an increasing need to explore how ChatGPT can be integrated into classroom practices.
“When it comes to teaching, there are challenges in identifying common generative AI tools due to their rapid developments and a general lack of standardisation in their features,” shared Ng Jun Wei, Chairperson, Teaching and Learning Committee, PSB Academy.
Observations from the survey indicate that students are generally positive about generative AI, highlighting its benefits in generating content and overcoming mental blocks. However, concerns about increased plagiarism risk and overreliance may deter them from using it.
In discussions with students, they seemed generally positive about generative AI, highlighting its benefits in generating content and overcoming mental blocks. However, concerns about increased plagiarism risk and overreliance may deter them from using it.
“The interesting part is hearing from learners that generative AI can interfere with their learning. In the past, they had to go through multiple steps to obtain information from the internet. Now, AI generates the information they need instantly. However, they cannot ascertain if the AI-provided information is accurate, so they still have to verify it by checking the original sources,” he said.
Progress report
According to Anil Iype, Global Head of Education & Cloud Alliances at Logitech, teachers worldwide face the challenge of evolving their teaching approaches in the post-pandemic era. However, support from academic institutions and more skilled colleagues is critical in collectively upskilling educators.
“You have to train teachers to use the technology efficiently, as this will impact how they improvise their teaching styles,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iype noted that teachers would like to see students take their learning further by participating in academic workgroups, which can foster team building, critical thinking, and other soft skills essential for thriving in the future workforce.
“This is the number one thing I hear from educators worldwide: Students at times can sometimes struggle with a lack of stamina and concentration. They work in silos and don’t do well in breakout sessions,” he continued.
Interestingly, Iype highlighted that many enterprises already practise enhanced collaboration strategies, especially those with a distributed workforce.
“We see employees coming to the office two to three days a week. Organisations have grouped employees into distributed workgroups and locations to drive collaboration. This enables knowledge sharing, critical thinking needed to process information, and leveraging technology to manage workflow and outcomes. This approach can benefit the student learning experience as well,” he suggested.
As soon as students experience first hand the value of collaboration and maintaining an effective feedback loop among themselves, Iype believes they will have an easier time transitioning to today’s borderless enterprise workforce. To accomplish this, they need collaboration tools and technologies — not to replace their job function, but to empower them toward success.
