The COVID-19 crisis forced HEIs to move their courses online almost overnight. Many were not prepared due to the lack of infrastructure or because of the lecturer’s insufficient digital skills; their response was often limited to broadcasting the same lectures online, without adapting programmes nor teaching methods. Possibilities for exchange of ideas between faculty and students, students’ participation and small group cooperation (all essential to high-quality pedagogy) decreased dramatically. 61% of students report that the experience of online learning failed to match that of classroom learning (WebGeneration survey, 09/2020). Many students (in particular vulnerable ones, needing more support and accompaniment) disengaged from the learning process. The French Ministry of Higher Education estimates that the contact was lost with 5 to 8% of students. UNESCO evaluates that up to 7,9 million students could be at risk worldwide (issue note, 2020). The EC 2020 consultation for the Digital Education Plan observed that ‘learning providers saw large numbers of students dropping out from courses, in some cases this was up to 3/4 of the group’. Higher Education will evolve towards a mix of 100% online, hybrid (simultaneously face-to-face and online delivery) and blended format. All students are obliged to follow a significant part of their curriculum online. At this moment, particular attention has to be paid to the inclusive education, defined as “the recognition of all students’ entitlement to a learning experience that respects diversity, enables participation, removes barriers and anticipates and considers a variety of learning needs and preferences” (Gravestock, 2017). Professors must be supported to ensure “the design and delivery of teaching, learning and assessment methods that allow all students to engage meaningfully with the curriculum and achieve their full potential” (Imperial College, UK). The objective of the project IDEA is to support the transition towards a more inclusive digital education, by adapting the pedagogy of the faculty. The project will: - Build awareness of the importance of inclusiveness in digital education and its consequences on pedagogical practices; - Facilitate understanding of the importance of inclusiveness for the quality of digital education; - Develop a quality assurance system embedding inclusiveness in all phases of the digital pedagogy; - Provide practical tools and evaluation instruments to guide faculty members for the evolution of their pedagogical practice. The target groups englobe faculty members and programme / academic directors, who design the curriculum, coordinate the courses and oversee their delivery and quality.The project also benefits indirectly the HEI senior managers in charge of the digital agenda and quality. They are already using digital tools but need extra guidance and tools to face the new challenges and adapt their teaching to be inclusive, without excluding any student. The needs analysis conducted during the preparation phase showed that professors lack information on the ‘new rules of the game’ and feel frustrated by the ‘trial and error method’. The project answers these needs with: - an updated reference framework, mapping the new constraints and expectations of students and faculty for inclusive digital education; - key learning points drawn from the emergency transition and year 1 of the ‘new normal’, best practices and analysis of the innovations; - a quality assurance system for inclusive digital education complementing the existing procedures which do not deal satisfactorily with this aspect; - solutions and training tools to guide the transformation of their digital pedagogy and monitor their progress. The project's focus on inclusiveness is specific and clearly defined. It brings a multidimensional approach to a well identified problem, with outputs developed by a large competence pool of experts in digital skills, innovation and quality assurance. Progress and outcomes are measurable during the project duration. The partnership demonstrates diversity and complementarity: 5 HEIs, 1 network for quality and accreditation and 1 adult education provider, all coming from countries with different levels of digital advancement. It allows benchmarking, inspiration and transfer of experience from more digitally advanced countries to least digital-savvy. This provides a wider perspective than national approaches and ensures that the project results can be exported in a variety of national/international settings.
By addressing the needs described above, the IDEA partnership aimed at achieving: - better awareness about the importance of inclusiveness in online education and its consequences on pedagogy - better understanding about the importance of inclusiveness in providing quality online education - the development of a Quality Assurance system embedding inclusiveness in all phases of online pedagogy - the development of tools to guide the evolution of the professors' pedagogy. In long term, IDEA aim at contributing to making the COVID-19 pandemic (which originally presented as a threat for EU universities) a driver and a motivator instead for the higher education offer in EU. By the end of the project, IDEA aimed to have achieved the production of the following concrete results: - A reference framework to map the professors' and students' expectations regarding inclusive online education - The recording of best practices from the overnight transition to online education during the first year of the pandemic - A Quality Assurance system for professors focusing on "inclusiveness" during all phases of pedagogy - Training and evaluation tools available via an interactive platform, to help professors monitor their learning and improvement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as an association of universities, EFMD witnessed first-hand the challenges that universities faced due to the overnight transition to online education. Examples of such challenges were continuously collected laying the ground for the needs analysis on which IDEA was based. A systematic data collection showed that the professors: - were lacking the skills needed to transfer a course online, in terms of pedagogy as well as technical skills - engaged in a 'trial and error' process but without the tools to monitor what worked and what didn’t - were not able to find the necessary resources that can direct their learning and improvement - become increasingly frustrated noticing more and more signs of drop out and demotivation. The project was then designed to address the need for: - mapping the expectations that students and professors have from an inclusive digital education environment - identifying what worked and what didn’t and document the learning points - a quality assurance system for professors to design their online courses in an inclusive way - self-training tools that can help professors direct their learning with regards to inclusive digital education.