Achieving Sustainable Academic Quality and Compliance Outcomes in the face of COVID-19 - Presented by HES Advisory and Higher Education Quality ...

Webinar

November 2020

Achieving Sustainable
Academic Quality
 and Compliance
 Outcomes in the face
 of COVID-19
Presented by HES Advisory and
Higher Education Quality Network

HES Academic Quality Forum
                                   HES Forums
                                          1

Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present unprecedented challenges to the entire higher
education sector across Australia. Maintaining academic quality is perhaps one of the most difficult
and complex of these, particularly in University’s swift move to online delivery in March,2020.

In our recent webinar “Achieving Sustainable Academic Quality and Compliance Outcomes in the face
of COVID-19” we explored this instrumental pivot with four Australian Universities.

With a line-up of expert guest speakers from the University of Melbourne, the University of Western
Australia, RMIT University and Victoria University, we discussed each University’s response,
challenges and lessons learned across a broad range of academic quality areas. Most importantly, we
celebrated each institution’s agility and their continued ability to innovate, drive and improve quality
outcomes for staff and students.

After all, there is nothing like a crisis to create a step-change in how we approach academic quality
and learning and teaching across the sector. This paper captures key highlights and insights from the
webinar grouped under central themes, whilst highlighting recommendations and lessons learned as
Universities gear up for the next academic year.

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Quality and Impact in the Pivot to Online

Professor Shona Leitch                          Kate Fitzgibbon

As over 3,500 courses were moved online in Semester One, Professor Shona Leitch (Associate
Deputy Vice Chancellor Education, Quality and Enhancement) and Kate Fitzgibbon (Associate Director,
Education Compliance and Regulation) from RMIT University highlighted the importance of taking
a holistic approach in the complete move to online delivery. Central to this, was leveraging key
enablers and elements already in place such as best practise tools and resources; uplifting elements
such as assessment, collaboration and engagement; and designing new elements at pace and with
institutional wide support to make it the best staff and student experience possible.

Whilst the pedagogy of courses did not change dramatically, the removal of examinations was a major
blanket decision made by the University and placed an increased emphasis on the need for authentic

HES Academic Quality Forum                                                                             2

assessment. The end-to-end quality assurance process employed by RMIT identified four key themes
and insights: student performance, staff engagement and professional development, curriculum
design and student engagement and feedback.

Ensuring that an analysis of various metrics post semester to assure regulators, internal governance
and provide insights into areas of continuous improvement and focus for the University was central
to making evidence-based decisions moving forward. The process also highlighted strengths and
opportunities such as the need for more online resources for staff and students as well as more
assessment guidance.

Victoria University’s shift to online was more of a pirouette, rather than a pivot. With the recent
implementation of the BLOCK Model also known as the “VU Way” as well as TEQSA re-registration,
Trish McCluskey (Associate Provost, Learning and Teaching) highlighted the model was designed
to be quality assured in every regard, with the learning design, assessment and activities well-
moderated and rigorously quality-checked.

The BLOCK model is an immersive learning model in small classes, where students complete one
unit at a time over four weeks and has been extremely well received by students. The investment in
the transition to the BLOCK, made the following transition to online more seamless than expected.
However, there were some follow on impacts and challenges particularly in regard to avoiding “zoom
gloom”, staff digital fluency and access, managing staff and student fatigue as well as monitoring and
tracking changes. Whilst some units lent themselves to authentic online assessment, it was harder
for some disciplines particularly with accreditation requirements.

Ample opportunity also arose from the transition to online including the ability to leverage and
improve the value of the BLOCK model, the expansion of the University’s digital learning platform and
the ability to explore innovative solutions to learning problems.

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Staff Support and Professional Development

Trish McCluskey

The shift to online and working from home in response to COVID-19 has seen a significant increase
in attendance of professional development sessions and workshops by academic and teaching staff
across the sector. Most importantly, we have witnessed an increased confidence in using technology
for learning and teaching.

HES Academic Quality Forum                                                                            3

The Melbourne School of Professional and Continuing Education (MSPACE) have supported their
academics every step of the way in the COVID-19 environment, particularly in delivering quality
production from home. The design and development of online resources such as “how to make
an audio recording” or “five tips for better webcam” supported academic staff to support higher
production value through more engaging videos and presentations. Learning designers were then
able to weave in animations and further enhance videos for staff to support the learner’s experience
and engagement.

For RMIT University, knowing where to support and place effort to leverage their staff’s expertise was
key, with the design and development of customised professional development as well as a live chat
function for staff to ask questions along the way. Findings showed that staff required support more
extensively pre and post semester; LMS usage increased significantly following similar trends to
most learning analytics behavioural patterns; and content uploads and the use of asynchronous and
synchronous collaboration technologies dramatically increased.

Similarly, Victoria University ran numerous professional development sessions for staff to ensure
they were supported and equipped for online quality delivery in the form of “extent classrooms”. Trish
also established a Professional Learning Network (PLN) designed to manage the transition to online
in the COVID-19 response. The Digital Pedagogy PLN Ecosystem encompasses six key elements: (1)
principles (underpinned by principles of flexible, inclusive and accessible learning and staff support);
(2) people (acknowledge VU staff and students are located across multiple sites and locations); (3)
platforms (facilitates active engagement through digital platforms and tools); (4) programs (amplifies
existing programs and creates innovation); (5) policies (identify and update policies as needed); and
(6) processes (evaluate effectiveness, engagement and progress). Whilst this was established as a
crisis management tool, the PLN is likely to continue beyond the COVID-19 crisis and has become an
invaluable network moving forward into the next academic year.

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Quality Student Engagement

Owen Shemansky                   Associate Professor                 Professor Simon Bell
                                 Tangerine Holt

In navigating the COVID-19 environment, the Melbourne School of Professional and Continuing
Education (MSPACE) has remained conscious and aware of its learner’s perceptions of quality. In
responding to this, they have employed an approach that is agile, customer-focused and utilised
high-quality pedagogy and production to ensure the continued delivery of high-quality learning
experiences for staff and students.

HES Academic Quality Forum                                                                             4

With a strong belief that academic performance is underpinned by student engagement, Professor
Simon Bell (Head of School, MSPACE), Associate Professor Tangerine Holt (Academic Director,
MSPACE) and Owen Shemansky (General Manager, MSPACE) highlight that their student audience is
slightly different to other webinar guest speakers - they are working professionals who have high
expectations and many options. Given this, there is minimal room for error.

To address this challenge, MSPACE set high targets for their customer service team in compared
to the remainder of the University and ensured they were well-resourced. The team also acted as a
safety net for students who required extra support during their course, resulting in consistently high-
quality customer service results with 90% of enquiries addressed and responded to within two days
and positive student feedback and engagement.

Central to MSPACE’s student satisfaction and engagement was also maintaining the quality of their
offer – with online course enrolments rapidly growing, resourcing needed to be increased to keep
pace with the offer. In addition, the design and development of over 25 Microcerts was a huge stride in
keeping MSPACE’s offer relevant and updated, with students able to share their skill-based micocerts
with Industry and on LinkedIn upon completion.

One of the biggest challenges MSPACE faced in the pivot to online has been convincing industry
partners and clients that online learning can be just as effective as face to face, particularly for their
masterclass programs. Learning designers’ expertise has been crucial here, designing what online
masterclasses should look and feel like to meet industry client’s needs. The response from industry
has been overwhelmingly positive so far, with only lab-based programs needing to moved to 2021.

At RMIT Unviersity, students responded and welcomed more online services and online learning
options with the Course Experience Survey results remaining the same as previous comparable
semesters. Whilst students “succeeded”, they do miss the social connection of going to University
which they don’t believe can be replicated in an online environment.

Data and evidence from Victoria University also showed that the COVID-19 online environment did not
disadvantage students in any way, rather they continued to thrive and benefit from the BLOCK model
even during a crisis.

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HES Academic Quality Forum                                                                                   5

Assessment and Academic Integrity

Professor David Sadler

Professor David Sadler (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education) from the University of Western Australia
highlighted the academic integrity challenges for higher education institutions particularly in the
COVID-19 environment. Touching on third party delivery and oversight, the technological arms race
in online delivery and assessment and the governance and role of committees, Professor Sadler
suggested an educative approach to academic integrity. This includes designing out plagiarism
through smart assessment design; strong student-teacher interactions; early identification of at-risk
students; clarity of ILOs and good feedback; and accessing external resources to guide institutional
approaches, rather than reinventing wheels.

For RMIT University, this approach has been embodied through and through, ensuring online
assessment passed the academic integrity test. The shift to online meant staff were cognisant of
potential breaches of academic integrity. In fact, the increase of allegations was not significant in any
element of academic integrity and there was a reduction in exam-related misconduct allegations or
breaches.

Whilst academic integrity will continue to be a challenge and one that exists beyond the Australian
education sector, engaging and empowering students to actively learn about the institutional policies
and procedures and conversely, empowering and engaging staff to proactively communicate the
institutional policies, procedures, tools and best practices is essential.

Learnings and Recommendations
In reflecting on and capturing the key highlights and insights from our webinar, it is clear that higher
education in Australia is never going back to what it was. The need for a robust and holistic approach
to academic quality assurance remains the same but how we continue to achieve and shape this in
a learning and teaching environment that is either blended or online will be an interesting space to
watch as we move into the next academic year.

A number of important lessons have emerged from our expert guest speaker’s insights and
experiences, and whilst new risks present themselves, the sector is rising to the challenge:

(1) Academic integrity is a critical area that must be achieved across all institutions to
maintain the sectors reputation in local and global markets.

HES Academic Quality Forum                                                                                  6

How do we achieve this? Our experts stress that a layered and educative approach to Academic
Integrity is essential and the use of industry led approaches vs a Faculty-Centric Approach in a
conservative academic world is more important than ever. Finally, assessment must be authentic
and future-focused. RMIT University has demonstrated significant innovation in this space with the
complete removal of examinations and an emphasis on assessment that demonstrates real-life,
industry-based scenarios, even in the online space.

(2) Quality management and compliance are functions with a shared purpose that should
be recognised in all Universities quality management practices.

Central to this point is ensuring rigor and academic quality processes are applied in product
development – getting it right at the start sets the scene for future success.

Additionally, risk and compliance teams need to actively work alongside the academic community
through the program development lifecycle to harness the strength of shared skill sets. This includes
key activities such as robust reporting focused on academic quality risks, the collaborative sharing of
information and facilitating a culture of continuous improvement to get things right now and not just
on reregistration cycles.

This is also essential from a crisis response perspective. For RMIT University, the Internal Audit
Compliance Risk and Regulation team moved into the front line of Business Continuity Management
Teams, with compliance assurance becoming part of the preliminary COVID-19 planning.

(3) It is the work that our academic and teaching staff do that should be the focus, with
technology enabling this endeavour rather than being a driver unto itself.

This shift to online and the professional development that has supported this means the sector is
more confident in using technologies for learning and teaching, communication and staff and student
engagement. This represents a distinct opportunity for all Universities and the sector as a whole.
We have learned just how agile, innovative and creative our academics and teachers are and this is
what will drive the success of our sector. Continued staff support and development in exploring and
adopting new technologies and ways of education delivery needs to be an ongoing focus and enabler
to drive best practice in the global market.

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HES Academic Quality Forum                                                                                7