The COVID-19 pandemic has cut a deadly swathe worldwide, with more than four million people worldwide infected and a death toll almost reaching 300,000 as of May 12. The virus, which originated in China, has now made its presence felt in more than 180 countries, and today we’re seeing some one-third of the world under some form of lockdown or restricted movement in an effort to stem the spread of infection.

This has meant a closure of almost all economic sectors and, in many cases, a shift to working from home. Learning and teaching has also changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools are closed. University campuses usually heaving with students are now quiet. But learning still continues. The home is now the classroom for pupils and students.

ULearn, the UTP learning management platform

At Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) all of our foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses have migrated online via the university’s learning management platform, ULearn.

Developed in November 2018, ULearn is one of UTP’s innovations in teaching and learning pioneered by the university’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETaL). Long before this pandemic, UTP through CETaL had looked at the ways to innovate the blended delivery mode so that effective learning takes place. The journey to shift from the chalk-and-talk only type of teaching is one that has been ongoing at UTP.

The university’s blended learning approach fuses both the traditional method of face-to-face classroom teaching with online teaching via ULearn. Through this platform, students download their coursework and study materials, and self-learn. Classroom and face-to-face sessions with the lecturers are then utilised for the explanation of difficult concepts, clarification of the material learnt, class activities and, in the case of science and engineering courses, laboratory work and experiments.

UTP teaching and learning now online

Since March 18 when the Malaysian government instituted the Movement Control Order (MCO), which has now morphed into the Conditional MCO up to June 9, all of UTP’s teaching and learning is now online.

Lecturers upload teaching material to the ULearn platform for students, who each have their own ULearn accounts, to download and self-study. The ULearn platform has also been enhanced since its debut a few years ago under the university’s digital transformation plan.

UTP’s learning resources are also available in electronic form such as e-journals, e-books and various other reference materials for students to access at any time.

In addition, online forums have added another dimension to online study that can sometimes feel static and isolating. Using these forums, lecturers present questions for students to mull and deliberate over, and at the same time students also raise questions on topics that need greater clarification. These have certainly led to a robust and more interactive way of learning, which both students and lecturers find engaging and rewarding.

With schools and institutions of higher learning expected to remain closed for a while yet, assessments also need to be tweaked and adjusted to suit this so-called new normal.

At UTP, all continuous assessments, tests, project presentations and viva are now conducted online.

Variances depending on field of study

Through a robust learning management system, we’ve found that teaching and learning can take place anytime, anywhere and on any device. Having said that, there is also no doubt that there are variances depending on the field of study.

Science and engineering call upon psychomotor skills – you can describe at length how to use a wrench but at the end of the day nothing replaces actually having the wrench in your hands and learning how to use it. So, in the teaching and learning of science and engineering there can be no replacement for actual hands-on laboratory work and for students to conduct experiments. We recognise this and to that end have pushed our lab-related courseworks to the later semesters.

At the same time, UTP is also using design and simulation software that will allow students to simulate and visualise more complex theories and concepts. Some unique simulation laboratory can be remotely accessible by students from home.

Online learning the way to go

Undoubtedly, this online teaching and learning pathway has been an interesting journey for all concerned, and studies show that online learning is the way of the future, with or without a pandemic.

According to the World Economic Forum, even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology - with global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach US$350 billion by 2025. From language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is also evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25 per cent to 60 per cent more material when learning online compared to only eight per cent to 10 per cent in a classroom. This is said to be due to students being able to learn faster online - requiring 40 per cent to 60 per cent less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace. They can re-read, skip through certain sections or accelerate through concepts as they choose.

Shift in mindset required

But online teaching and learning is by no means without challenges and requires a few critical success factors. Teaching materials need to be catered to this new way of consuming and absorbing information. Technology is also vital.

The existing infrastructure such as Internet access, and more crucially high-speed Internet access, needs to be reliable or else the entire premise of online learning becomes futile. Technology also needs to be adaptive to suit various teaching and delivery approaches.

But more crucially, it requires a shift in mindset on the part of both teachers and students. There has to be an acceptance that online teaching and study is not only practical during a pandemic but can be equally effective and meaningful.

-- BERNAMA

Prof Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib is the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS.