Session Information
15 SES 08 A, Analysing Partnerships
Paper Session
Contribution
The COVID-19 pandemic posed an immense challenge to the Austrian higher education landscape, as the lockdown was imposed on university staff at the beginning of the summer semester 2020 without prior notice and thus lecturers were suddenly faced with the challenge of converting their teaching from the usual face-to-face teaching to e-learning practically from one day to the next. Although most Austrian universities already had learning management systems (LMS) in place at the time of the lockdown, the problem was that most of the university lecturers and students had little or no experience with distance learning, which would have been necessary for risk-free teaching. This paper therefore aims to examine the so-called long-term scenario for teaching during the Corona period of the Karl-Franzens-University Graz (Walter-Laager, 2020) and to investigate its effectiveness. Karl Franzens University Graz (KFU) in Austria has its own transfaculty center working on the digital transformation of university teaching and during the COVID-19 lockdown, both university staff and students were co-responsible for the design of teaching and learning processes, which proved to be very helpful for all involved, namely the Center for Digital Teaching and Learning (ZDLL). During the lockdown at the University of Graz, the ZDLL offered special online seminars on didactic instructional design, personal advice on questions about online teaching, and discussion forums for teachers and students to exchange experiences. The learning environment at the University of Graz was based on a traffic light system controlled by the government ("Corona traffic light"). According to a study by the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna, more than 30% of students felt unwell during the lockdown, struggling with motivation problems, learning organization, time management or lack of social contacts. Whether students report being successful in managing their studies in home learning is strongly related to how they cope with e-learning. Students who manage well also feel supported by their teachers and are in regular contact with them. Another important factor is the autonomy they experience in shaping their studies. This includes the opportunity to set one's own priorities and work on assignments according to one's own ideas. Successful students also feel more connected to fellow students and people important to them during the Corona measures. Time management and the use of learning and work strategies are also related to the successful completion of studies in home learning. (cf. Schober/Lüftenegger/Spiel, 2020).
The primary goal of this paper is therefore to examine past, present, and future experiences in online teaching. This exchange of experiences should include all three levels, namely the level of the institute, the faculty as well as the university as a whole. In doing so, not only the online teaching experiences of the teachers (handling of learning management systems (LMS), didactic preparation of the lessons, feedback from and to students, digital teaching materials, time management, etc.), but also those of the students are to be included (time management of the learning material, suitable access to the Internet, experience with video conferencing systems, interaction with fellow students and teachers, etc.). The question will also be asked how students can be better involved in the design of online learning processes in the future. The exchange of experiences regarding the different forms of teaching (distant learning, blended learning, face-to-face teaching) as well as the existing and used offers of technical and didactical support, the handling of fears of contact with digital teaching, further training measures for students and teachers as well as strategic concepts of crisis management are also crucial.
Method
This paper focuses on the extent to which service institutions such as the Center for Digital Teaching and Learning (ZDLL) were able to meet the needs of faculty and students during the COVID-19 lockdown. For this purpose, this paper will present the results of an already conducted online survey by the Styrian Higher Education Conference (Steirische Hochschulkonferenz) that will be compared with other surveys regarding the experiences of teachers and students with online teaching/learning during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Expected Outcomes
A meaningful result is expected regarding the satisfaction of teachers and students with the service offers of the University of Graz during Distance Learning, which should serve as a basis for further improvement possibilities in online teaching/learning for the present and the future.
References
Janschitz, Gerlinde et al. (2021). Alle(s) digital im Studium?! Projektbericht der Steirischen Hochschulkonferenz zur Analyse digitaler Kompetenzen von Studienanfänger*inne*n. Graz University: Library Publishing. Schober, Barbara/Lüftenegger, Marko/Spiel, Christiane (2020). Lernen und Covid-19-Bedingungen. Wien: Fakultät für Psychologie. Walter-Laager, Catherine (2020). Langzeitszenario für die Lehre während der Corona-Zeit, Graz: Universität Graz. Bregenzer, Anita/Jiménez, Paul (2020). MitarbeiterInnen-Befragung („Zwischenbefragung“). Graz: Institut für Psychologie.
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